Social networks are spreading data that the Russian ruble has become the second fastest-growing currency among developing countries, and the reason for this strengthening is exports. Mesegee - sanctions are inactive or working in the opposite direction.

Since late March, the ruble has really begun to recover from the collapse caused by the outbreak of war and sanctions, says Yurii Haidai, senior economist at the Center for Economic Strategy, in a commentary for the DM. Although now its official exchange rate for world currencies corresponds to the pre-war values, and the rate on the black market is somewhat lower, in the long term artificial holding of the exchange rate will harm the Russian economy, the expert added. "The first reason for the paradoxical persistence of the ruble is the trade balance. 60% of Russia's foreign exchange earnings come from oil and gas exports, which have largely persisted. The EU cannot quickly bring these purchases down to zero, and the decrease in demand from the EU is offset by high prices and attempts to redirect some exports to other countries.

In the first two months of the war, Russia received 62 billion euros in energy exports alone, of which 44 billion came from EU countries. At the same time, against the backdrop of sanctions and declining consumption, imports to Russia collapsed, which means that Russia spends much less currency than before the war. The trade surplus in the first quarter of 2022 was 55 billion euros, twice as much as in the past.

Combined with other steps, such as the obligation for exporters to sell 80% of foreign currency earnings, a sharp increase in the discount rate of the Central Bank of Russia, and a de facto ban on foreign investors exiting assets in Russia, this has created a significant demand for the ruble, leading to its appreciation.

Artificial keeping of the ruble exchange rate on the medium and long term will additionally damage the budget revenues and the economy of Russia, as it was admitted publicly by Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Central Bank of Russia. But until the Western countries introduce a full-fledged oil embargo, one should not expect a significant depreciation of the ruble," explained Yurii Haidai.

Russia is trying to legitimize this narrative in the information space, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to explain the protracted nature of hostilities to Russians, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation. The point is that one of the first theses that Russia is at war with the whole world was voiced by Major General of the Russian Federation Minnekaev at the end of April. He compared the "special operation" to World War II, noting that "both then and now the whole world has turned against Russia." Later, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that "NATO has entered into a proxy war with Russia," while Russian State Duma Speaker Volodin suggested that the leaders of the countries supplying weapons to Ukraine should be prosecuted as war criminals.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, this thesis is promoted by Russian propaganda. In particular, according to Russian State Duma deputy Matveichev, "Putin deliberately creates for Ukraine and the West a sense of their imminent victory. The latter will not strike decisive blows yet, but will continue to create the illusion as if a little more and Russia is defeated." "According to the "expert", such a strategy will force the measure to provide all possible weapons to Ukraine. After that, Russia will "dispose of all NATO weapons" and "deliver a decisive blow." The population of Russia "should understand this and fully trust the commander-in-chief. But in reality, these theses are only used by Russian propaganda to try to justify military defeats with the Russian Federation in front of its own population, first of all in the North of our country, from which the enemy has disgracefully retreated," reported in the Сenter. Thus, Russia is also trying to create the illusion of controlling the situation, and by reporting that Russia still has not delivered a decisive blow, propaganda is trying to justify the defeat of the Russian army.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, this thesis is spread in the media by Russian propagandists and, in particular, by foreign ex-officials, not for the first time supporting Russia and its aggressive policies. For example, former New Zealand Foreign Minister Matt Robson thanked Russia for standing up to NATO. According to the Center, an "expert" from New Zealand in the English-language news segment spreads the propaganda thesis of Russia that "NATO has always wanted to encircle Russia and China." "On April 29, a number of New Zealand media outlets published a commentary by M. Robson in which he expresses gratitude to Russia for the war with NATO in Ukraine in a manipulative manner. Since the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, M. Robson has regularly made such statements, completely repeating the disinformation narratives of Russia's leaders. In February and March, the former Foreign Minister of New Zealand stated that "NATO provoked the Putin. In April, Robson repeatedly stated that "NATO had promised not to expand its geographic presence. In reality, only Russia unleashed the war on the territory of Ukraine and NATO had nothing to do with it.

Social media and the Russian media are spreading a map which was shown on Chinese television and demonstrates to which states today's territories of Russia will belong after its collapse.

According to the forecasts, Rostov and Voronezh regions will be part of Ukraine, Krasnodar will be part of Georgia, Moscow will become part of Belarus, St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk will be part of Finland, the Urals and Western Siberia will be part of Kazakhstan, etc.

