An alleged quote from Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former adviser to several American presidents, is being circulated on social networks. According to a Facebook post, he allegedly said that global elites are preparing to cause wars, famines and epidemics around the world with the help of vaccines and chips. Fact-checkers of the Czech project Demagog.cz established that this quote was invented by Russian users of social networks, and then supplemented by Slovak ones.

“Our ultimate goal is a one world government. We will do terrible things: wars, famines and epidemics around the world. After the first, the second, third, fourth, fifth will come, until you yourself ask us for vaccines, and in the end, for chips. If only all this would finally end”, says the quote, which is distributed in Slovak.

The fictitious quote from Zbigniew Brzezinski was first distributed on the Internet in a somewhat abbreviated form - without mention of vaccines and chips, only about a “one world government” and “wars, famines and epidemics”, Demagog.cz reported. Myth Detector, a fact-checking organization, has previously refuted the authenticity of these words and found that the false quote began to spread from Russian sources back in 2012. It was first published in August 2012 by Russian publicist Mykola Kofyrin in his conspiracy blog post, and the next day the fake quote began to spread on the Russian blogging platform LiveJournal.

A post with an invitation to a protest march containing this fake quote began spreading in Facebook groups on April 6, 2024. They used the full version of the quote from vaccines and chips. A similar version first appeared on social networks in October 2020. It was mentioned without specifying a source in an interview for the Extra Plus website by Slovak entrepreneur Jan Semaniak.

Semaniak, who died in January 2024 in Slovakia, was involved in book publishing. His publishing house, Torden, has published books by Volodymyr Putin's advisers and defenders of Russian imperial ambitions. “The publishing company did not stop selling books with pro-Kremlin propaganda even after the start of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Semaniak himself also openly held pro-Russian views in life and liked to spread unfounded conspiracy theories”, Demagog.cz reports.

More refutations of propaganda theses and conspiracy theories can be found in the sections “Messages”, “Tactics and tools”, “Newspeak” and “Conspiracy Theories” of the Detector Media “Disinformation Chronicles”.

Kremlin telegram channels claim that HIV and hepatitis B and C are spreading massively among the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and due to the lack of medical care and even its ban, the situation is only getting worse. Therefore, the government allegedly decided to take “extraordinary measures” - free testing for these infections for the military.

As VoXCheck analysts explain, the Facts article cited by propagandists is not talking about the “massive” spread of HIV and hepatitis B and C among the military. And it is about a pilot project created on the basis of the Main Military Clinical Hospital in Kyiv, where military personnel can undergo rapid testing for these infections and receive the necessary treatment.

According to the Center for Public Health, cited by fact-checkers, in 2023, more than 11.6 thousand cases of HIV were recorded among all Ukrainians. The incidence rate even decreased by 5% compared to 2022. There is no official data on HIV infection among military personnel, so allegations about the “massive rate” of infection among soldiers are unfounded.

The number of cases of hepatitis B and C is also relatively small - 759 and 439 cases respectively for 2023. Information about the military is also unknown.

Military personnel were able to undergo free testing for HIV, hepatitis B and C before. In particular, HIV-infected people can contact the HIV/AIDS hotline.

The medical guarantee program operating in Ukraine includes a package of services for HIV-infected people, which provides free testing, treatment, medical supervision, etc. As of the beginning of 2024, more than 118 thousand people are receiving antiretroviral therapy.

Thus, statements about the “massive” spread of HIV and hepatitis B and C among the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the lack of medical care are untrue. This is yet another piece of Russian propaganda disinformation.

At the end of March, propagandists intimidated people that Ukrainian military personnel studying in France were allegedly diagnosed with tuberculosis, and also that in the Poltava region there was no one to treat populated areas against ticks due to the “mass mobilization” of relevant specialists.

More rebuttals to healthcare misinformation are available in the Disinformation Chronicles Healthcare section.

While monitoring the information space, the Center for Countering Disinformation discovered a fake telegram bot posing as the official account of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration. This bot directs users to an anonymous Telegram channel that distributes misinformation.

“If you come across a fake Chernihiv regional military administration resource, block it and do not follow any links. The Center calls on Telegram channel administrators not to create fake pages of official government agencies, so as not to mislead readers”, the Center for Countering Disinformation urges.

Fake telegram channels from authorities or officials may be created to spread misinformation. For example, in mid-July 2023, attackers created a fake telegram channel with the name of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov. This channel spread a fake that Budanov thanked Ukrainian patriots for the partisan special operation in Crimea. The news was replicated by both Ukrainian and pro-Kremlin media. Later it turned out that Kyrylo Budanov did not make such statements.

In November 2023, a fake page of the then Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, appeared on Telegram.

Information is being spread online that as a result of assault operations, Russian troops allegedly captured the village of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region and actually gained a foothold there. In asserting this, propagandists refer to a statement by one of the deputies of the Zaporizhzhia regional council.

