Russian propagandists are once again using "foreign journalists" who are often of Russian descent or close ties to Russia, but not journalists at all - to promote narratives of "Western Russophobia" or "Western support for Russia." This time, they used Swiss citizen Guy Mettan, who said that Italy had already "recovered from Russophobia" and that after three months of the war, Russia supported "50% of Italians." It is a fake - since the beginning of the war, the number of Italians who support Russia in the war against Ukraine - 5-7%, but it does not change. Indeed, the share of those who do not help both sides has increased to almost 50%.

It is a bunch of fakes in one. First, neither the United Kingdom, Ukraine, nor any other state or international organization recognizes the "court decision" that found three foreigners, two British citizens and one Moroccan, guilty and "sentenced" to death. This sentence is illegal and will be recognized as another war crime of Russia and its puppet groups.

But Guy Mettan's statement, spread by the Russian media, is irrelevant at all. According to investigators, Mettan has been repeatedly accused of spreading Kremlin propaganda and is a Russian citizen.

In recent days, Russian propaganda media, citing Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, have been spreading a fake that Britain, if it appeals against the "sentence" of foreigners captured and detained in the occupied Donbas, would mean recognizing a quasi-state.

It is a bunch of fakes in one. Firstly, neither the United Kingdom, Ukraine, nor any other state or international organization recognizes the "court decision" that found three foreigners, two British citizens and one Moroccan, guilty and "sentenced" to death. This sentence is illegal and will be recognized as another war crime of Russia and its puppet groups.

Secondly, three people - Aiden Eslin, Sean Pinner, and Brahim Saadun - are not mercenaries. They are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and one of them is a citizen of Ukraine. Like any other combatant, they are covered by the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War, which means that they must be exchanged, not tried, only in cases of actual crimes for which there is no evidence. And thirdly, Britain is negotiating the release of its citizens and will take all measures to exchange and return them - but these actions do not mean any legitimization of criminal groups. The newspaper "NV" wrote more about this.

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, pro-Russian messages by Danish scientist Jan Oberg are being spread in the Western information space. In particular, Jan claims that NATO is allegedly at war with Russia on the territory of Ukraine. "Over the past month, Jan Oberg has given dozens of interviews to foreign media, which have been picked up by Russian propaganda. The pro-Russian expert negatively commented on the decisions of Sweden and Finland to join NATO, as, in his opinion, such a step by independent countries is "another provocation of Putin." According to Jan Oberg, "NATO has started the war in Ukraine," and "Western sanctions against Russia are ill-considered and will have self-destructive consequences because powerful Russia no longer wants to cooperate with the West, " the Center said.

Photos of KFC and Booking posters allegedly installed at Munich train station in Germany are being spread on social networks. The posters show the founder of KFC lying in bed, and the caption states, "Chickens from Ukraine are very much awaited in Germany." According to StopFake fact-checkers, photos with this "poster" were also distributed by diplomats from the Russian Federation - on Twitter, First Deputy Ambassador of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy published one of these photos, commenting that this poster allegedly shows an objective attitude towards Ukrainians in Europe. "Russia's order Vasyl Nebenzya even referred to this" advertisement " in his speech at a meeting of the UN Security Council on combating sexual violence related to the war in Ukraine. However, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, Serhiy Kyslytsya, noted that Russian diplomats are spreading another fake. In fact, the companies whose logos are on the images have nothing to do with this provocation. At least one of these advertising posters, allegedly placed in the central hall of the train station in Munich, does not exist - the photo, which is distributed online, was processed in a photo editor. Locals also confirmed the absence of this poster in the StopFake comment.

Russian propaganda media reported that US President Joseph Biden had said that Ukraine would have to cede part of its territory to Russia "as part of a negotiated settlement." According to propagandists, this is allegedly mentioned in an article on the English-language website The New York Post. However, according to Stopfake, Biden did not say that Ukraine should give part of its territories to Russia to resolve the conflict. He stressed that the United States would not impose any decisions on Ukraine's truce with Russia, and Kyiv must decide whether to make territorial concessions for itself.

This thesis is spread by referring to Spiegel's German newspaper, which published the article "Why is Germany so slow to supply weapons?". One paragraph in this text is currently being actively discussed on social networks and the media. Namely, Spiegel, citing unnamed sources "close to the German government" (i.e., not in the German government), writes: "There is concern that Ukraine may become overconfident if it wins a series of victories on the battlefield and decides to invade Russia, which will mean that German tanks will be inside Russia again. This concern underscores Berlin's distrust of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. And this is also the reason why Germany's defense industry is not allowed to supply battle tanks. "

However, in another part of the article, the German publication criticizes Chancellor Olaf Scholz for "a mixture of incompetence and reluctance" for "the desire to hide behind his allies." "It seems that Scholz would never have laid down any weapons without massive pressure from abroad and within his governing coalition," the paper said. "And this even though Kyiv needs all the help it can get."

