Such news is spread by propagandists and anonymous telegrams. The reports say that the European Commission is moving military forces to the east, to the borders of Ukraine, which indicates that the EU allegedly seeks to take control of part of the territory of Ukraine because of economic interests. Like, all EU countries will divide a part of Ukraine among themselves. However, this is not true.

In fact, according to EU vs Disinfo experts, the assertion that other EU countries will take Ukrainian territories is unfounded. EU member states respect international law regarding state borders, fully support the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and do not put forward any claims to Ukrainian territory.

The very statement about the transfer of military forces to the eastern borders of the European Union, distorted by propagandists, was announced during the development of the Action Plan for military mobility, which regulates a simplified procedure for the response of the Armed Forces on the territory of the EU.

Пропагандисти поширюють цей меседж, аби залякати українців та продовжувати підсилювати наратив про те, що ніхто не зацікавлений в Україні як повноцінній державі. Мовляв, усі країни лишень хочуть її розділити. Однак активна підтримка європейської спільноти свідчить про інше.

Such information is disseminated in social networks. The authors of the publications allegedly refer to a survey conducted for the German TV program ARD-Deutschland Trend. Russian media write that the Germans rebelled against the increase in military assistance to Ukraine. This is manipulation.

As StopFake writes, the German company Infratest Dimap really conducted a survey commissioned by the German TV program ARD-Deutschland Trend. Such surveys are carried out systematically. This time, 1,307 Germans with the right to vote expressed their opinion. The survey was conducted over the phone or online from 31 October to 2 November. The question on the supply of weapons to Ukraine sounded like this: “Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February. Germany reacted to this with different steps. Please indicate below in each case whether they are appropriate, excessive or insufficient (…) regarding German arms support for Ukraine?”. That is, in this case, they estimated the number of weapons, and did not investigate issues of support.

A total of 41% of Germans consider the volume of military assistance sufficient, which is 2% more than in August this year. 30% of Germans consider excessive deliveries of weapons - this is 2% less compared to August. 21% called aid to Ukraine insufficient, which is also 2% less than two months ago. The remaining 8% probably found it difficult to answer.

A video with the same title is circulating online. Its author is allegedly the European Security & Defense College, an EU body that provides training in the field of general security. The video says that the EU will allegedly be forced to stop the reform of "green" energy, since the funds provided will be used to restore Ukraine; it will pay for assistance to Ukraine from NATO at the expense of state medical programs, fight the growing Ukrainian corruption.

It is not true.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, European Security & Defense College is not the author of this video. Also the claims that are circulating in the video are false. Ukraine's accession to NATO and accession to the EU are not interrelated processes. NATO includes not only EU countries. Therefore, the authors of the video manipulate causal relationships.

The Center emphasizes that all information, even the one published by allegedly well-known Western institutions, requires careful verification.

Last week, the third demonstration in the last two months took place in the Czech Republic, organized by the ultra right, the Communist Party and fringe groups. Among the demands of the protesters: to start negotiations with Russia on the purchase of gas. To do this, they believe, it is necessary to cancel sanctions and stop the supply of weapons to Ukraine. They also demand to ensure the status of neutrality, that is, withdrawal from NATO and the EU. More than 100,000 Czechs took part in these protests, organizers say. This is manipulation.

In fact, eyewitnesses say that this demonstration was the weakest, with no more than 10-20 thousand people taking part in it. According to the fact-checkers of the NotaYenota project, according to the results of the poll, 8 out of 10 Czechs do not support the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, in support of Ukraine, many more demonstrators once again come out to Prague squares than to pro-Russian rallies. These actions are held under the slogans "Czech Republic against fear" and "We can cope".

Anti-government rallies in the Czech Republic are organized by pro-Russian leaders. One of them is Ladyslav Vrabel, known as "an ardent admirer of Putin." The day before, he noted the need to go to Moscow and conclude gas agreements. Vrabel repeatedly gave interviews to Russian propaganda media and rejoiced at pseudo-referendums in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The action was filmed by Czech videographer Zharko Yovanovich who previously worked on the Russian army TV channel “Zviezda” (Star).

