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 29 November, on the 1009th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2557
Fake
766
Manipulation
742
Message
536
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Fake NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has stated that Ukraine will have to make territorial concessions for peace

Increasingly, Russian propaganda continues to spread the thesis that Ukraine just must make territorial concessions for the sake of peace. Repetition of the same message in different synonymous interpretations is a classic Russian propaganda technique, making it possible to engrave the necessary information in the reader's head subconsciously. This time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg became the "tool" of Russian propaganda. Traditionally taken out of context, a distorted quote from Stoltenberg's conversation with the President of Finland was spread online. Stoltenberg said, "Ukrainians now pay the highest price and only determine the price of peace." Stoltenberg also said that "the best way to achieve peace is for Putin to end the war he started ... we have to support Ukrainians in their choice," the politician said. However, the context of Ukrainian independence, sovereignty, democracy, and freedom, as well as the maximum strengthening of the Ukrainian side in the negotiation process, is not favorable to Russian propaganda, so they are undoubtedly neglected. StopFake quotes Stoltenberg in its entirety.

Fake Russia destroyed 186 aircraft and 129 helicopters of the Armed Forces

Following the results of the three-month full-scale war against Ukraine, the Russian General Staff announced that "...the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 186 aircraft and 129 helicopters since the beginning of the SMO in Ukraine...", "...the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 1,084 UAVs and 3,373 units of armored vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the special operation ". Specialists of the Zaporizhzhia Center of Investigation compared the figures of the Russian General Staff with official data and proved that what was said could not be true. Thus, according to information from the World Air Forces 2022 directory, at the end of 2021, Ukraine had 134 fighter aircraft, attack aircraft, and transport aircraft under the command of the Air Force. Another four are in the fleet. Total - 138 units. In this way, if the Russians report 186 "trophies," it turns out that they destroyed 30% more military aircraft than Ukraine had before the war. According to the same directory, at the beginning of 2022, there were 112 helicopters in Ukraine. Of them, 15, 88, and 9 belong to aviation, army, and navy.

Fake During the three months of the war, the Ukrainian army lost 200,000 soldiers

The Russian propaganda media spread this statement. In particular, Svobodnaya Pressa, Moskva.news, eadaily.com, and ren.tv published this information concerning the German media Linke Zeitung. Reports say that American General Stephen Twitty noted that the Ukrainian army is rapidly retreating under the pressure of Russian forces and that the Armed Forces' losses may reach 200,000 soldiers. They also add that the retired general allegedly sees the successes of Russian troops in Donbas. However, the publication referred to by the Russian mass media cannot be considered a respectable media:

- the materials are published here without authorship.

- the messages are mainly of a nationalist and anti-Semitic nature.

- the Google search engine does not have any information about this resource.

As Gwara Media fact-checkers found out, General Stephen Twitty did not say that the Ukrainian army lost 200,000 soldiers. "During a discussion on the YouTube channel of the Council on Foreign Relations, the former deputy head of the US European Command, Lt. Gen. Stephen Twitty, says: "We often hear about Russian losses and tiny about Ukrainian ones, even though they are also losing soldiers. Ukraine started with 200,000, but who knows where they are now?" The American general did not claim that the Ukrainian army lost 200,000 soldiers but only said that this was the number of soldiers in the armed forces at the beginning of the war.

Manipulation France announced the readiness of the West to force Ukraine to make territorial concessions

Russian mass media refer to an article by the French online publication AgoraVox. In the article, the author expresses the opinion that Russia has won the communication war and writes as one of the arguments: "More and more Westerners (starting with the "wise old" Kissinger) are calling for a "ceasefire," for "peace negotiations" with Putin, even if it means forcing Ukraine "to make territorial concessions...".

What is wrong:

1. The article's author is anonymous under the nickname "Nikopol." It is only stated that he is "an engineer by education, a development aid manager by profession, a traveler, like a history and philosophy..." etc.

2. Nikopol does not reference the statements of the "Westerners" he is talking about, except for the former US Secretary of State.

3. Besides reflections, the author's arguments are based on fakes and propaganda messages, which "Media Detector" has already reported. In particular, about the "neo-Nazi battalion "Azov" and how "former ombudsman of Ukraine Lyudmila Denisova admitted that she lied about sexual crimes by Russian soldiers on Ukrainian territory."

4. AgoraVox is one of France's first citizen journalism sites, created in 2005 by volunteers and non-professional writers. Wikipedia wrote that in 2011, there were more than 70,000 volunteer authors on the site.

