Spilnota Detector Media
Detector Media collects and documents real-time chronicles of the Kremlin disinformation about the Russian invasion. Ukraine for decades has been suffering from Kremlin disinformation. Here we document all narratives, messages, and tactics, which Russia is using from February 17th, 2022. Reminder: the increasing of shelling and fighting by militants happened on the 17th of February 2022 on the territory of Ukraine. Russian propaganda blames Ukraine for these actions.

On 22 December, on the 1032th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2602
Fake
774
Manipulation
753
Message
541
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Message The Ukrainian Armed Forces offensive was needed to convince the Western allies to give more weapons

This message follows from the publications of pro-Russian bloggers. They say that the need for an offensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine followed from discussions about the supply of weapons to Ukraine in order to demonstrate to the allies that they should give even more weapons, even despite the depletion of their own stocks.

According to bloggers, we can talk about fighters, tanks and long-range ATACMS missiles capable of hitting targets in Russia. For this, according to the authors of the reports, shortly before the counteroffensive, an article was published by Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Lieutenant General Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, which deals with the possible spread of hostilities to other territories.

However, the supply of weapons to Ukraine began long before the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, and the results of its use, in particular, could be seen in the Black Sea and the sinking of the Moskva cruiser. Also, the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, of course, is not a demonstration of the capabilities of Ukraine, but, above all, an operation to liberate the territories occupied by the enemy, and it was planned from this point of view. According to its results, we recall that more than 2 thousand square kilometers of Ukrainian territory were freed.

The appearance of such messages is a way for pro-Russian bloggers to somehow explain the defeat of Russia on the battlefield and the loss of initiative in this direction, as well as an attempt to kill the wedge between Ukraine and the allies.

Fake Josep Borrell is a hidden fascist

The Russian media spread the information that the head of the EU Foreign Service called Russia a “fascist state”. And since he supports Ukraine and its government in the war with Russia, then the hidden fascist himself would support Franco's dictatorship in Spain.

This story is given by euvsdisinfo.eu. First, Borrell did not call Russia fascist, but only referred to a reservation made by a speaker at the Inter-Parliamentary Conference in the Czech Republic. And secondly, Borrell is a Spaniard and a representative of the Socialist Party, his public service and track record prove that he opposed the Franco regime and was an active participant in Spain's transition to democratic governance.

Pulling words out of context and distorting them, blaming Ukraine, the EU, the UK, etc. in being “fascists” is a typical tactic in pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystems where anyone who disagrees with Russia can be labeled as a fascist. This is done in order to play on the sensitivity of the topic of the Second World War for Russians, to cause a sharply negative attitude for everyone who is branded with such a cliché.

Manipulation Ambassador of Ukraine to Kazakhstan left the country at the request of the Kazakh side

This information was disseminated by a number of pro-Russian Facebook accounts. Like, Ambassador Petro Vrublevskyi flew to Poland after he was given only a few hours to leave Kazakhstan.

However, this message is not true. The ambassador did leave Kazakhstan, but in connection with a vacation. This was reported by both the Ukrainian and Kazakh sides.

This manipulation is used to discredit Ukrainian diplomats, especially against the backdrop of recent statements by the ambassador that Ukraine is trying to kill as many Russians as possible in the war with Russia. This statement, taken out of context, was replicated, but Vrublevskyi apologized for it, explaining it by his emotional state due to the war.

Fake Most of Ukrainian grain is not sent to countries that need it most

Ukraine mainly exports grain to Europe, and not to the countries of Asia and Africa, which need it the most. This fake was spread by the Russian media. They refer to the words of Russian leader Putin, which he said during one of his speeches, that only 60,000 tons of grain exported from Ukraine were sent to developing countries. And most, they say, “was delivered to the EU countries”.

This fake has been debunked in Britain. The corresponding statement appeared on Twitter of the British Ministry of Defense. “Putin's statement is not true. About 30% of the cargo was sent to low-income countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Russia is pursuing a deliberate strategy of disinformation in an attempt to shirk responsibility for food security issues, discredit Ukraine, and minimize opposition to its invasion”.

Also, this fake has been repeatedly refuted in Ukraine, in particular by the Ministry of Infrastructure. The Russians spread this fake to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community, interfere with its international trade and justify their military presence in the waters of the Black Sea.

Manipulation The United States considered assistance to Ukraine a mistake

The Russian media once again distorted in their own way the content of an article in the American edition of The American Conservative. They write that, according to an article titled “Winners and Losers in the Ukraine War” by founding editor Patrick J. Buchanan, America is responsible for the escalation in Eastern Europe when a number of countries were accepted into NATO, as well as for the confrontation in Ukraine. StopFake writes about this manipulation.

In the original article, there is not a word about the recognition of the fallacy of American assistance to Ukraine. In his material, Buchanan reflects on who can be considered the winner and who will be the loser in the war in Ukraine. He further writes that a new Cold War has been established between the US and Russia and raises the question of whether it is in the interests of the US and how successful foreign policy was then if the Cold War began again.

The Russian media once again used quotes from the text of a foreign publication in order to fit them to their key messages. The text does not say that the United States regrets the support provided to Ukraine, and the only quote given by the propagandists is inaccurate.

This is not the first time that the Russian media have distorted the content of what was written in order to demonstrate the decline in support for Ukraine by Western partners and the United States in particular. Thus, they personify the propaganda cliché about the lack of unity of the Western countries in relation to Ukraine and the war that Russia unleashed.

Orest Slyvenko, Artur Koldomasov, Vitalii Mykhailiv, Oleksandra Kotenko, Oleksandr Siedin, Kostiantyn Zadyraka, and Oleksiy Pivtorak are collaborating on this chronicle. Lesia Bidochko serves as the project coordinator, while Ksenia Ilyuk is the author of the project.