The Czech government has already taken action to deal with the crisis by capping energy prices and launching broad support for families and individuals struggling with rising gas prices. The government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala is taking a hard line on the Russian invasion and is an important partner for Ukraine. The Czech Parliament declared the Russian regime a terrorist one. Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov announced more than 50 projects with the participation of the Czech Republic to strengthen the Ukrainian army.

In the Russian-language segment of social networks, a picture of a seemingly special issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine dedicated to Ukraine is being distributed. In the picture there is a geotag label with the inscription Kyiv on a black field and a signature in a bubble as in comics “So we have crossed over to the dark side of the force”.

The inscription refers to the inscription on President Zelenskyi's T-shirt, where was a call from Star Wars “Come to the Dark Side”, where the first letter in the word Dark was replaced by U, so that the slogan suggested going over to the side of UA.

In fact, Charlie Hebdo did not create such a cover, and this is easy to verify: the fake cover shows the release date and number: October 21, 2022, No. 1579. The magazine with this number came out on October 26, and its cover is dedicated to the far-right French politician Zemmour (and the Russian flag sticking out of the anus of a politician). The next issue came out on November 2, and it features Musk about to "fire the truth" on Twitter, giving the floor to former US President Donald Trump. But the picture of Kyiv in the dark was spread by dozens of Russian telegram channels with more than a hundred thousand subscribers.

This is not the first time that Russian propaganda has created fake Charlie Hebdo covers to convince the audience that Ukraine, its president and the suffering people are constantly laughed at in Europe. The editors even issued a special explanation, where they called the fakes of poor quality and promised to continue to fight Putin's madness.

Anonymous GRU-controlled telegram channels are spreading an article by the Italian publication Il Messaggero to prove that Western Europe is gradually withdrawing support for Ukraine and cutting off the supply of weapons. In fact, the article is titled “Rome freezes order for new weapons for Kyiv. But the support of Ukraine remains”, it is not said that Italy refuses to supply weapons to Ukraine. But only that Italy is waiting for the visit of NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg to coordinate plans for the supply of weapons to Ukraine. The visit of the head of NATO will take place in the coming days. In addition, the article says that the air defense systems requested by President Zelenskyi are few in Italy, and therefore the delivery of these systems is being postponed for the time being. Russian telegram channels insist that the "supply of weapons" is stopped because they are allegedly smuggled into the EU and the Middle East, where they fall into the hands of criminals. All of them have recently referred to an article in a Finnish publication, which claimed that law enforcement officers from several Scandinavian countries found weapons from Ukraine in local gangs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine requested such data from law enforcement officers in Finland - and they did not find any evidence of what was said in the article. Russia has been trying to discredit Ukraine in order to reduce the number of weapons provided by partner countries from the first days of the war. To do this, it systematically invents fakes and manipulates.

This information is spread by pro-Kremlin Russian media. Reports say that since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europeans have been forced to save on electricity due to Ursula von der Leyen, Olaf Scholz, and Emmanuel Macron giving money to the Ukrainian Nazis for weapons. The reports add that Russian cultural centers in Finland and Luxembourg have already welcomed visitors who need to "warm up" as energy prices soar.

Analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the message. As experts write, this message feeds the well-known Kremlin narrative that the West is falling apart. Instead, the Kremlin seeks to pressure and blackmail European governments and create public panic over energy insecurity/cost of energy.

In fact, Ukraine isn't a Nazi state, and Nazism isn't a Ukrainian ideology. The myth of Nazi authorities in Ukraine has been a cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the beginning of the Euromaidan protests in 2013-14. It's beneficial for Russia to produce messages that the money of European taxpayers is spent on supporting the terrible Nazi regime to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of Europeans.

Moreover, with the help of such messages, Russia transfers responsibility for what is happening worldwide.

The video of French police brutally suppressing demonstrations in Paris is circulating on social networks. Posts under the video claim that these allegedly protest against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is not true. The protest in Paris on October 16 had nothing to do with NATO or the war in Ukraine. The reason for the rally was the rising cost of living and global warming.