In fact, this “news” is not true. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications and Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

The Defense Forces of southern Ukraine note that the information picked up by the media was published without checking its veracity by those who are not directly related to real combat work and do not have operational information about the situation in Robotyne.

The Southern Defense Forces also add that Ukrainian units are repelling Russian attacks with artillery on the approaches to Robotyne: the military of the 65th Mechanized Infantry Brigade and related units are destroying groups of invaders with strike drones and mortar crews.

Kremlin media and social media users began spreading false information that a disabled man in Ukraine named Yevhen Khaimov died several days after “forced mobilization”. These messages included a photograph of the deceased and details about his death.

StopFake found out that Yevhen Khaimov actually died, but joined the Ukrainian Defense Forces back in March 2022 and defended the country of death on January 26, 2024 in the Donetsk region. His wife Maryna filed a petition to award him the title of “Hero of Ukraine (posthumously)”. Neither relatives nor officials reported that Khaimov had a disability.

Fakes about mobilization in Ukraine have intensified against the backdrop of news about the preparation for voting of bills concerning changes in the rules for attracting military personnel to serve in the army. Recently, the Disinformation Chronicles refuted fake news that police officers are detaining men and handing them over to employees of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers.

Thus, the allegations of “forced mobilization” and the death of a disabled man a few days later are untrue. Russian propaganda used the real death of a military man to spread disinformation.

Fakes about mobilization in Ukraine have intensified against the backdrop of news about the preparation for voting of bills concerning changes in the rules for attracting military personnel to serve in the army. Recently, the Disinformation Chronicles refuted the fake news that police officers are detaining men and handing them over to employees of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers, for which a pensioner received a draft notice, and also that in Ukraine they are allegedly calling for families to mobilize into the Armed Forces.

The air raids in Ukraine are supposedly in vain, because “the Russians are targeting exclusively military targets”. Russian telegrams began to disseminate such information. They say that sirens are beneficial only to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi in order to sow panic around the war among the people of Ukraine. As proof of their claims, propagandists are distributing a fake, allegedly unknown persons in the Odesa region covered with foam a siren informing the civilian population about the missile danger. However, this information has already been refuted by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

The assertion of Russian propaganda about the “inexpediency” of air raids contradicts reality, because Russia daily randomly fires missiles, bombs, kamikaze drones and artillery at the territory of Ukraine.

In particular, by spreading a fake story about covering sirens with foam, propagandists are trying to justify Russian missile terror and shelling of Ukrainian civilians. Previously, we refuted information that the air raid warning in Ukraine would be activated to supposedly make it easier to issue draft notices to men in shelters.

Russian propaganda traditionally resorts to rhetoric about the “Ukrainian trace” to explain the causes of internal problems or tragedies on Russian territory. They say that all dangers for Russia are necessarily somehow connected with Ukraine. Yes, official Moscow searched and supposedly even found a “Ukrainian trace” in the Jewish pogroms in the Caucasus, the terrorist attack at Crocus City Holi in the Moscow region, etc.

In particular, during a telephone conversation between Russian Defense Minister Serhii  Shoihu and the newly appointed French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu on April 3, 2024, the former spoke about the information available in Russia about the “Ukrainian trace” in the Crocus terrorist attack. However, in response, Lecornu said that France does not have any information to establish a connection between this terrorist attack and Ukraine. He also called on Russia to stop any instrumentalization of this event. The United States also stated that Ukraine was not involved in the terrorist attack, and Putin’s inner circle does not believe that Ukraine was involved in the terrorist attack in the Moscow region. It is also known that the Islamist terrorist state ISIS claimed responsibility for the shooting at Crocus, however, in this situation, Russian propaganda insists on various versions with a “Ukrainian trace”, which in some places contradict each other.

In addition, the Kremlin can talk about the “Ukrainian trace” in the event of crisis events outside Russia, often directly affecting it. Insisting that “all the ills of the world” are to blame for Ukraine. So, for example, in the case of the Nord Stream explosion, the emergence of weapons from the Hamas terrorist group from the Russian-Ukrainian war (allegedly Ukraine “sold” Western weapons to terrorists) and many others.

For example, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Pieskov spoke about Ukraine’s possible involvement in sabotage on the Nord Streams: “Ukrainian traces of this sabotage and terrorist act are increasingly appearing in various reports, investigations, and media reports. This is true”. In fact, there is no real evidence to confirm this, except for some additional “details”. In addition, in the West questions are being asked, “Why did Ukraine need to blow up gas pipelines that were already under sanctions and were not working?”

Consequently, Russia’s rhetoric about the “Ukrainian trace” in certain troubles of Russia or the world is aimed, first of all, at fixing in the minds of as many people as possible the associative series: “Ukraine = terrorism”. And this while Russian terror against the Ukrainian population continues. Also, in this way, the Kremlin seeks to strengthen anti-Ukrainian sentiment among its own population, in particular. And in this way, Russian propaganda discredits Ukraine at the international level and throws another “argument” into the information space to justify aggression, which sounds like “protection from terrorism on the part of Ukraine”.