Actually this map in different colors was painted a long time ago and published at least in 2020. It showed what is geographically closer to the country.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Russia is again resorting to manipulation of the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In particular, Russia is using former U.S. Defense Secretary adviser Douglas MacGregor for informational blackmail. "This Western-oriented expert spreads narratives about the "inevitable defeat of Kiev," Russia's "invincible army," and intimidates the world that "Putin may use nuclear weapons." On April 22, on U.S. Fox News, McGregor predicted that further arms supplies to Ukraine would seemingly lead to an escalation on Russia's part. In McGregor's opinion, Ukraine must give Russia Crimea and Donbass so that the path does not have to "launch a nuclear strike. On April 25, in an interview with the Spanish publication El Mundo, D. McGregor stressed that allegedly supplying Ukraine with weapons was a waste of resources because, for reasons unspoken by the "expert," "Kiev is doomed," according to the Center. In fact, this is not the first time Russia has intimidated the world with the use of nuclear weapons and its almost the strongest army. However, as we can see, the Ukrainian army gives a decent response to the Russian one. Thus, by intimidation method, Russian propaganda as if it wants to hide its defeats, showing that they have not yet used all the weapons from their arsenal.

This is the thesis spread by Russian propagandists, claiming that Russia "adhered" to the rights of Ukrainians during the war, which Russia itself unleashed in Ukraine. According to StopFake, Russian "experts" complain that Russia "constantly" organizes humanitarian corridors for evacuations, but "Ukrainians intimidated by the West are afraid to use them. Russia also "categorically denies" that the Russian military was involved in the mass abuse of Ukrainians and the forced deportation of civilians to Russia. "In fact, a number of major media outlets, human rights organizations and global institutions are already collecting and processing data on countless war crimes committed by Russia on Ukrainian territory. A number of facts of illegal hijacking of Ukrainian civilians by Russian security forces, as well as facts of forced deportation of Ukrainian citizens to Russia have already been established," the fact checkers write. More details.

The Russian mass media are spreading news with the headlines "Not discussed" and its variants, which have to refer to French President Emanuel Macron that the embargo on Russian gas is not discussed in Europe.

In fact, this is manipulation: first, Macron, in an interview with Corriere della Sera said that the issue of gas may not be on the table in the EU (or maybe not) "This issue that may be on the table, but not yet today. Coal and oil are already being negotiated, gas is not yet. We know what enormous difficulties it causes. That's why you've been hearing me insist on European energy sovereignty for years.

Secondly, the gas embargo is constantly being negotiated in the EU. Yes, Macron himself insists that France supports this embargo and does not actually depend on Russian gas. Lithuania has already completely abandoned Russian gas, even Germany, which has been increasing its dependence on Russian gas for the last 8 years, is planning to do this next year (although Germany and Hungary are the two countries most likely to vote against the gas embargo proposal this year, should such a project appear on the EU ballot. So giving up Russian gas is one of the issues constantly being discussed in the EU - and some countries are already refusing to use oil and gas from Russia on their own.

Anonymous telegram channels have spread the message that postwar Ukraine will be a poor agrarian country, losing its mineral deposits and its position on the raw materials market. DiXi Group analyst Serhii Yevtushok thinks the theses are manipulative. "On the contrary, there is reason to argue that it is highly likely that Ukraine will get an even bigger boost in the development of the extractive sector in relation to minerals such as uranium, titanium and other critical mineral products after the war is over," he said. The analyst added that over the past few years Ukraine has been developing programs for exploration and production of critical minerals and a list of them has been determined. The National Program for Development of the Mineral Resource Base of Ukraine until 2030 was updated in 2021, which provides for permanent financing of geological exploration and increase of production of critical minerals. Also signed a memorandum with the EU, according to which Ukraine will attract investment for the development of the industry of critical raw materials, primarily for the production of batteries.

"Given the sanctions and the withdrawal of many companies, including service companies, the raw materials extracted from Russia will eventually become uncompetitive and will be forced out of the world markets. And the development of Ukrainian subsoil will allow, over time, to replace Russia's niche in the market," he summarized.

The thesis of this is dispersed by Russian propagandists. In particular, Vladimir Solovyov reports in his telegram channel that Ukraine has decided to abolish May 9, and in confirmation of this, he adds a document allegedly registered in the Verkhovna Rada. law, according to which May 8 is the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism, and May 9 is a working day. people's deputies registered April 18 the bill actually proposes to celebrate the Memorial Day of all victims of Nazism during World War II, May 8 and 9 with other EU countries to celebrate Europe Day, not yet adopted.