At the same time, the thesis of "provoking Russia" is not new to Western politicians. For example, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, when explaining why NATO cannot close the skies over Ukraine, also said that it would "mean NATO's direct involvement in the conflict and carry the risk of a full-scale war for the whole of Europe." Or US President Joe Biden, who, on the day of the announcement of new military aid to Ukraine, in fact, asked: "not to shoot at Russia." "We do not call on Ukraine to strike outside its borders, and we do not give it such an opportunity with our decisions. We do not want to continue the war just to harm Russia, " he wrote in The New York Times. However, their statements are a precaution not to provoke an escalation rather than distrusting the Ukrainian government.

It is not the first time Spiegel has emerged alongside pro-Russian propaganda. Previously, the publication published a "study on Ukrainian tax evasion schemes" without methodology and other data. It was commissioned by the European United Left and Left-Green Greens, known for its pro-Russian stance. The Ukrainian media later republished this information concerning Spiegel. Read more about this in the article "How the Ukrainian media fell into the hands of Russian propaganda." The Cardiff University Institute for Crime and Security Research has also published research on how manipulations of leading Western media, including Spiegel, are used to spread anti-Western disinformation and promote Russia's pro-Kremlin ideas and geopolitical interests.

  This thesis increasingly began to emerge in Russian and pro-Kremlin telegrams on the 100th day of the Great War. Similar allegations were made during the eight years of war in the Donbas. Through this message, Russian propaganda is trying to spread manipulations and fakes that "Ukraine will stop helping," or "the West will ease sanctions against Russia," or "European countries will not accept Ukrainians fleeing the war," and so on. Similar theses have been circulated in the media in the past, but now they are being grouped under the tentative name of "general fatigue from war." This message is part of the Russian information and psychological operation and is designed to arouse the despair of Ukrainians in victory and international partners. In fact, Ukrainians are not ready to make concessions in the war: as of May 2022, 78% of respondents were against the concessions of Russia. 94% of citizens living in the western and central regions believe in Ukraine's victory in the Russian-Ukrainian war. "Among Ukrainians who are confident of Ukraine's victory, 41% will consider the expulsion of Russian troops from all over Ukraine and the complete restoration of control over the state border in 2014 to be a victory. The exact number (41%) believe that victory can only be considered a situation where the Russian army is completely destroyed, and the Russian Federation disintegrates, "- said a study conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Foundation for Democratic Initiatives with the Center for Political Sociology with the support of John Fell Oxford University Press Research Fund. Western countries also continue to support Ukraine and provide weapons, in particular, during the two months of full-scale war with Russia; Ukraine has received more than $ 8 billion in weapons, ammunition, ammunition, and intelligence from NATO and other partners. The United States is also expected to hand over a $ 4.6 billion military aid package to Ukraine. 

Zelensky gave instructions to the mayors of American cities. On June 4, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a video address to the Conference of Mayors of the United States, urging American cities to renounce "brotherhood" with Russian ones. Of course, Russian propagandists did not miss this speech and distorted the words in their way, giving Zelensky "anger" and the power to instruct American mayors.

In his address to the 90th Annual Conference of Mayors, which unites more than 1,400 American mayors, the President of Ukraine said: "Chicago and Moscow. Jacksonville and Murmansk. San Diego - Vladivostok. Albany and Tula. What do these connections give you? Probably nothing. But they allow Russia to say that it is not isolated even after such a war. Each of you sees how the Russian army is at war and what it is doing with the peaceful cities of Ukraine. Her cruelty is no different from the tyrannies of the past. "

He stressed that 3,620 settlements of Ukraine came under Russian occupation, many of which are no longer suitable for civilized life.

"This is the reality that Russia has brought: when there is no connection in the cities, there is no electricity, there is simply no water. When bombs and missiles can destroy any building - even a kindergarten or university. When the whole city can just be burned, "the president said.

Zelensky invited the mayors of American cities to implement a project to rebuild Ukraine. As we can see, in his words, there is neither aggression nor a commanding tone on the part of Ukraine.

