In social networks and Russian mass media, information that a Ukrainian drone attacked the supposedly military air base "Shaykovka," located 225 km from the border with Ukraine, is spread. These messages illustrate a photo of a broken "bayraktar," which was allegedly shot down at an air base. StopFake found out that the photo has nothing to do with the Ukrainian-Russian war. It was made and distributed in 2020 during the military conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. This photo was first published on Facebook by the press secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, Shushan Stepanyan.

Previously, Russian propagandists repeatedly wrote about the huge number of destroyed "bayraktars." Still, at the same time, they significantly exceeded their number in the Ukrainian army and the total number of drones released by Turkish UAVs.

Russian media write about it. Like, the Ukrainian military landed a drone on the territory controlled by the militants and fled Ukraine in order to “spend honestly earned money” for this “agreement”. It’s fake.

As the Center for Counteracting Disinformation writes, the Bayraktar TB2 drone is controlled by a team of three operators, not just one person. It is impossible to control the UAV without the Drone Control Center, which is part of the complex. If the drone lands on enemy territory, the enemy will not be able to use it. The loss of “Bayraktar TB2” would have led to an investigation by military counterintelligence, by the end of which none of the participants in the incident would have been able to leave Ukraine.

Propagandists simply spread fakes to discredit “Bayraktars”: supposedly Ukraine will use them for chemical attacks, or the Ukrainian military refuses to use “Bayraktars”, or supposedly the company that produces bayraktars agreed to cooperate with Russia and so on.

Russian media write about this with reference to the head of the Service for Protection against Chemical, Biological and Radioactive Weapons. They say that the Ukrainian authorities turned to Bayraktar, a drone manufacturing company, with a request to equip these drones with equipment for spraying chemicals, which could pose a real threat to Russia. It is not true.

According to the fact-checker of the EUvsDisinfo project, there is no evidence to confirm that Ukraine is preparing a chemical or biological provocation or the use of weapons of mass destruction. On the contrary, many Western leaders are genuinely concerned that Russia might use chemical weapons. Russia also constantly threatens the world with the use of nuclear weapons.

This thesis is actively spread by the Russian propaganda media, allegedly referring to information in the Turkish media. However, it is not true. The company that manufactures drones has refused to cooperate with Russia. According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, some Turkish media reported that Russia and the United Arab Emirates want to cooperate with Baykar to produce Bayraktar drones. According to the Center, Russian propaganda claims that the issue of cooperation between Russia and the company has already been resolved.

Although in reality, the Turkish media write that, despite the request of the Russian side, the CEO of Baykar Makina Haluk Bayraktar categorically refused the aggressor and stated that the Turkish "Bayraktar TB2 will never be sold to Russia." At the same time, cooperation with Ukraine continues.

By spreading such theses, Russian propaganda seeks to convince the world that the number of its partners and support is constantly growing. Thereby allegedly demonstrating that the companies that supported Ukraine in this war for a long time will now support Russia.