According to State Special Communications Service of Ukraine, for decades now, May 9 has been the focus of the new fascist ideology of the Russian state. It is safe to say that most of today's Russian national identity is based on the victory in World War II, which Russia attributes exclusively to itself. All ideas of Russian exceptionalism, "God-given right to rule" and Russian imperial superiority over other nations have been carefully constructed from the foundation of that same victory, turning what should be a celebration of life and peace into a macabre ritual. We don't want to be a part of it," the agency said.

This is the information spread by the Russian propaganda media. In particular, the publication RIA-news, as well as - pro-Russian telegrams on channels. The reports say that the euro exchange rate "fell" and the Russian ruble "strengthened" because Europeans seem to pay for gas in rubles. The Center for counteraction to disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council denies such information.

"The new scheme that Putin tried to sell to the EU countries provides for the buyers to open a new foreign currency and ruble account with Gazprombank. That is, European countries have to pay for gas to a "passthrough" company, which would convert the currency into rubles and transfer the "wood" to Gazprom's account. Most EU countries refused to participate in such a "scheme. In particular, Italy and Germany - the largest consumers of Russian gas in Europe - refused to pay in rubles, arguing that it contradicted the terms of existing contracts. Among the "European buyers," Hungary and Moldova agreed to the Kremlin's gamble," according to the Center.

This information is spread in the propaganda media and telegram channels. Propagandists claim that the U.S. will not be able to replace Russian gas supplies to the EU if Russia stops doing so. However, this is manipulation. According to the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, the total volume of liquefied gas production in the USA makes 120 billion cubic meters a year, and by 2025 it will increase by another 70 billion cubic meters. Projects with a combined production of 206 billion cubic meters of gas have already received federal permits in the U.S. Last month, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen announced an agreement with Joe Biden under which the U.S. will increase additional supplies of liquefied gas to the EU to 50 billion cubic meters a year. These supplies will gradually replace EU imports from Russia, which last year totaled 155 billion cubic meters of gas. The task set by Europe to eliminate dependence on Russian gas is designed to level out the intentions of the Russian leadership to use energy supplies to the EU as leverage," the Center said in a statement.

An anonymous telegram channel spread information that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put in his office a rooster from the bombed out house in Borodyanka - he allegedly decided not to buy a popular rooster, but took the surviving figure from Borodyanka. There is indeed a ceramic cockerel in the president's office. However, the figure was given to him by Liera Polianskova, a Kharkiv artist, during a walk in the center of Kiev together with the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, writes "Across the News. At the same time, a rooster from Borodyanka and a kitchen cabinet, which became a symbol of war, were given to the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity with the permission of the owner of the apartment. Read more about the history of the photo that became the meme "How are you, kitchen cupboard?" here.

Russian propaganda media circulated a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense claiming that "Russian air defense forces near Odessa shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane in mid-air, which was delivering a large shipment of weapons to Ukraine supplied by Western countries. On April 18, a senior U.S. Defense Department official denied that Russia had managed to destroy the plane with help for Ukraine.

Anonymous telegram channels insinuate the view that Ukraine is losing, fitting it into old anti-Western narratives and conspiracy theories. Propagandists write that Ukraine "abruptly started fighting for the Donbass," even though Ukrainian troops have been fighting for the country's integrity since 2014 uninterruptedly. In addition, Ukraine is moving toward the EU, and the "collective action," which anonymous telegram channels scare, returns its embassies to Kyiv, allocates millions in aid to Ukraine, and joins investigations into war crimes in Ukraine.

Russians in Kherson distribute false leaflets in which they convince that "the Russian armed forces are not at war with the Ukrainian people," and that the war began because of "Western plans" to destroy the Russian and Ukrainian peoples. The war itself is called an operation to eliminate the anti-people Kyiv regime.

The leaflets blame the Ukrainians themselves and their elected authorities for the Russian aggression: "the grief you have suffered is the result of the criminal policies of the Kiev regime.

Such actions by Russian propagandists are a direct admission that this war has nothing to do with the mythical "defense of Donbass. Its goal is the destruction of Ukrainian statehood and the occupation of all of Ukraine, the press service noted.

Ukrainians are urged to collaborate with the Russians and noted: "Do not think it will be quick and painless." This statement becomes especially relevant given that, according to satellite images from the company Planet Lab, at least 824 new graves have appeared in the city cemetery in Kherson during the occupation.

As of today, Ukrainian and international investigators are thoroughly investigating all the crimes committed by the Russians. They will be evidence for a special tribunal over both the direct perpetrators and the Russian top brass.

The Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels are reporting en masse that U.S. President Joe Biden is suffering from health problems, which is why he will not visit Ukraine. He seems to be a "puppet" and the country is run by those who are in the shadow of his "sick figure".

Such fakes intensified after Biden called Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine genocide and that the US president was ready to come to Ukraine.

On 14 April, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, Joe Biden said that he was ready to personally come to Ukraine.

Later, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Joe Biden is "ready for anything," he is "ready to go to Ukraine. That's right. He is," but so far the White House is not sending the president to Ukraine.

She said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the eight-hour train ride "through a war zone" to get to central Ukraine. "So no, that's not part of the United States president's plan. We should all, perhaps, feel relieved about that. He's got a few more things to do," Psaki stated.

In March 2022, Biden visited Poland and the town of Rzeszow near the Ukrainian border. He expressed disappointment that he could not enter the country to see the consequences of the Russian invasion.

On April 14, U.S. Senator Steve Daines and members of the House of Representatives Victoria Spartz visited Kiev and its suburbs that have been occupied by Russian troops on Thursday, becoming the first U.S. officials to visit since the war began.

Andrei Isayev, a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party, said that Ukraine will have problems with the supply of food for the population, "the sowing season has failed, the roads are destroyed," "the Kiev regime will not solve this problem, and the West does not care about the fate of ordinary Ukrainians." Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi said in an interview to "Ekonomichna Pravda" that Ukraine does not have and will not have any problem with food in the near future. We have reserves of basic products for several years, particularly oil - for many years. Sowing of spring crops continues in 23 regions of Ukraine, except Lugansk. As of April 14, the estimated sowing area of main spring crops for the harvest of 2022 on the territory controlled by Ukraine is 14 013 thousand ha, which is by 2 903.3 thousand hectares less than last year (16 916.3 thousand ha).

Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotskyi said that there will be no shortage of basic foods, particularly eggs, poultry, milk and vegetables in the domestic market of Ukraine. There is no shortage of food in stores, except in cities that the Russians have blockaded or temporarily occupied. No humanitarian aid can be delivered there.

In addition, the World Food Program has already rolled out a large-scale humanitarian assistance to war-affected Ukrainians. So, in particular, contacts have been established with bakeries, flour mills and food industry enterprises in Ukraine to purchase goods in critical regions. We are talking about 40 thousand tons of food products. Seven warehouses were opened in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Odessa and Kropyvnytsky. And in Lviv, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts, cash assistance is provided to resettlers.

The Russian media have been reporting en masse over the past two days, April 14 and 15, that Greece has refused to supply weapons to Ukraine. On April 14, they referred to a statement by Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panayiotopoulos, and on April 15 to a statement by government spokesman Yanis Oikonomos. Both statements are interpreted in favor of supporting Russia, but this is not the case. First, Greece has already supplied Ukraine with weapons - Kalashnikov assault rifles and mobile anti-missile systems - and has no plans to do so in the future. Secondly, the defense minister explained that because of tense relations with Turkey, Greece could not supply Ukraine with additional weapons without risking weakening its own defense capabilities. Finally, Oikonomou's statement is related to publications in the Greek press, which claim that Greece has supplied weapons to Ukraine six times, and started doing so before the war began. It seems that Greece transferred "Stingers" and other weapons to NATO bases in Europe, and from there the weapons were already supplied to Ukraine. Oikonomou, answering questions from local journalists, stressed that Greece provided weapons to Ukraine once, after the start of the war - and actually refuted the inaccurate information.

Greece has also repeatedly stated that although no further arms supplies to Ukraine are planned, the country is trying to reduce its need for Russian gas as soon as possible. That is, statements by Greek officials do not indicate that their government supports Russia and its wars in Ukraine.

At the same time, both Ukrainian and Russian media selectively quote the results of a survey of Greek citizens, citing only the figure indicating that 66% of them are against arms supplies to Ukraine. But they don't cite other figures: 70% support Ukraine in this war, 60% support sanctions against Russia, 52% are in favor of creating an EU armed force.

For two days, on April 14 and 15, after the news of the damage to the flagship Moskva surfaced, Russian media and government officials persistently promoted the message that the ship was okay. And if it was not, the reason was an accident. First there were reports that a shell had detonated on the ship, but the fire was localized, the ship was afloat, and the crew had been evacuated. The cause was said to be an accidental explosion or even smoking by the crew. On the evening of April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the ship sank - but this was due to a storm during towing, although it was previously reported that the damage to the cruiser was minor.