French fact-checkers of the Logically project found the video from the rally using a reverse search. The original video caption says French police use tear gas to disperse a march against high prices and climate inaction in Paris. The Associated Press also uploaded a YouTube video of the same fight from a different vantage point on October 22, 2022. At the beginning of the video, one of the protest banners read "March against dear life" in French.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels write about this. The European Union allegedly extended sanctions to the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. With such actions, the European Union allegedly recognized these territories as Russian. It is manipulation. In fact, on October 6, 2022, the European Union agreed to the eighth package of sanctions against Russia, including sanctions against legal entities and individuals involved in pseudo-referendums in the temporarily occupied territories. Sanctions previously imposed on the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions were also extended to the temporarily occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions: a ban on the import of goods from these regions; restrictions on trade and investment; ban on providing tourist services; freezing of assets of persons who are on sanction lists; prohibition of entry for these persons to the territory of the EU, etc. The European Union condemns the occupation of Ukrainian territories and doesn't recognize pseudo-referendums' results. Moreover, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized the Russian regime as a terrorist.

Russian propaganda systematically manipulates facts and passes off wishful information as facts. They previously claimed that over 3 billion people allegedly abstained from voting on Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories. More details.

The Russian media spread this forecast concerning the head of the Russian Gazprom, Oleksiy Miller. Speaking at the Russian Energy Week forum, Miller said that Gazprom predicts an abnormally cold winter for the heating period. It is manipulation.

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, Gazprom doesn't have a meteorological service, so they couldn't make their forecast of a freezing winter in Europe. Scientists also believe that long-term weather forecasts aren't reliable. It is impossible to say precisely what the weather will be like in a few weeks, as all long-term forecasts are based on probabilistic formulations. That is, it is possible to talk only about a certain probability of a cold winter and not to assert that this will be the case.

As the cold season approaches, Russia's energy blackmail of Europe is gaining momentum. However, it is mainly based on Russian manipulation and outright intimidation.

Propagandists also manipulate the topic of finding alternative sources of energy in Europe. In particular, propaganda spreads information that the Germans allegedly cut down almost all the trees in Berlin's central park for firewood. Europe supposedly has to rely only on Russian gas, and its underground storages are empty.

Such "news" is spread on social networks and pro-Russian resources. It is about the central park of Berlin, "Tiergarten." Moreover, due to the lack of fuel and the energy crisis, the Germans allegedly thought about the possibility of heating their homes with horse manure. Despondent Europeans allegedly recall that such a situation has not occurred since the Second World War. They must, as in ancient times, gather around the fire in one room to keep warm. This information was allegedly spread by the British publication Bloomberg. It is not so.

As StopFake writes, there is no information in the Bloomberg publication that the Germans cut down almost all the trees in Berlin's central park. During World War II, the Germans did stock up on firewood by cutting down trees in Tiergarten Park, but now they buy wood as an alternative source of fuel for the winter. The article's authors write that Berlin's central park now looks the same as six months ago, and its trees remain intact. Moreover, it is confirmed by their journalist, who at that time was in the capital of Germany.

In this way, the USA and Great Britain "revenge" Russia for the events in Ukraine. Foreign pro-Russian media write that allegedly after the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines and the "terrorist attack" on the Crimean Bridge, it "became clear" that Washington was "planning large-scale terrorist acts" that would give Moscow a "pretext" for a nuclear strike. The publications write that "Anglo-Saxons" are behind both events. The spread of this misinformation a few hours after the explosion on the Crimean bridge, when no details of this event hadn't yet known, was noticed by fact-checkers of the EUvsDisinfo project.

The Russian media spread such messages concerning the materials of the Washington Post. Allegedly, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Oslo criticized his colleagues for trying to "make money" after reducing gas supplies from Russia. It is not true.

In fact, the Washington Post article "Norway portrayed as both hero and villain of Europe's energy crisis" is devoted to changes in the structure of the gas market in Europe and consumers' reactions to it. "Quoting" the alleged current words of the Polish prime minister, the propagandists resorted to manipulation. Poland gave up Russian gas in May, filled its storage facilities to 100% in August, and the Baltic Pipe for transporting Norwegian gas became operational as early as September. The volumes of Norwegian gas that will be delivered through the pipeline are similar to previous Russian deliveries. Russian propaganda systematically uses quotes taken out of context to make wishful thinking come true. More details.

In social networks, an alleged video from the Vilnius metro is being distributed, where posters in support of Ukraine were installed, scornfully illustrating the Russian army. The video also allegedly shows discriminatory inscriptions against Russians. It is not true.