Due to the war, we remind that twinning ties with Russian cities were severed by several Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Odesa, Zhytomyr, and others. Also, on September 2, 2014, due to the Russian armed aggression against Ukraine, Prague severed twinning relations with Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The Russian state news agency TASS, quoting Andriy Morochko, a militant from the Luhansk People's Republic, said that a French citizen who died in Sievierodonetsk was a mercenary an intermediary in arms supplies to Ukraine. It is a fake.

In fact, Frederick Leclerc-Imhoff is a BFMTV journalist who was killed by the Russians on May 30, 2022, during the shelling of an evacuation column of civilians from the city of Sievierodonetsk. He was 32 years old. The deceased's mother reacted to the spread of the fake, saying that no one would be able to tarnish the memory of her son, and those involved in the war crime, which Russian propaganda is trying to hide, should be punished. "I'm sick of your press release," said Leclerc-Imhoff's mother, who is posted on the BFMTV website. The French Foreign Minister also demands an investigation into the journalist's death.

An English-language fake is spreading on Facebook - President Volodymyr Zelensky allegedly bought a residence in Florida for $ 35 million, which the United States has allocated to help Ukraine in the war with Russia. Check Your Fact denied this information, noting that there was no evidence that Zelensky had bought the property and that the house was still up for sale. "A reverse image search shows that the house presented in the publication is up for sale at Sotheby's International Realty for $ 11.5 million. There are no signs that he has been sold, " the fact-checkers said, recalling that Zelensky had rejected a US proposal to evacuate the capital Kyiv after a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This fake is aimed at American users because it contains manipulation and lies about buying property: they say that the Ukrainian president paid for the villa from "their taxes." It is not the first time Russian propaganda has tried to discredit Zelensky in the eyes of the foreign community. These are attempts to undermine the trust in the Ukrainian government among ordinary citizens of other countries, including the United States, further influence the support of Ukraine by international partners. Earlier, Zelensky gained popularity among English-language Twitter, Ticket, and Reddit users. Read more about how the world discovered Zelensky in MediaSapiens.

The pro-Kremlin media spread this manipulative thesis, noting that training plans for protection against chemical weapons for 2019 were found at the Red Cross base in Mariupol. At the same time, Russian propaganda "reminds us" that pro-Russian militants then allegedly "reported the preparation of a provocation with chemical weapons in Mariupol." Thus, Russia is trying to convince that the Red Cross and the Ukrainian authorities allegedly "prepared a chemical attack." Such messages should operate on the principle of "information alibi." The Russian media is preparing an information background so that the Russian authorities can shift responsibility for the crimes committed in Ukraine.

The Red Cross, like the United Nations, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and others, is studying the effects of chemical weapons and trying to prevent their use. This is not the first time Russian propagandists have spread fakes and manipulations about the alleged "preparation of provocations with the use of chemical weapons by Ukraine." The propaganda also manipulates the fact that Ukrainians are provided with means of protection against chemical weapons - this allegedly proves Ukraine's intention to use them. In reality, it is protected in the event of a chemical attack by the Russian Federation.

Posts with this statement are distributed on Facebook and other social networks in Russian. They claim that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently said that the genocide of Russians in Donbas was ridiculous. Against the background of a special military operation in Ukraine, Germans now have a moral right to forget what their ancestors did during World War II. The video adds excerpts from a Russian-language interview with Scholz, in which he says NATO is not an aggressive organization, noting that Putin's allegations of genocide in the Donbas are ridiculous. In fact, according to Myth Detector checkers, the widespread claim that Olaf Scholz says that in light of the current Russian aggression, Germans have the right to forget the crimes of their ancestors during World War II is untrue. An excerpt from Scholz's video shared on social media was taken from the Munich Security Conference, where he spoke about security issues, including Russian aggression. Scholz did call Putin's arguments about the genocide in Donbas ridiculous, but he never said anything about forgetting the crimes of Nazism.

The video of the US ambassador in Georgia, Kelly C. Degnan, broadcast in Georgian, has spread on social networks. In this video, she allegedly says that Georgia needs to open a so-called second front against Russia. The video quotes Degnan as saying: "To make sure that the armed forces are on high alert and that the United States is supporting Georgia in its steps towards NATO membership. It is an incredible opportunity for Georgia, and time cannot be wasted. " These words are followed by footage of the explosion, which gives the impression that Degnan talked about hostilities.

Russian media have spread a distorted quote from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who allegedly said that Turkey did not want to get involved in the "show about Ukraine," saying that Ankara would not join sanctions against Moscow, and Russian companies could do business in the country.

