Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are disseminating information that Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna allegedly called the Ukrainians “a cheap way to fight Russia”. He allegedly said this during a meeting organized by the Atlantic Council. This is manipulation.

The case was examined by StopFake specialists. The head of the Estonian Foreign Ministry did not make such statements. At a meeting organized by the Atlantic Council, he said: “Instead of military conflicts or aggression between Russia and NATO members, Ukraine is fighting in our region. And this is the most effective and cheapest way, if I may put it so roughly, to get rid of the desire for aggression on the Russian side”. Russian propaganda distorted this phrase to create manipulation.

In fact, the Minister said that Ukrainians are fighting for European values.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit Western partners and show that they allegedly devalue the deaths of Ukrainians in the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is also a continuation of the narrative that the West started the war, and Russia “was forced to defend itself”. Previously, we refuted the fake that Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine should participate in the formation of the US state budget.

In the Russian segment of Facebook, a statement is being circulated allegedly by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba that Ukraine should participate in the formation of the US state budget for 2024. “As a country that relies on part of this budget in the form of military or other assistance, we have the right to participate in its discussion. We may not be satisfied with the numbers, and we should be able to influence the final decision”, Kuleba said. It's fake.

As the VoxCheck project specialists note, Dmytro Kuleba has never made such statements. On social networks, on the official pages of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, in authoritative Ukrainian and foreign media there is no mention that the Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke about this. Russian propaganda took this news from the satirical telegram channel “Here is my Yandex wallet” and spread it on social networks as regular news.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and turn Western partners against Ukraine, which could lead to a decrease in aid. They say that Ukraine is trying to influence processes within another state. Previously, Detector Media refuted the fake that the European Union will not provide military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 5 billion euros in 2024.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that problems with Swedish Westinghouse brand fuel have begun at the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant. They say that there is a risk that one of the power units will be completely shut down, and the station workers are panicking and don’t know what to do. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this. They found out that the general director of the Rivne NPP, Pavlo Kovtoniuk, noted on October 4 that the station was operating in a steady state, and after messages from propagandists on the NPP page they reported a normal and stable radiation background. The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine also denied Russian statements about problems with Swedish fuel.

By spreading such fakes, according to project analysts, propagandists want to take revenge for the fact that Ukraine refused to use Russian fuel for its nuclear power plants. In particular, on September 10, non-Russian nuclear fuel was loaded into the VVER-440 reactor of the Rivne NPP for the first time, which led to a wave of disinformation messages about the plant. Detector Media has already refuted fakes about the shortcomings of Swedish assistance to Ukraine. By resorting to them, Russia wants to create distrust in its Western partners.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that with the expansion of the BRICS bloc to include six new members (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia), it will be able to control 80%.

The message was noticed by specialists from the VoxCheck project. They found out that according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) as of 2022, the BRICS bloc accounted for about 19% of global oil production (in the original composition with Brazil, India, China, South Africa and Russia). New data from the organization indicates that after expanding production of crude oil products, BRICS will increase to about 41% of global production. Data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as of 2022 indicate that after the accession of new members, the BRICS share will be about 47% of global production of crude oil products. The Energy Institute (UK) estimates that the expanded group will account for 43.1% of global oil production.

By spreading such messages, propagandists want to show the “weakness” of Ukraine’s allies and cause concern among Ukrainians about whether they should continue to respond to Russian aggression. Detector Media has already written about how Russian propaganda artificially praises BRICS and presents the bloc as a geopolitical victory for Russia, using the example of materials about the bloc’s summit.

The network of propagandists began to distribute allegedly screenshots of an article allegedly published in the American publication The American Insider about the head of the National Bank Andrii Pyshnyi. The material seems to contain information that there are no grounds for the dismissal of the head of the NBU and no favorable reviews of his work. Enemy resources claim that Andrii Pyshnyi ordered an article from an online resource for money. It's fake.

Colleagues from the Center for Countering Disinformation analyzed the original source and found out that the site to which the propagandists refer was registered as recently as October 2023. That is, it is fake. Another confirmation of this is that the first publications on the same site are dated September 2023. It can be argued that at least one of the purposes of creating this resource is to spread misinformation for one's own purposes.

It should also be noted that in the United States there is a publication called America Insider, which has a similar name, but it uses the “org” domain, while on the fake site one  can see the “live” domain.

