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***!

Fake Proceedings were allegedly opened against Ukraine due to the torture of a Russian prisoner of war

Russian propagandists write that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) allegedly launched the “Reznikov vs Ukraine” process on the “fact” of torture of Russian prisoner of war Denys Reznikov. In asserting this, they refer to the corresponding statement of the so-called “human rights activist” Vikhoreva.

In fact, the website of the European Court of Human Rights does not contain a single mention of the case of Denys Reznikov. In addition, in the document cited by Russian propagandists, it is unclear how Reznikov turned into a “woman”, while in other ECHR documents the gender is indicated according to the rules of transliteration.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine writes that the distributed document is a fake that propagandists created using graphic editors. Previously, we refuted information that Russia supposedly treats Ukrainian captives “humanely”.

Fake How a mistake by a Western TV channel formed the basis of a Russian fake

Pro-Kremlin media, citing the British television channel SkyNews, disseminated information that the rate of production of artillery ammunition in Russia is three times higher than that of all Western countries combined. In turn, SkyNews referred to data from the consulting company Bain & Company. According to “forecasts”, the Russian Federation will produce about 4.5 million artillery shells in 2024, while the United States and European countries will produce a total of approximately 1.3 million.

However, this information is not true. The head of the Conflict Intelligence Team, Ruslan Leviev, pointed out the mistake of the consulting company and, as a result, the British television channel that trusted its assessment:

“The problem is that they [the Bain & Company analysts. - ed.] name the number of shells that the USA and Europe will make, they are talking about shells of the same caliber, the main one is 155 mm. And when they say that Russia will produce 4.5 million of its shells, they count all artillery shells, that is, the main 152 mm, and some kind of 122 mm rocket, and all other shells too”.

Russian propagandists did not miss the opportunity to take advantage of the mistake of Western analysts to exaggerate Russia's production capabilities in the manufacture of shells.

Disclosure How Russia is manipulating the topic of prisoner exchange

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reports that the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Moskalkova, accused Ukraine of suspending the prisoner exchange process for several months.

However, in fact, Ukraine is ready for an exchange both in the “all for all” format and in other options. And reproaches against the Ukrainian side for “far-fetched demands”, supposedly “constantly changing”, are incomprehensible and unfounded, the Center adds.

It is Russia that is blocking the exchange, the last of which took place on February 8, 2024. Moscow similarly blocked the process in the second half of 2023, trying, as usual, to shift the blame to Kyiv. At the same time, Ukraine constantly initiates prisoner exchanges: proposals were received on April 10, 2024, on the occasion of Easter and on the occasion of the call of the Pope, but Moscow ignored Ukrainian initiatives.

Russia’s blocking of the exchange process occurs against the backdrop of numerous violations: the Russians resort to torture and execution of prisoners, use them as “human shields”, and hold civilians captive.

Also, the Russian Federation has still not provided any evidence of the death of Ukrainian prisoners of war, who were allegedly on board the Il-76 on January 24, or the bodies of the dead.

Fake Fake story about the funeral business in Ukraine

Russian resources are distributing a story on behalf of the BBC that allegedly Bellingcat journalists found out the following: “The funeral business in Ukraine was monopolized by a company whose main shareholder is the personal eccentric of Hunter Biden, the second son of Joe Biden”.

However, this information is not true. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. In fact, this story is another fake by Russian propagandists. There are no materials on this topic on the official Bellingcat pages. In addition, there is no corresponding story on the official BBC resources.

This is not the first time that Russian propaganda has spread its fake news on behalf of reputable Western publications in an attempt to give them more credibility. All fake videos have similar templates using international media graphics and captions without voiceover of the text. Previously, we analyzed a similar video fake on behalf of the same BBC about the Bellingcat investigation, in which journalists allegedly found out that the head of the Presidential Executive Office Andrii Yermak paid $27 million for a place in Time’s ranking of the 100 most influential people in the world.

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.