Propagandists are spreading information on social networks, especially in their Slovak segment, that pro-Russian blogger Gonzalo Lira allegedly died from torture in a Ukrainian prison. They say the US State Department has confirmed that Lira died in Ukraine. However, this is fake.

The lack of evidence for the propagandists’ thesis was noticed in the VoxCheck project. Fact-checkers have argued that there is no evidence that Gonzalo Lira was a victim of torture in a Ukrainian prison. Moreover, neither Ukraine nor the United States confirmed the blogger’s death.

Gonzalo Lira is a pro-Russian blogger with Chilean and US citizenship. He lived in Kharkiv and actively disseminated Russian fakes on social networks and on his YouTube channel. On May 1, 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine detained him for distributing fake news justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine and an administrative violation, namely illegally crossing the border with Hungary. On January 12, 2024, Keith Klarenberg, a writer for The Grayzone, tweeted about the death of Gonzalo Lira, noting that his family had confirmed this. Subsequently, pro-Russian propagandist Tucker Carlson claimed that Lira died in prison. The authenticity of the alleged letter from Lira, in which he described his state of health, cannot yet be verified. This information is published only on pro-Russian resources. All mentions of Lira on the US State Department website date back to January 22, 2024. No representative of the institution confirmed information about his death.

The topic of Lira is especially actively discussed among Trumpists and cospirologists. In the American information space, it arose again in December 2023, when the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi came to the United States. Then, on Network X, businessman Elon Musk expressed his vision of the rule of law and demanded that Lira be released because the United States is helping Ukraine financially.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit Ukraine. They say that there really is no freedom of speech, and Ukraine neutralizes everyone who criticizes its actions. Detector Media has already refuted other Russian inventions regarding the identity of Gonzalo Lira.

Users of social networks are disseminating information that allegedly Greek Catholics of Ukraine were exempted from mobilization. They say that proof of this is that the Kyiv Three Hierarchs Theological Seminary received a license from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to conduct higher education in the Theology specialty. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that indeed, by order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine dated January 15, 2024, the Kyiv Three Hierarchs Theological Seminary of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) received a state license and was registered in the Unified State Electronic Database of Education. However, this does not mean that members of the Greek Catholic Church are exempt from the obligation to serve in the army according to constitutional requirements.

Lawyer of the Miller law firm Andrii Novak notes in a commentary to Ukrainska Pravda that, according to the legislation of Ukraine, religious beliefs do not exempt an individual from the obligation to defend the state. The country's constitution guarantees the equality of all citizens before the law and prohibits discrimination on religious grounds. The current version of the laws on mobilization preparation and mobilization does not provide for any exceptions for believers. The obligation to serve in the army is the same for both believers and non-believers.

At the same time, Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine provides for the possibility of replacing military service with alternative (non-military) service if the performance of military duty contradicts the religious beliefs of a citizen. There is a list of religious organizations whose supporters are prohibited not only from using, but even picking up weapons. The Greek Catholic Church is not included in this list. However, this rule applies only to conscript service in peacetime.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to arouse public distrust in government decisions and discredit the mobilization process in the country. Detector Media has already refuted other Russian fakes on mobilization.

Russian media are actively distorting the decision of the International Court of Justice, adopted on January 31. Propagandists said that the Court rejected all of Kyiv's demands. Pro-Kremlin “experts” also claim that the Court’s decision supposedly confirms that “Russia honestly fulfilled its obligations to cooperate in the fight against the financing of terrorism”, and the Court itself “refused” to recognize Russia as an “aggressor state”. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that Ukraine, as a plaintiff, did not demand that the International Court of Justice recognize Russia as an aggressor, therefore all propaganda statements about this are disinformation. The court considered the case not on whether Russia is an aggressor state, but on whether it finances terrorism and promotes racial discrimination in the occupied Ukrainian territories. In particular, Ukraine accused Russia of violating the Conventions for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the Prohibition of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. We are talking about the beginning of Russia’s occupation of parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk regions and Crimea in 2014. The lawsuit did not directly address a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. On January 31, 2024, the International Court of Justice announced its decision on this claim. The court indeed rejected most of the Ukrainian arguments, among which was the payment of compensation to Ukraine. But he admitted that Russia violated the provisions of both Conventions. Thus, Russia is, at the highest possible level, officially recognized as a state violating international law. Although the Court rejected most of Ukraine's claims that Russia financed terrorism, this decision in no way confirms the “honesty of Russia”, as Russian propaganda claims. The court ruled that Russia refused to investigate allegations that funds were flowing from Russia to Ukraine for possible terrorist financing.

