Disinfo: US preparing Maidan-style operation in Venezuela

Summary

Washington is preparing to stage a civilian massacre in Venezuela and use it as a pretext for deposing President Maduro. The US previously resorted to similar tactics in Ukraine and other sovereign states, where CIA-manufactured violent uprisings were used to replace democratically elected leaders with US-friendly stooges.

Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative casting civil uprisings in other states as US-funded "colour revolutions", also present in the case of Venezuela. There is no evidence to support the claim that the CIA played a role in the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests (more information on their background can be found here); the blame for the February 2014 massacre of civilians in Kyiv lay on the Berkut riot police unit, not foreign actors or the anti-Yanukovych opposition (further debunking here).

Go to search

publication/media

sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 140
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 05/03/2019
  • Outlet language(s) English
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Venezuela, US, Ukraine
  • Keywords: Nicolas Maduro, Sphere of influence, Conspiracy theory, Euromaidan, Coup
see more

Disinfo: Brussels shifts responsibility for the situation in Ukraine to Moscow

The European Parliamentary Research Service prepared a report which claims that Moscow will strive to discredit the results of Ukrainian elections “by organising riots and disseminating disinformation”. The main purpose of such statements is the desire of Brussels to transfer to Moscow the responsibility for the situation in Ukraine after the elections.

Mar 04, 2019
Disproof

The report of the European Parliament Think Tank on "Ukraine's presidential election 2019" is an overview of the situation in Ukraine before the elections. The report does not mention anything about shifting the responsibility for the situation in Ukraine to Moscow. Ukraine is an independent state, responsible for its own situation. Russia's readiness to conduct disinformation attacks before and during elections in Ukraine has been confirmed by many OSINT organisations and experts. See here for different disinformation narratives on Ukraine and Ukrainian elections.

Disinfo: Ukrainian literary language is an artificial language created by the Soviet authorities

Ukrainian literary language is a result of the Soviet rule. The language was artificially created, collected, cleaned, and put to use by Soviets. It’s a heritage of the Soviet Union.

Mar 04, 2019
Disproof

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, modern literary Ukrainian emerged out of the colloquial Ukrainian tongue at the end of XVIII century. The Russian Empire and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire greatly influenced the development of the Ukrainian literary language by imposing various restrictions. There is a long history of Ukrainian literature; rooted in ancient oral traditions. As in many other European countries, a nationalist movement appeared in the early part of the 19th century. Several Ukrainian writers started to use the Ukrainian language and its traditions to create a national literature. The language was formalised long before the Soviet power was established in Ukraine. The attitude of the Soviet regime to the Ukrainian language also varied from encouragement and tolerance to discouragement. For example, after 1932-1933, years of massive repression and discrimination were held against the Ukrainophones, Ukrainian was demoted to a language of secondary importance. Attacks on the Ukrainian language is one of the recurring topics of pro-Kremlin propaganda. Here you could find similar examples.

Disinfo: NATO tanks at Moldova borders

NATO tanks reached the borders of the Moldovan state. The Alliance command decided to increase the presence of its ground forces in the immediate vicinity of Moldova to carry out a military exercise exactly during the period of greatest political instability – immediately after the parliamentary elections.

Mar 04, 2019
Disproof

Indeed, at the end of February 2019, US troops deployed in Europe, along with military equipment, arrived at the "Mihail Kogalniceanu" Air Base in Constanta County. This operation is part of the United States' commitment to securing NATO's Eastern flank security under the Atlantic Resolve Operation. According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the military will participate this year in multinational exercises alongside soldiers from the structures of the Romanian Land Forces. The 1st Aviation Brigade deployed military and aviation techniques in Germany, Latvia and Poland during this same period. These operations were not planned in relation to the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova. The link made with the elections is tendentious and tenuous, falling in line with a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative of Western, and particularly US, involvement in Moldova's internal affairs.