Russian propaganda resources are disseminating information that there are checkpoints on the Polish-German border where Ukrainian refugees are allegedly detained in order to deport them. It's fake.

This misinformation was processed by the fact-checkers from the StopFake project. They found out that the mentioned checkpoints do exist, but they are not related to Ukraine. The checkpoints are set up for security reasons and are related to the influx of illegal migrants and the activities of smugglers who smuggle people across the border illegally. According to the head of the press and information department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Illarion Pavliuk, the Ministry is not developing any measures to put pressure on Ukrainians liable for military service who have traveled abroad.

After the promulgation of the Bill of December 25, 2023 to improve certain issues of mobilization, military registration and military service, Russian propaganda speculates noticeably more on the topic of mobilization. The bill in the first reading contains, in particular, an invitation to Ukrainians abroad to clarify their credentials. However, this is not a hunt for people, and no forced mobilization outside of Ukraine is planned.

Pro-Russian resources write that Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support employees began handing out draft notices to Ukrainian men in Warsaw. As proof, propagandists are distributing a video in which a man in military uniform allegedly issues a draft notice to a Ukrainian in the Polish capital.

In fact, the video is staged - it was shot by a Ukrainian military man who is undergoing rehabilitation in Warsaw after being seriously wounded in the war. The purpose of this production, according to the military man, is “to fray the nerves of evaders” who left Ukraine illegally. He spoke about this in a new video distributed by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Russian propaganda systematically speculates on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine, in particular, spreading disinformation. Propagandists fuel their narrative with this fake, saying that the Ukrainian authorities are pursuing a policy of “grabbing” ordinary Ukrainians. Moreover, from now on they will supposedly “catch” Ukrainians abroad. Previously, we worked on the Russian message, according to which paying assistance to Ukrainian male refugees seems to be much more expensive than transferring them to the service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russian propagandists are disseminating information that President Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s visit to the Baltic countries is an attempt, through the “advocate countries” of Ukraine, to obtain a positive vote in the EU for the allocation of new military loans. They say that without this, Ukraine has almost no chance of receiving financial assistance from the EU.

This information is not true, as explained by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. The real purpose of the visit of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to the Baltic countries is to deepen cooperation with these states in many areas. In particular, in the area of security, integration into the EU and NATO, and military cooperation.

It should be noted that Zelenskyi’s visit to Lithuania has already brought significant results:

- work began on a bilateral agreement on security guarantees, as provided for in the Joint Declaration of the Group of Seven and the Ukrainian Peace Formula;

- Lithuanian officials approved a new package of military assistance worth 200 million euros, which included ammunition, detonation systems, armored vehicles, and training for the Ukrainian military;

- new agreements in the field of military-industrial complex and military cooperation were signed, support for the renewal of Ukraine continues.

Russian propaganda seeks to convince everyone that Europe is already tired of the war in Ukraine, so they no longer want to provide financial assistance to it. In addition, in this way, propagandists are trying to discredit Ukraine in the international political arena, saying that the Ukrainian leadership is “grasping at the last straw” to receive money from the EU to continue the war.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that supposedly the Kyiv city authorities are closing all exits from the city in order to begin en masse conscription of all men. As proof, propagandists are disseminating messages from the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in the Kyiv region about the closure of the bridge across the canal in Vyshhorod.

The information disseminated online is untrue, as reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. The publication of the Service states that the closure of the bridge is indeed connected with the start of its major repairs across the canal on the P-69 road Kyiv - Vyshhorod - Desna - Chernihiv. Traffic for all types of vehicles there will be blocked. However, during the period of major repairs, a pontoon crossing will operate, providing transport links for residents of the left bank part of the district and neighboring regions. That is, the opportunity to leave Kyiv, as well as enter the city, will be possible.

At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, one of the spans of the bridge on the P-69 road Kyiv - Vyshhorod - Desna - Chernihiv was destroyed, so now the bridge is not able to withstand traffic loads and needs immediate repairs.

In this case, propagandists misinform Ukrainian society, in particular men, in order to intimidate and demoralize citizens, saying that now “one won’t even leave the city, not to mention the country”. In addition, with this fake, Russian propaganda fuels its narrative that a policy of “mobilization” of ordinary Ukrainians is allegedly taking place in Ukraine.

For years, propagandists have been trying to explain current events with conspiracy theories, trying to shift responsibility for problems with real political actors to imaginary “world governments”. Some of these theories go back to the century before last, such as the well-known falsification of the late 19th - early 20th centuries called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

This text was first published in 1903 in the Russian Empire, although it existed in handwritten versions earlier. It outlines the types of plans of a certain Jewish organization to establish world domination. The real authorship of the text is unknown; certain parts of it were copied from ancient pamphlets, thus it is a compilation of conspiracy theories of the anti-Semitic ideas of that time.

Why did such a “document” gain popularity in Russia? The main theses of the imaginary plan of the Jews are the use of various ideologies, from Nietzscheanism to communism, to undermine the “traditional” foundations of society that interfere with the establishment of world domination. The main enemies of Jews and Masons, according to the “Protocols”, are the institutions of the Catholic papacy and the Russian autocracy. This view of political and social processes suited Russian monarchist conservatives, who defended the tsar as the only real obstacle to the “satanic forces” to seize power.

Modern Russian propaganda does not use the Protocols, although conspiratorial anti-Semitism in general often appears even in the expressions of senior representatives of the Putin regime, not to mention more marginal propagandists. However, it can be noted that the approach of conspiracy theories has not changed. Also, modern “evil”, from Ukrainian “Nazism” to Western “cultural Marxism”, seeks to destroy “everything good” that exists in the world, and the only one who “resists” this is the Russian Tsar, who is now called the president. Now, it seems that instead of the conditional Jews of the world, a conditional “global government” threatens the world.

With this primitive technique, propagandists strive to achieve two goals. Firstly, shift responsibility for public problems from real representatives of power, primarily the same tsar-president, who has been in power for decades, to someone else. Secondly, to rally the population around the “traditional” authorities, because they are supposedly the only ones who can protect against growing problems (in fact, inspired by this government). However, at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion did not help the Russian Tsar and his propagandists retain power. From their example, one can clearly see that conspiracy theories are not capable of resolving social contradictions, and authoritarian regimes often fall suddenly and harshly, primarily for their leaders.