In this case, Russian propaganda uses discrediting tactics, that is, it undermines the authority of Andrii Pyshnyi in order to reduce the population of Ukraine towards him and the institution he heads. At the same time, propagandists hope to provoke panic among Ukrainians and reduce international support for Ukraine in order to weaken our state's ability to finance defense needs. This fake is a continuation of the information campaign against the National Bank of Ukraine, which Russia began back in March 2023.

This information was disseminated by pro-Kremlin media. In the messages, the authors wrote that the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance recognized “the West’s tiredness of driving Ukraine into debt”. Allegedly, this was stated by the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhii  Marchenko. The authors refer to material from the Reuters news agency following the meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakech (Morocco). It's a lie.

The case was examined by analysts from the StopFake project. They found out that the quote about the “pit of debt” was completely made up. The head of the Ministry of Finance did not make such statements. At the same time, the Reuters story states that Serhii Marchenko told the meeting how it is becoming increasingly difficult for Ukraine to receive financial support as the attention of donor countries is now focused on their upcoming elections. And he added that as the war with Russia continues, Ukraine needs to enlist financial support from Western countries to cover the budget deficit of about $42 billion by 2024.

On October 17, 2023, in an interview with Ukrinform, the head of the Ministry of Finance noted that Ukraine really depends on international support because of Russian aggression, which is precisely what hinders the country’s economic development.

According to experts from the International Monetary Fund, despite the Russian-Ukrainian war, the financial system of Ukraine has survived. The IMF also acknowledged that the sharp economic downturn in 2022 has now given way to a gradual economic recovery. For example, Ukrainian GDP growth in 2023 increased to 1-3%, and the Central Bank's reserves strengthened.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the German concern (an association of several enterprises, in this case in the field of defense) Rheinmetall is canceling the construction of a tank factory in Ukraine through Russia. We are talking about constant shelling of infrastructure, so German representatives are supposedly afraid of the power of the occupying army. The authors refer to news from the Reuters news agency. This is manipulation.

The VoxCheck fact-checkers analyzed the case and came to the conclusion that the news indicated: Germany did approve the creation of a joint venture between the main German Rheinmetall and the Ukrainian Ukroboronprom. Further, the journalists wrote that Rheinmetall will be involved in technical maintenance of the equipment. But on the official website of the German defense concern it is indicated that its specialists will be engaged in the maintenance and repair of combat vehicles, and in the future they will produce equipment together with Ukraine.

Actually, the fact-checkers write that this format of work was assumed from the very beginning of the conclusion of the strategic partnership agreement in May 2023. According to the agreement, the enterprise was supposed to begin its work in July, but the project implementation deadlines were delayed. In mid-August, the general director of Rheinmetall explained that tanks within the united concern would begin to be repaired “before the end of the month”.

That is, we are not talking about any canceled construction projects or agreements. According to Reuters, the German defense company, on the contrary, approved the decision to create a joint organization. During the implementation of the construction plan, there were no reports of cancellation of such a plan. Propagandists distorted the context of the material and wrote that even the NATO representative country allegedly fears Russia and curtails any companies on the territory of Ukraine.

This is how the authors try to dispel the thesis about their “irresistible technology”, which is ready to destroy everyone, and as confirmation of this they give the example of the “cancellation” of construction.

In our Newspeak section we described the Russian phenomenon of “irresistible technology”. In short, this is how the Russians try to convince the domestic audience of constant victories.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing a video according to which street advertising allegedly appeared in New York calling for support for Ukraine rather than Israel. The video was captioned as follows: “In New York, an advertisement appeared from disgruntled Ukrainians: Helping Jews = burning money”. It's fake.

The case was examined by the fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. In fact, such advertising was not placed in New York. And the video used by propaganda appeared a month ago on the YouTube channel The NYC Walking Show, where the author gave a virtual tour of the streets of New York.