StopFake writes that the quote of the President of Turkey was distorted, and words about the show were taken out of context. In fact, Erdogan said that Turkey opposes encroachments on Ukraine's territorial integrity and is trying to do everything possible to bring the parties to a peace agreement. Regarding the "show", according to the Turkish leader aa.com.tr: "President Erdogan emphasized that instead of participating in shows that do not contribute to resolving the crisis, Turkey is making every effort to cease fire in the region and then sign a permanent peace agreement, maintaining political and humanitarian relations with Russia. "

Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels reported that two battalions of Poles had allegedly arrived in Ukraine and would soon be sent to fight in the Donbas. This fake began to spread against President Volodymyr Zelensky's statement about the bill on the special legal status of Polish citizens in Ukraine, which should become a "mirror respect" for Poland, which passed a law on support for Ukrainian citizens. It came into force on March 13 and regulated the legality of Ukrainians' stay in Poland and provided them with comprehensive support.

Despite this, StopFake writes, Russian propaganda spreads the thesis that the Ukrainian bill aims to " legalize Poles who want to take part in hostilities against Russia." In fact, for this purpose, the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine was created in Ukraine, where citizens of other countries serve. It includes Poles and volunteers from the Netherlands, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, and other countries. But there are no separate Polish battalions in Ukraine. Only Belarusians have their battalion named after Kastus Kalinowski, recently enlarged to the regiment. The Polish Government Security Center also denied allegations that Polish troops had arrived in Ukraine.

Such a statement by the chairman of the State Duma of Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, was spread by the Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels. According to him, 35 percent of the 40 billion will be used to finance the US military, 45.2 percent will be spent on other countries, 4.8 percent will be used to help refugees, reopen the USA embassy in Ukraine, and additional diplomatic support.

On Saturday, May 21, 2022, USA President Joe Biden signed a law providing $ 40 billion in aid to Ukraine. According to the document, the funds should be used for military and humanitarian aid. $ 20 billion of these funds will go to armaments, and the rest is direct budget and humanitarian aid.

Russian propagandists are spreading this message, the Center for Disinformation Protection said.

According to Russian propagandists, "neutral Finland has decided to exchange available Russian gas for NATO membership. Residents of Finland refused to pay for Russian gas in rubles. Finland will buy more gas from the United States at an inflated price to cover the deficit. "

A Russian propaganda channel called Channel One aired a story about alleged "foreign journalists" who visited the occupied Kherson region. In fact, it turned out that these "journalists" are bloggers - fans of Putin, who have been living in Russia for many years. Ilya Shepelin, a former journalist for the Dozhd TV channel, drew attention to this. He wrote about it on his Twitter page - “Thomas Roper and John Dugan, whom they described as "foreign journalists," did not work for any media outlet.”

"Channel One showed a story about how enthusiastic" foreign journalists "visited the occupied Kherson region. In fact, these "journalists" were Putin's bloggers, who have lived in Russia for many years - Thomas Roper and John Dugan, who do not work in any media, " Shepelin wrote.

Before that, the propagandists made headlines about Roeper as a "journalist for Anti Spiegel from Germany." However, in reality, it is his blog, which was also created on a domain registered in Russia. In this blog "loyal to Putin," Roper rebroadcasts all the Kremlin's methods written on the Telegram channel "Trukha Ukraine."

This is reported by the Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

The National Interest has published material by USA intelligence veteran Paul R. Pillar. He states that "humiliating" Russia with sanctions and removing Putin from power "will harm the whole world."

Serbian political scientist George Vukadinovic, interviewed by Kremlin media abroad this week, also spoke about Russia's greatness. Vukadinovic claims that NATO "should be held responsible for the war" in Ukraine. In a Politico article, scientists Patrick Portman, Justin Logan, and Benjamin M. Friedman suggested that Ukraine should return to "negotiations with Russia" because the West was giving Ukraine "false hopes of victory" in this war, hiding that it could not help money and weapons for so long.

The fake about Poland's alleged plans to take control of the western regions of Ukraine has spread on media. Earlier, Russian propagandists imagined that Poland wanted to send troops to Western Ukraine or take control of Western Ukraine with the help of NATO peacekeepers. This time, pro-Kremlin blogger Yuriy Podolyaka is spreading the message that Poland plans to move to the side of Russia and then seize the western regions of Ukraine. In the video, he claimed that after the occupation of western Ukraine, Poland would begin the denazification of the Ukrainian population. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine reminds us that the message that Poland is preparing to annex the western part of Ukraine remains one of the central narratives of Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine, which aims to split good relationships between Poland and Ukraine. All news with such a message is based only on the author's personal opinion and is confirmed in advance by falsified "facts". On May 20, Polish President Andrzej Duda stated that the victory of Ukraine as the complete restoration of territorial integrity would be the best end to Russia's war against Ukraine. It once again confirms the good neighborly relationships between Poland and Ukraine. Read more.