There is no subway in Vilnius. In 2018, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania passed a law allowing the construction of the metro. However, the President of Lithuania, Dalia Hrybauskaite, vetoed this law at that time. As the fact checker VoxCheck investigated, most likely the Hong Kong subway is on the video. To create a fake, a clip from the Mexican band Montez De Durango was used. Photos distributed on social networks are edited through special programs.

Russian propaganda uses fake videos and photos to promote the narrative of Russophobia in Western countries. Earlier, propagandists wrote that because of Russophobia in Latvia, it was forbidden to sing “Katiusha” at family feasts.

Russian propaganda is increasing the energy blackmail of Europe and is trying to force Europe to abandon sanctions against Russia and stop supporting Ukraine. The Kremlin seeks to pressure and blackmail European governments and create public panic over energy insecurity or rising electricity costs.

According to the EUvsDISINFO fact checkers, the EU member states are preparing for winter and the heating season both at the national and at the EU level. In particular, they adopted a resolution on filling gas storage facilities and distributing them in a spirit of solidarity, using various sources of energy resources, and committed to reducing gas use by 15% this winter. Despite the cessation of Russian gas supplies via Nord Stream, Europe is ready for winter. Underground gas storage facilities in the EU were filled to 82.5% of their capacity well before the November 1 deadline set in the gas storage regulation.

Recently, the Russians made a video about a winter without gas in Europe, which was supposed to scare the Europeans. However, the “powerful gas country” used winter footage from the hitherto non-gasified Russian city of Krasnoyarsk to shoot the film. Propagandists also claimed that 60% of British factories would stop working due to rising electricity prices provoked by anti-Russian sanctions. They tried to scare and fake that the United States is killing Europe, since it is beneficial for them to refuse Europeans from Russian gas.

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.

Most of the Russian media spread the news claiming that Germany has recognized that Crimea is forever Russian. But this is manipulation. Propaganda media refer to an interview with German MP Sarah Wagenknecht, who said: the war must end, it's time to look for compromises - and Crimea can become such a compromise. Then she remembered that Russia is a nuclear state, and that the Black Sea Fleet has been in Crimea for many years - and all this, according to Wagenknecht, will prevent Ukraine from returning Crimea. Firstly, these reflections are the personal opinions of one deputy, and not the entire German parliament, contradicting both the statements of Olaf Scholz, and the position of the German government, and numerous EU bodies, whose position is supported by Germany. All of them unanimously call Crimea Ukrainian, and are not going to recognize its annexation.

Secondly, Wagenknecht is a representative of the German Livi (Die Linke) party, which constantly promotes pro-Russian messages. Representatives of this party assured that the “referendum” in Crimea was legitimate; traveled to the Russian-occupied Donbas and assured the German parliament that Azov was a “neo-Nazi battalion.” But, as StopFake testifies, even this party has not officially declared that it recognizes Crimea as Russian. Thus, the Russian media again used their favorite trick: they took the personal opinion of a sympathizer of Russia in Europe, in this case, the German woman, and they pretend that this is the position of the whole country.

Photos of elderly women carrying firewood are circulating on social networks, with captions that German pensioners are supposedly preparing for winter because of problems with gas. This is manipulation.

In fact, in the photo are Russian pensioners. Fact-checkers of the MithDetector project found that the photos were taken in 2018-2019 by Russian photographers to illustrate materials about whether the Russians will have time to prepare for winter. Despite the fact that Russia is trying to blackmail the West with gas supplies, many regions of Russia are still not connected to the gas supply system, so they must prepare firewood for the winter.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European countries are really trying to find alternative sources of energy instead of Russian gas. Alternatives include harvesting firewood and acquiring wood-burning stoves. Demand for wood stoves in Germany has doubled compared to last year. In the past, less than 6% of Germans used wood for heating, but this year the number is likely to arise.

Pro-Kremlin publications spread the statements of German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock that support for Ukraine is supposedly more important than the opinions of Germans and she does not care what German voters think about it.

As fact-checkers from Stop Fake noted, Annalena Burbock’s quote was taken out of context, and its meaning was distorted. The head of the German Foreign Ministry did not say that the support of Ukraine is more important for her than her own voters.