Russian propagandists seek to discredit Ukraine and worsen its relations with Israel and Western partners. Detector Media refuted the fake that the Turkish magazine Le Man published a cover with Zelenskyi “enraged by the whole world”.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social media claim that Ukraine has used the Black Sea Grain Initiative to smuggle weapons. In particular, Western weapons allegedly reached Hamas through the “grain corridor”. It's fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that the statement was not true. The Black Sea Grain Initiative (Initiative for the Safe Transport of Grains and Food Products from Ukrainian Ports) consists of two agreements that constitute one “grain agreement” - between Ukraine, the UN and Turkey and between Russia, the UN and Turkey. According to it, under the auspices of the UN, a Joint Coordination Center (JCC) was created in Istanbul (Turkey), which had representatives of all parties to the agreement. A team of inspectors, including representatives of Russia, on behalf of the SCC inspected each vessel “for inappropriate cargo and crew on the way to and from Ukrainian ports”. During the entire period of its work, the JCC never reported that Ukraine was allegedly using the Black Sea Grain Initiative to smuggle weapons to the Middle East or other territories.

Also, to date, there is no confirmation that Hamas militants are allegedly using weapons transferred to Ukraine as military aid from Western countries. The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine draws attention to the fact that Russian intelligence services have already handed over to Hamas representatives “captured weapons manufactured in the USA and EU countries”, that is, acquired in battle. The department emphasizes that it can be used against Ukraine, accusing it of selling Western weapons.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to discredit Ukraine and reduce the scale of military assistance from its partners. Detector Media has already repeatedly refuted other Russian fakes and manipulations regarding Western weapons.

Pro-Kremlin media are disseminating information that the West may reduce aid to Ukraine due to the war in Israel. Russian propaganda referred to Russian “experts”. It is not true.

As fact-checkers at the Center for Strategic Communications note, Western partners assured Volodymyr Zelenskyi that the difficult situation in Israel would not prevent them from helping Ukraine. The President of Ukraine also noted that he discussed this issue with his partners, they “assure that Ukraine will still receive help, no one will abandon Ukraine”.

Moreover, on October 11, the United States announced a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth $200 million, and Belgium will provide assistance worth €1.7 billion.

Russian propaganda is trying to discredit Western partners, saying that it is more important for them to help Israel than Ukraine. All this should undermine the spirit of Ukrainians and despair of victory. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the manipulation that in Ukraine they want to abolish a disability status in order to send more people to the front.

On October 10, information spread on pro-Kremlin telegram channels that Hamas terrorists had acquired weapons from Ukraine, provided by Western partners. It seems that even before the Black Sea grain agreement, merchant ships took some of the weapons from Ukraine through Lebanon to Palestine. They say, “after the publication of information in the Western media about the Ukrainian trace of Palestinian weapons, mass purges began in Mukachevo”. Russian propaganda notes that officials, military personnel and diplomats were detained and a diplomatic scandal is brewing. It's fake.

The case was studied by the fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. A search was indeed carried out in the Mukachevo City Council, but it was related to the transfer of part of the city’s central sports complex to private ownership. This was officially confirmed by the SBU and NABU. The searches are not related to the transfer of Western weapons to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

Moreover, the “Western media” to which Russian propaganda refers did not write about the “Mukachevo trace of Palestinian weapons”. And the IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) said that all this was “fabrication and lies”.

Russian propagandists are trying to use the war between Israel and Hamas to discredit Ukraine. They say that Ukrainians resell weapons provided by Western partners on the black market, and they fall into the hands of terrorists. Thus, Russian propaganda seeks to reduce Western assistance. Previously, we refuted the fake that Ukraine is selling weapons to Hamas.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are disseminating information that the foreign ministers of the European Union countries allegedly did not reach an agreement on the allocation of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 5 billion euros in 2024. Russian propaganda refers to a statement by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. It's fake.

The case was studied by fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. The European Union is currently working on creating a military assistance fund worth 20 billion euros, which Ukraine should receive from 2024 to 2027. As the fact-checkers of the BezBrekhni (No Lies)” project have established, the EU will allocate 5 billion euros annually. Moreover, this program was proposed by Josep Borrell himself, and there is no information in the official EU channels that international partners have not reached an agreement on assistance to Ukraine.

Russian propaganda is trying to sow panic among Ukrainians, allegedly abandoned by their international partners, and also to create the impression that the West is tired of the war and will no longer allocate funds for military assistance to Ukraine. Previously, we refuted the fake that Germany and France promised early accession to the EU if Ukraine helps to overthrow the Polish government.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks claim that Sweden has allegedly confirmed the loss of all Leopard 2A5 tanks with the Swedish modification of Strv 122, which were provided to Ukraine as part of military aid. However, this is a fake.