Fake In Spain, Ukrainians receive 50 euros in aid from any business simply by showing their Ukrainian passport

Russian propaganda continues its attempts to turn citizens of other countries against Ukrainians. This time, information was spread on the network that Ukrainians in Spain could show their passports at any institution in the service sector and receive 50 euros in aid. As confirmation there is a photo from one of the supermarkets where this allegedly happened is added to the posts. However, it is not valid. The refutation was published by Spanish fact-checkers concerning official information from the relevant Ministry and the Red Cross. As it turned out, in Spain, there is an established procedure of targeted assistance to refugees from other countries and low-income segments of the population (both Spaniards and foreigners) by providing special cards (cheques) that can be used, in particular, in stores. Through the Red Cross, aid is allocated to those who need it, not only to Ukrainians, and for different reasons. At the same time, the supermarket chain, one of which was in the illustrative photo, explained that they donated 1.5 million euros to support the Ukrainian people to "cover basic costs." They also explain that the "La Caixa" fund will use this money in Spain and the Red Cross in Portugal and will distribute aid in the form of €50 cards that can be exchanged at Mercadona stores in these countries.

However, such a project is still only in the plans and will be implemented from June to December 2022. Approximately 5,000 people can receive assistance in the form of cards.

Manipulation The USA has doubled the volume of purchases of Russian oil

Georgian lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili published a post on Facebook claiming that "US President Joe Biden deceived Europe and forced it to give up Russian oil, while the United States buys twice as much oil from Russia as before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict." The claim that the US doubled its oil purchases from Russia after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine is fake. Fact-checkers from Myth Detector refuted Zakareishvili's words. In fact, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US imposed an embargo on Russian oil, natural gas, and coal on March 8. Canada, Great Britain, and Australia joined the initiative. On May 30, the European Union banned seaborne imports of Russian oil with a six-month phase-in period for crude oil, accounting for 90% of the country's oil purchases. The volume of Russian oil sold in Europe in April increased significantly compared to March. According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia can sell increased volumes of oil by resorting to fraud — tankers loaded with Russian oil indicate in official documents: "Destination unknown." The oil is then loaded onto large ships in the middle of the sea, and as a result, its origin is concealed.

As for the USA, we can talk about the increased demand for Russian oil from Indian companies that process Russian crude oil into gasoline and diesel fuel, mixing it with products purchased in other countries. The US does buy some oil products from India, but it is impossible to determine which ones contain Russian oil. Experts claim that even in the case of Russian fraud, the volume of oil products of Russian origin on the market in the United States is insignificant.

Fake A cholera bacillus was found in the tap water of Kyiv and Odesa

Such information is distributed by various Telegram channels and the public of Kyiv, Odesa, and other cities. Reports state that tap water is unfit for use, so even brushing teeth and washing fruits and vegetables should only be done with boiled water.

However, it is not true. JSC Kyivvodokanal denied the information. "Information about allegedly low-quality tap water is part of the informational struggle that is taking place within the framework of the war with the Russian occupiers. Even during difficult times, during the period of active hostilities around the city, "Kyivvodokanal" strictly adhered to water treatment technologies and supplied safe drinking water to the homes of Kyiv residents. We will continue to do this in the future; there is no reason to worry about the safety of tap water," the company said.

A similar statement was made in Odesa: "As of 12 o'clock on June 10, 2022, there is no fact confirming the presence of the causative agent of cholera that has been found either in Odesa or in the Odesa region." Perhaps, in this way, Russian propaganda is trying to divert attention from the problems in the temporarily occupied Mariupol, where there is a real threat of cholera spreading due to the lack of centralized water supply and sewerage. It happened due to the occupiers who destroyed it during the city's capture. Thousands of unburied bodies of the dead have begun to decompose; garbage and filth have accumulated on the streets of the town and have not been taken to landfills since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia. Moreover, all sewage enters the sea and reservoirs, which creates favorable conditions for the reproduction of bacteria, including cholera vibrio; Now, there is a lack of medical facilities, qualified doctors, and medicines, making it impossible to provide medical care to the infected. The journalists of Suspilne spoke in detail about the situation in Mariupol.

Note that the occupiers are deliberately hiding information about the epidemiological situation in Mariupol and spreading the news about the opening of the beach season in the city.

Fake The French demanded a life sentence for Volodymyr Zelensky

According to the fact-checkers from StopFake, this information was published by the Russian propaganda media "RIA Novosti" concerning comments on one of the publications of the French publication "Le Figaro." Propagandists claim that the French "assure that the West is guilty of today's conflict," and "Zelensky has two options: life imprisonment or physical execution."

However, it is not true. Under the title "The war in Ukraine: can new rocket launchers change the course?" to which they refer, there is no similar comment. Only its subscribers can comment on the publication's articles.

According to fact-checkers, such comments either did not exist or were deleted because the moderators considered them unreliable. It is stated in the "Le Figaro" Moderation Charter: "If the moderation team cannot quickly verify the information or find a reliable source, the comment will be deleted so as not to mislead readers."

However, if there were such comments, they would not reflect the position of all French people but would be the opinion of a specific person.

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.