The Russian media widely spread such information regarding the American publication Bloomberg. The source of this manipulation was a column by Indian writer Pankaj Mishra, "Ukraine should beware of the British who give it gifts." First, the writer's opinion does not reflect the opinion of Bloomberg L. P. and its owners. Secondly, in his column, the writer assumed that Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs Elizabeth Mary Truss, and Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace were seeking to improve their political careers during the war in Ukraine. And that removing Johnson from the office will not solve the issue of British support for Ukraine. In November 2021, Boris Johnson said that the United Kingdom supports Ukraine because it was committed to democracy and freedom, not because of its hostility to Russia. On March 2, 2022, at an extraordinary session of the United Nations General Assembly, 141 countries condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And 39 countries, coordinated by Britain, have filed the largest number of war crimes in the history of the International Criminal Court.

Third, according to the writer, one of the British representatives' demands is to oust Russia from Crimea.

On February 24, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On February 28, the first meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in the Gomel region. Several meetings have taken place since then. While negotiating, Russia has continued to kill civilians, shell and occupy Ukrainian territories, particularly in the east and south, to have a land route to the occupied Crimea and Transnistria. The Crimean issue was discussed on March 29 in Istanbul. Then the Ukrainian delegation, on its initiative and not under the influence of Britain, suggested that Russia fix in a separate clause of the agreement that the status of Crimea and Sevastopol would be resolved within 15 years in bilateral talks during peacetime.

Social networks publish a screenshot of the Financial Times publication about Russian military losses in the war in Ukraine and draw attention to the phrase "The statements of the Ukrainian and Russian military cannot be independently verified. Allegedly, this explains that Ukrainian statements are considered false in the West as well. In fact, the statement about the loss of a third of the Russian army, in addition to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, was made by the British Defense Ministry, referring to its intelligence data. The Financial Times refers to the report of the British ministry. The mentioned phrase is rather used to emphasize the sides of the conflict, the Stop Fake checkers admitted the fact. Read more.

Anonymous telegram channels devalue the ability of small countries to help Ukraine. Using the example of the statement of the Estonian authorities about their assistance to Zhytomyr region, the propagandists ironize about the area of the country and describe the schemes of redistribution of funds to create funds, whose work will not be felt by an ordinary Ukrainian. We are also talking about a "scheme" under which, in return for assistance in reconstruction, Estonian companies will receive access to the resources and profitable economic cases of the region. Please note that the message is not based on a single fact, refers to an anonymous source, and probably aims to devalue the partnership with European countries in the eyes of Ukrainians and representatives of local authorities.

This fake was spread by Russian media and telegram channels referring to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. This is not the first time Russia has claimed that it is fighting in Ukraine against third parties. Earlier, for example, Russian propaganda convinced that it was fighting NATO in Ukraine. Also, the Kremlin media already spread a fake that the U.S. would send former Afghan National Army soldiers to Ukraine. In particular, in this way Russia is trying to justify its defeats in Ukraine, saying that mercenaries have better training, so it is more difficult to fight them - here plays the psychological factor that there is no shame in losing to conditionally stronger mercenaries. Or vice versa, to report on the "destruction of a group" that does not actually exist.

In fact, the U.S. is not going to send American troops to Ukraine at all, as President Joe Biden has repeatedly pointed out. Throughout Russia's war against Ukraine, the U.S. has been providing various kinds of military and medical aid to Ukraine. At the same time, it is Russia that has copied ISIS' methods and tactics for introducing war. Read more about this in the article "European Truth".

A video of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg with Russian voiceover is circulating in social networks, in which he allegedly says Facebook is closing down and leaving Russia. This video, in particular, was published by the Facebook page of Mytworld. Factcheckers from Mythdetector reported that they used a video from Zuckerberg's interview with American writer Tim Ferris for the fake. In it, the Meta founder talked about the company's long-term strategy, technical challenges, operating principles, etc. So the Russian-language voice-over is fake.

In fact, Roskomnadzor blocked Facebook and Instagram in March, and declared Meta "extremist. Despite the fact that it was Russia that decided to block the social networks, Russian bloggers demanded a billion dollars in "compensation" from Meta for blocking instagram, because they "lost their main source of income. So this video could be part of a narrative about alleged "Russophobia" in the world. The U.S. State Department has previously said that claims of "Russophobia" are seen in a number of topics and are used whenever the Russian government wants to portray itself as a victim while it is the aggressor.