The Reuters fact-checkers drew attention to the case. In response to their request for comment from a spokesperson for the Swedish Armed Forces, they received information that no such official statements had been made. Experts also could not find any reliable materials on the Internet that all 10 Swedish tanks were destroyed. In the press release of the Armed Forces of Sweden for September 21 on the topic of Swedish tanks, there is no mention of their loss. For example, in the article for September 23, the Forbes publication claims only two Swedish tanks were destroyed by a Russian air attack.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to discredit the Ukrainian military and Western partners. For example, either Ukrainian soldiers do not know how to use Western weapons, or the weapons themselves are of poor quality compared to Russian ones. Detector Media has already refuted a number of other fakes aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces.

This thesis was spread in pro-Kremlin media. The reports described how on September 18, 2023, the International Court of Justice in The Hague began a hearing on Ukraine's claim against Russia for violating the Genocide Convention. At the same time, Russian media are spreading messages that the court’s decision will be as “politicized” as possible, because Ukraine allegedly cannot collect “any evidence” of Russian crimes.

StopFake fact-checkers worked on the case and explained that the International Court of Justice itself is an independent institution that makes decisions without the involvement of third parties. In addition, a joint UN Commission operates to investigate and record Russian crimes. Moreover, the Commission has previously presented several reports describing systemic crimes by Russians against Ukrainians, in particular, premeditated murders, illegal detention, torture, rape and other types of sexual violence, as well as illegal transfers and deportations of protected persons and children. That is, the thesis that there is no evidence to prove the criminality of the Russian army is untrue. Thus, the propagandist authors are only trying to abdicate responsibility by calling various government institutions “incompetent” or “biased”. The Kremlin did the same thing, for example, when it denied the arrest of Putin by the International Criminal Court.

By the way, Detector Media analysts analyzed the manipulation, which stated that the UN investigation “found no evidence of genocide of Ukrainians” during the Russian-Ukrainian war. We explained the message that the so-called “evacuation” of Ukrainian children is “not a war crime”. We also disclosed a message that allegedly the UN Security Council “does not care about the suffering of the residents of Donbas”.

Pro-Kremlin media are disseminating information that the head of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jan Lipavský, allegedly said that Ukraine failed the counteroffensive and will now face pressure from its Western allies. They will encourage negotiations with Russia. This is manipulation.

The case was noticed by the checkers of the StopFake project.  Jan Lipavský did not talk about the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive or about new problems for Ukraine. Russian propaganda took out of context a comment by the head of the Czech Foreign Ministry for Bloomberg, in which he reflected on the West’s desire to put an end to Russian expansionism.

“If Ukraine is forced into a solution it doesn’t accept, the West will lose it — and we’ll have a nation of 40 million at our borders feeling betrayed. We don’t want to just defer the war. We want to end Russia’s ability to expand in eastern Europe by force”, ” Lipavský said.

It was this quote that Russian propaganda distorted, deliberately rejecting part of his statement.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit Western partners and continue to promote the narrative of a failed Ukrainian counteroffensive. They also continue to nourish the message that the West is tired of war, so Ukraine will have to give in to Russia. Previously, we refuted the fake that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the West is tired of war and is ready to make concessions to Russia.

Russian propaganda media published information that Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilver allegedly made a statement in which he called on the Ukrainian government to move military operations, barracks and enterprises away from the common border so that Romanian territory would not be damaged. It's fake.

The case was investigated by fact-checkers from the Myth Detector project. The Romanian fact-checking organization Factual told the fact-checkers that the Romanian defense minister did not make such a statement. Also, the Romanian Ministry of Defense officially denied this quote and published a statement on the media monitoring platform Inforadar.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense suspects that this fake appeared as an echo of Russian attacks on the territory of Ukraine, which resulted in drones falling onto the territory of Romania. Fragments of drones fell on September 4 and 9.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to quarrel between Ukraine and its allies and shift responsibility onto our state for the fall of Russian drones on Romanian territory. They say that if there were no Ukrainian barracks there, there would be no strikes. However, it was Russia that started the war in Ukraine and is destroying infrastructure and civilian objects. Previously, we refuted the fake that Ukraine confirmed that Russia carries out precision strikes exclusively on military targets.