Today, the Russian media, quoting State Duma deputy Zatulin, already reported that an unknown number of the crew "went with the ship," possibly including the captain of the Moskva among them.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military immediately reported that the cruiser was hit by a Ukrainian Neptun missile. The Pentagon found it difficult to say why the cruiser died, but said that other ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet had withdrawn at a distance from the Ukrainian coast. The Washington Post also confirmed today, citing a Pentagon official, that the ship had been hit by an anti-ship missile.

Despite the fact that Russia has not officially acknowledged that the Moskva was let down by the Ukrainian military, Russian telegram channels are spreading messages en masse about the "cruiser's death during the battle" and promising "revenge for the cruiser." Why it is necessary to take revenge for the ship, I on which someone had an unfortunate smoke, the messages do not explain. The reports also promote the thesis that the ship was not hit by a Ukrainian-made missile, but was hit by an unknown foreign-made NATO missile. Thus, the Russian media and propagandists, Alexander Kots among them, are spreading the narrative "Russia is not at war with Ukraine, but against NATO.

The Center for Strategic Communications of the ICMP reports that by constantly changing messages, Russian propaganda is trying to reduce the psychological effect of the defeat of the cruiser.

This was the thesis recently circulated by pro-Russian telegram channels. The messages said that "attitudes toward Ukrainians have already turned cold everywhere. They say that the attitude towards refugees from Ukraine will now significantly worsen, as well as the amount of support they receive. "Three to four more months and the situation will become even worse towards Ukrainians," the reports say. However, their authors do not specify the bad attitude in which countries they are talking about and draw their conclusions referring to some anonymous sources. The reports also add that it is now very difficult for Ukrainians to find work in the West, although there are seasonal jobs in the agricultural sector, but there are "hellish conditions" and low pay. In fact, such information is spread in order to discredit countries that are allies of Ukraine and to devalue their assistance to Ukrainian refugees. In fact, in many EU countries Ukrainians can receive state aid as refugees. Moreover, Ukrainians are also helped by residents of those countries. As a reminder, during the month, Russian propaganda had already spread several fakes about "bad refugees" from Ukraine, which were refuted.

Attackers have launched a fraudulent scheme in Facebook: offer Ukrainians 8,900 hryvnia "assistance from the EU" when passing the survey. As the factchecking project "Brekhunets" writes, the advertising of the fraudulent site with the "survey" is targeting, in particular, Volyn residents. According to "Rayon.in.ua", this scheme is used for the fourth time - previously recorded such cases in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Fraudsters ran ads on Facebook from the page under News of Ukraine, which was created on March 30. This ad uses stolen branding TSN, flags of Ukraine and the European Union. "The message itself is not on the page, which means that it was published through an advertising office. Under the message - only one positive comment from a user who allegedly has already received funds," - told the project "Brehunets".

Russian and pro-Kremlin media have spread a fake that the Russian military allegedly captured a military instructor who was training the Azov battalion, the commander of the NATO Joint Ground Forces Command, Lieutenant General Roger L. Cloutier Jr. of the US Army, writes Georgian portal. myth." Cloutier posted a message on his LinkedIn account and said he was at the European Joint Forces headquarters in Izmir, Turkey. The Facebook page of the NATO Joint Land Command also published a photo from Izmir in which Cloutier was present.

This is the message that has been circulating in pro-Russian telegram channels in recent days. Specifically, it is claimed that Ukraine received $3.5 billion from financial structures in March, and now must pay back this money in the equivalent of $5 billion. Some messages also add that Ukraine must pay back its other debts, and the Ukrainian authorities, unlike former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, cannot negotiate a debt restructuring in war conditions, as the ex-president negotiated during the ATO. We can assume that the message is being spread in order to discredit Ukraine's allies - the EU countries, which will support us in the fight against Russia, and to show that they are not such allies if they demand the return of debts. In reality, the issue of debt repayment is complicated and ambiguous and it is almost impossible to find out all the information about full assistance and support from allied countries in war conditions. The Media Detector recently already described why the media should not have the whole truth about the war in war conditions. This includes what the allies are doing to support us.

Russian propaganda media wrote about it. In particular, RIA Novosti. The reports said that journalists received an audio conversation by Rzhavsky, in which he tells why, in his opinion, Ukraine does not need to join the EU. One of the reasons is that Ukraine, in his opinion, means nothing to the EU. However, Rzhavsky, a pro-Russian politician, died on March 27 in his home in Bucha when he was shot by a drunken Russian soldier demanding alcohol. Russian media publications do not mention Rzhavsky's death or his circumstances.