Disinfo: WWII archives are open in Russia, whereas in Western countries they are kept secret and revisionism is promoted

Summary

The Russian president published an article in The National Interest and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He notes again and again, that contemporary Russia embraces its history as a whole, with its good and bad sides, while the Western archives remain secret and revisionism spreads.

Disproof

Recurrent narrative about the Western countries trying to rewrite history to serve a political agenda, whereas Russia would favour historical truth without second thought. Archives of WWII are not secret in western countries. Historians can have access to them, and even general public. In France, for instance, since the opinion was published by RT France, all archives related to WWII are open without any pre-approval since the decree opening archives relating to the Second World War of 24.12.2015. Before archives were accessible with derogation since 1997, 1998 (national Archives) and 2002 (district Archives). A vast program of declassification of Secret Defence archives was initiated. In Russia president Putin announced on January 15th 2020 a vast program to make accessible documents of archives. Since May 2020, the first part of those archive are visible on the presidential library. However, in today Russia it can be dangerous to publicly share or like archive documents or historical facts. In 2018 the international human right association Agora published a report about people who were prosecuted. They included 100 cases of prosecutions and prohibitions under the pretext of protecting against falsification of history. Over the previous ten years, lawyers have recorded 17 criminal cases (16 defendants were found guilty), 18 administrative cases, 41 cases of the prohibition of books and online publications and their inclusion in the list of extremist materials, as well as examples of refusals to provide archival materials. In conclusion, it cannot be said that archives are open in Russia and closed in western countries and To know more about the untruths conveyed by the article published in the National Interest and Rossiyskaya Gazeta you can read 5 examples.

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francais.rt.com (Archived)
RT English (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 202
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 19/06/2020
  • Outlet language(s) French, English
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: France, Russia
  • Keywords: West, Historical revisionism, WWII, Vladimir Putin
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Disproof

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Crimea is a part of Ukraine and was illegally annexed by Russia. In 2014, Russian troops obliged the parliament of Crimea to organise a referendum, which was illegitimate under international law, and then formally annexed the peninsula and brought it under Russian territorial control. The annexation has been condemned by the UNGA (see the resolution A/RES/68/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine).

Disinfo: Ukraine is preparing a new provocation in the Black Sea

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Jun 18, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the Kerch strait incident and US controlling Ukraine. No evidence is given. The U.S. State Department has cleared a potential sale to Ukraine of 16 Mark VI patrol boats and other gear worth $600 million. According to a State Department official, the sale will improve the capability of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to “sustain river and littoral water patrols throughout Ukraine’s [maritime] exclusive economic zone.” The article tries to link this potential sale to the Kerch strait incident, itself the source of multiple disinformation instances. On 25 November 2018, border patrol boats belonging to Russia’s FSB security service seized two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tugboat and their crews after shooting at them, wounding several Ukrainian servicemen and arresting 24 members. Russia argued that they were in Russian waters. However, a bilateral treaty between Russia and Ukraine, signed in 2003 and ratified by Russia in 2004, governs the use of the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov, which in the treaty is considered to be the “internal waters” of both Russia and Ukraine. On 25 May 2019, the United Nations Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ordered Russia to immediately release Ukrainian sailors and allow them to return to Ukraine. The EU also urged Russia to release the captured crew. Twenty-four military sailors returned to Ukraine on 7 September 2019 as part of a mutual release of detainees by Ukraine and Russia. On 21 November 2019, Russia returned the ships to Ukraine.

Disinfo: No evidence of the involvement of Russian state structures in the killing of Georgian citizen in Berlin

Almost ten months after the murder of a Georgian in Berlin, the federal prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe filed charges against a Russian. On 18 June 2020, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office brought charges against the Russian citizen Vadim K. alias Vadim S. before the State Protection Senate of the Berlin Court of Appeal. There was, and is, no evidence of the involvement of Russian state structures in this incident. Also it was stated that this murder case is not connected with the Russian state and state authorities.

Jun 18, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that there is no proof and evidence behind accusations against Russia. Consistent with the narrative on Russophobia. A 40-year-old man, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, was shot dead in a Berlin park just before midday on 23 August 2019. The victim was a Chechen exile who had survived two previous attempts on his life. The Dossier Center, a London-based research group founded by Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, and other investigation groups, such as Bellingcat, identified the suspect as Vadim N. Krasikov, a 49-year-old Russian citizen from Siberia who, according to Bellingcat, used fake identity documents to enter Germany a few days before. The German Foreign Office says Russian officials have not responded sufficiently to repeated requests for information, despite repeated high-level and urgent demands. In addition, the German Federal Foreign Office insisted in a statement that "the Federal Public Prosecutor General has taken over the investigations into this case as there are sufficient grounds to believe that the killing was carried out either on behalf of state authorities of the Russian Federation or of those of the autonomous Chechen Republic as part of the Russian Federation". On December 4th, Germany expelled two Russian diplomats in response to this incident. Germany's federal prosecutor took over the investigation in December 2019. On Thursday, 18 June 2020, almost ten months after the murder, they said they had gathered sufficient evidence and brought charges against the suspect. See similar cases on the Khangoshvili murder here, and similar narratives on Skripal and MH17 cases.