Burbock emphasized that the task of European politicians now is the maximum social support for their citizens due to the increase in energy prices this winter, but also unconditional solidarity with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

“We remain in solidarity with the people of our country, just as we stand side by side with everyone in Ukraine”, concluded Annalena Burbock.

Allegedly, high energy tariffs and the predicted difficult winter period led to this. Russian propaganda makes such conclusions allegedly on the basis of individual materials from the German media (Die Welt, Tagesschau, etc.).

In fact, according to the latest Tagesschau polls, more than 53% of Germans support sanctions against Russia despite the difficulties in the economy. As the Center for Counteracting Disinformation writes, Russia is repeating for Europe the scenario already worked out in Ukraine to intimidate society with an energy crisis. Russia propaganda has been spreading similar disinformation predictions about frozen Ukrainians and an imminent governance crisis in the Ukrainian information space since 2018. Now the Kremlin is intimidating the Germans with a cold winter and the potential resignation of the government due to the inability to get through the heating season.

This thesis is spread by pro-Kremlin propagandists. They say that it is the leaders of the West who incite discord and that the West will allegedly support Ukraine in the fight against Russia "to the last Ukrainian." Thus, propaganda is trying to create the appearance that the West wants to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians.

In fact, Western states, in particular the European Union, support Ukraine's resistance against Russian aggression and took part in the Crimean Platform initiated by Ukraine. It was after this event that Russian propagandists began to actively promote the thesis that the West wants the death of Ukraine. The platform aims to increase the effectiveness of the international response to the long-term occupation of Crimea, increase international pressure on the Kremlin, prevent further human rights violations and protect the victims of the occupation regime, as well as achieve the main goal - the de-occupation of Crimea and its peaceful return to Ukraine.

Such news is spread through pro-Russian telegram channels, in particular, it was spread by the Politika strany channel. The messages say that no restrictions have been introduced. Like, despite the requirements of Ukraine on restrictions, the EU did not give in and did not introduce anything. In fact, the authors substitute facts and hide the most important thing: there are significant limitations.

According to Reuters, EU foreign ministers have decided to make it harder for Russian citizens to obtain visas. The visa facilitation agreement has already been suspended. This will significantly reduce the number of visas issued by the European Union. The procedure will be more picky and long.

However, so far we are not talking about a general ban on tourist trips of Russians. Among the countries that opposed visa restrictions for Russians are Germany and France. At the same time, the countries of Eastern and Northern Europe strongly support the ban.

Ukrainian and Russian media spread the news with reference to Russian Defense Minister Serhii Shoihu. He said this at a meeting of the so-called First International Anti-Fascist Congress, which is designed to become a platform for upholding the historical truth about the decisive contribution of the USSR to the defeat of fascism during the Second World War, as well as to counteract the spread of Nazi ideology.

According to the Russian minister, the Russophobic idea is being actively promoted from the high European stands to ban all Russian citizens from entering the EU countries and this is a vivid manifestation of Nazi policy.

Anonymous Telegram channels and Russian media are spreading the news that allegedly the six largest European countries have not made new "war promises" to Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the "special operation". They said that military aid could weaken precisely when Kyiv announced a counteroffensive. Allegedly, this is stated in an article by Politico.

As StopFake writes, the Politico article does not contain any information that European countries have abandoned their promises. The article deals with two problems: the reduction of weapons stocks at the moment in those countries that have actively helped Ukraine since the beginning of the war, as well as the delay in the supply of weapons from Germany and France. The article emphasizes that Germany and France should better fulfill their promises and help more actively.

German fact-checkers of Correctiv found out that Unser Mitteleuropa (Our Central Europe) published a false article alleging that the director of the Economic Security Bureau, Vadym Melnyk, admitted that "Ukraine is selling military aid" to the West and "mass appropriation of Western funds." It seems that he said this in an interview with the Ukraine 24 channel.

Neither the Correctiv publication nor the editors of the Media Detector could find Melnyk's interview with the Ukraine-24 channel of July 5, where he stated this. Also, no other sources contain such a statement by Melnyk. The article in the German edition is, in fact, a literal translation of the news of the Russian media that was massively distributed on July 6. It was in them that Melnyk's statement was quoted and noted that he told the Ukraine-24 channel about this, and there is no link to the interview in both Russian and German media.