Disinfo: What is happening in Ukraine can be called genocide of the Russian-speaking population

Summary

The rights of the Russian-speaking population are being infringed. Russian children cannot study in a Russian school and learn their native language. Russian films and songs are banned.

Even before 2014, it could be assumed that equality was observed, but after the coup d'etat and the civil war began, things got worse. In July 2021, at the suggestion of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a bill on indigenous peoples was adopted, to which Russians, according to Kyiv, do not belong. Unambiguously, what is happening can be called genocide of the Russian-speaking population. Moreover, Russians in Ukraine are being physically exterminated. Due to the civil war, a large number of people left the country.

Disproof

A mix of several recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Russophobia in Ukraine, about the war in eastern Ukraine, presenting the conflict as a “civil war” and genocide. This narrative denies the role of Russian forces in the war in Ukraine. It also discredits the public protests in 2013-2014 describing them as an anti-constitutional coup.

This narrative is trying to portray Kyiv’s measures to improve the standing of the Ukrainian language as the oppression of Russian-speaking people. Ukraine passed Law on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language in 2019, but this legislation only regulates the use of Ukrainian in the public spheres of life. Russian and other languages of national minorities can be freely used in private communication, religious ceremonies, book publishing, the media and education. Therefore, the claim about Russian and other minority languages being discriminated against in Ukraine is groundless.

No evidence is provided to support the claim of genocide. There is no genocide of Russians or any other national minorities in Ukraine. The rights of Russian-speaking citizens are equally guaranteed by the Ukrainian constitution and legislation including the use of language and education opportunities. Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution guarantee the free development of the languages and cultures of Ukraine’s ethnic minorities, including Russian-speakers.

The war in Ukraine is not a civil conflict but a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014.

There is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in Ukraine. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stated that “the information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This international armed conflict began at the latest on 26 February 2014 when the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government."

The European Union stated in July 2014 that "arms and fighters continue flowing into Ukraine from the Russian Federation".

There was no coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction from several segments of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013, after pressure from Russia.

Read more disinformation narratives about Ukraine allegedly perpetrating genocide against Russians.

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  • Reported in: Issue 257
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 19/08/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: War in Ukraine, Civil war, Coup, Genocide
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Disinfo: Poland, Lithuania and Latvia promote only American interests in their Eastern policy

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Vilnius, Riga or Warsaw promoted such things as “deterrence of Russia”, separation of Moscow and Western Europe, “promotion of democracy” in the post-Soviet countries only as long as Washington needed them. The interests of the global hegemon was a primary issue, while all kinds of Mieroszewski-Giedroyc doctrines and remembrance about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania played a secondary role. The Baltic satellites will continue to serve the American interests by inertia. Although, they received a clear signal from the White House: they will have to bear all the costs of their policies themselves.

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Disproof

A common pro-Kremlin narrative on “lost sovereignty” - Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries are presented as “puppet-states” or colonies of the United States, EU or Germany, which fully control the domestic and foreign policy of these countries.

Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are sovereign states, which shape their own foreign and domestic policies. The claim that the Eastern policies of these countries do not promote their national interests, but American ones, is ungrounded.

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Aug 18, 2021
Disproof

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Disinfo: Armed forces of Ukraine are under foreign control

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Aug 18, 2021
Disproof

The disinformation claim above is part of a recurring narrative about the statehood of Ukraine, aimed at undermining the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as at portraying Ukraine as a Western puppet/buffer state.

Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state which determines its own security and defense policies.