In terms of racial discrimination, Ukraine focused on accusations against Russia of committing illegal actions against the Crimean Tatars, the Mejlis, culture and religion. However, Ukraine’s arguments regarding the recognition of violations by Russia in Crimea of the right to assembly and freedom of speech, as well as Russia’s participation in the persecution, abductions and murders of Crimeans, did not satisfy the Court. However, it ruled that Russia had banned teaching in Ukrainian since its occupation of Crimea in 2014, limiting the rights of Ukrainians and thus violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The decision also states that Russia, with its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, violated the Court’s 2017 decision, which prohibited any action that could “worsen or prolong the dispute before the Court or complicate its resolution”. According to the Court, these actions “seriously undermined the basis of mutual trust and cooperation and thus made the resolution of the dispute more difficult”.

It should be noted that Russia manipulated the provisions of the Court’s decision in its favor, although previously Russian propaganda actively tried to discredit not only this international body, but also a number of other institutions. In particular, by spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to create the false impression that the international community has recognized Russia’s actions as lawful.

Information is actively spreading online that the Ukrainian Oschadbank has begun to block the accounts of draft evaders - residents. Users share a screenshot of their phone, which shows what appears to be an SMS message from Oschadbank saying: “Your card is blocked due to failure to appear at the Territorial center of procurement and social support. You can find out more information at the Territorial center of procurement and social support where you are registered”. The image initially began circulating on anonymous Telegram channels and pro-Russian Facebook groups. However, this is fake.

The StopFake specialists contacted the press service of the State Oschadbank of Ukraine Joint Stock Company to find out whether Oschadbank really sends such messages to clients who did not appear at the territorial picking centers. Press service representative Leonid Ziabrev replied that this information was not true - Oschadbank does not send out such announcements. At the moment, blocking the accounts of draft evaders is impossible, since there are no legal grounds for this. However, in early February, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence Yehor Chernev said on a telethon that work is now underway on a new bill on mobilization, which may include measures of an “administrative and economic nature” to evade. However, administrative and criminal penalties are provided for violation of the procedure.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine, causing panic among the population and distrust in the actions of the government. Detector Media also wrote about other Russian fakes on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine. 

Propagandists are spreading a new statement in the Russian media and anonymous telegram channels that spread pro-Russian rhetoric that Ukraine, according to them, is preparing a provocation using chemical weapons. A screenshot of a “document” in which “results of research into means of injury using toxic substances” were allegedly published, is, according to propagandists, proof of the preparation of this provocation. “Ukraine cannot do anything on the battlefield, so they are increasingly using terrorist tactics”, explains the so-called propaganda. The circulated document talks about testing the “tactical and technical characteristics of the Phosgene”, “VX” wound weapons and the “hardware and software complex for simulating the infection of “Lily” and “St. John’s wort”, which, according to them, were attached to the drones during testing. However, this is fake.

StopFake specialists turned to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for comment, where they refuted this Russian fake. In addition, the fact that the document is fake is also indicated by errors in the text, which are often found in such fakes - missing words, incorrect spelling of words, missing commas in the text. The “document” itself as a whole does not meet all the requirements for preparing such reports. In the text itself, where, according to them, the results of the study should have been indicated, there are no results, except that “the research was successful”.

This is not the first time Russia has tried to accuse Ukraine of using chemical weapons on the battlefield, but previous “evidence” was also refuted and did not have reliable evidence. The Armed Forces of Ukraine noted in a commentary to Reuters that the Ukrainian army has never used chemical weapons anywhere, unlike the Russian ones. Ukraine is a party to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, Use of Chemical Weapons and Their Destruction. In the 1990s, the entire chemical arsenal that was transferred to Ukraine from the USSR, recorded by international observers, was destroyed.

There is some evidence that Russia uses chemical weapons during combat operations against the enemy, although it announced the destruction of its arsenal of these weapons back in 2017. After the collapse of the USSR, it was Russia that became the heir to the world's largest arsenal of chemical weapons (about 40 thousand tons), including mustard gas, phosgene, lewisite and VX. The Novachok nerve gas was used by Russian intelligence services in the UK against former spy Serhii Skrypal, as well as opposition leader Oleksii Navalnyi. The use of chemical weapons, including sarin and chlorine, has been repeatedly recorded in the war in Syria, where Russia supports the regime of President Bashar al-Assad through a special operation. And then Russia also actively denied the use of chemical weapons and conducted disinformation campaigns.

At the end of January 2024, a representative of the Ukrainian Center for the Study of Captured and Advanced Weapons and Military Equipment of the General Staff of Ukraine, Captain Andrii Rudyk, said that the Russian military began using RG-Vo grenades with chloroacetophenone, a type of tear gas used to combat demonstrations. The General Staff also said that on December 14, Russian troops began using a new type of special gas grenade containing CS gas, and that Russian troops used chemical weapons at least 51 times during the first two weeks of 2024. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have recorded 626 cases of Russian use of ammunition loaded with toxic chemicals. Previously, Ukraine recorded cases of artillery attacks using chemical agents in August 2023 and the use of irritant aerosols and grenades near Avdiivka in the Donetsk region in May 2023.

Propagandists spread such fakes in order to shift responsibility from the aggressor to the victim of the situation and avoid responsibility in general. Detector Media has already written about what other fake propagandists are coming up with about the use of chemical weapons.