Information is spreading in the Kremlin media and the Russian segment of social networks that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz allegedly announced that the West was tired of the war in Ukraine and was ready to make concessions to Russia. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications drew attention to the case. The statement referred to by the Russian propaganda was made on August 18 in Salzburg at a press conference with Austrian Chancellor Neghammer. Olaf Scholz stated: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine presents us with serious new problems... We will all have to adapt to this new geopolitical reality and draw the necessary conclusions... This war in Europe calls on all of us to critically analyze our self-image, and sometimes to be willing to make uncomfortable decisions.

Scholz said that weapons are now being delivered to Ukraine so that they can defend themselves against Russia. By “uncomfortable decisions” the German Chancellor meant precisely the supply of weapons, because this is contrary to the “long-term principles of German policy”.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit Germany and embroil Ukraine with their allies. Russian propaganda spreads the opinion that the West is tired of the war, so Ukraine will have to give in to Russia. Earlier, we talked about the manipulation that children in Germany are allegedly forced to work and give funds to help Ukraine.

On the Russian segment of the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, and anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, they are distributing a photo of a billboard allegedly installed in France in honor of Ukraine's Independence Day. It shows a map of Ukraine without Crimea, and the colors of the national flag are reversed. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. Using image search tools, they determined that this billboard is indeed in Copenhagen and does not have a map of Ukraine on it. And Ukrinform journalists found that the original image was taken from the brand book of the Danish company AFA JCDecaux. Moreover, French President Emmanuel Macron, during his speech at the Crimean Platform on August 23, once again stressed that he does not recognize the annexation of Crimea.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit Western partners and sow discord between Ukraine and France. Previously, we refuted the manipulation that the French instructors do not care about the fate of the Ukrainian military.

In the optics of Russian propaganda, BRICS is being transformed into UN 2.0. without the West and with the leading role of Russia. Here is how the Kremlin covers its international isolation with information.

On August 24, the three-day 15th BRICS summit, an association that so far includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, ended in the largest city of South Africa, Johannesburg. BRICS members represent over 40% of the world's population and over a quarter of global GDP.

The Johannesburg summit was personally attended by four of the five leaders of the BRICS countries. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Lavrov. South Africa is a party to the Rome Charter and in the event that the leader of Russia arrives on its territory, it is obliged to detain him on a warrant from the International Criminal Court and extradite him to The Hague. After lengthy legal consultations, the South African authorities have not conceded to international principles, so Putin had to content himself with an online speech.

The key event of the summit was the invitation of six new countries to join the BRICS: Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Previously, the organization expanded only in 2010, when the current host of the summit, South Africa, joined it. The biggest lobbyists for expansion were China and Russia. China, as the most powerful member of the organization, seeks to further strengthen its global influence against the backdrop of growing rivalry with the United States. Russia needs to expand to overcome partial international isolation. At the same time, Putin's online participation this year only symbolically emphasized this isolation. The other three BRICS countries have much warmer relations with Western democracies and are not interested in turning the organization into a bloc hostile to the West.

The key messages that Moscow spread in the context of the summit:

“Isolation Shattered Forever”

Moscow seeks to take advantage of any international interaction to promote the thesis that attempts to isolate it are useless. The BRICS summit was no exception. For example, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mariia Zakharova, summed up the course of the summit in her telegram as follows: “The results are brilliant. “Isolation” as an American weapon is destroyed forever”. But Putin's absence from the summit made it much more difficult for Russian propaganda to advance the relevant thesis. The Russian official media noted the usefulness of Putin’s participation in the meeting, even if it was online: “Volodymyr Putin takes part remotely, in the format of a video conference, which did not prevent our president from delivering a voluminous speech on the role of BRICS in shaping a multipolar world order. ..”. The same Zakharova, in an interview with propagandist Volodymyr Soloviov, decided to even appeal to India's success in space, just to prove that there is nothing wrong with Putin's absence: “A concrete example - yesterday the meeting of BRICS members was closed. Each speaker continues the discussion. The Prime Minister of India apologizes and says that he needs to personally remotely monitor the landing on the moon of the Indian spacecraft. He left the meeting room, his place was taken by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of India. The world is so full of events today that the formal, protocol part is being adjusted. Therefore, for Zakharova, an arrest warrant from the International Court of Justice and the conquest of the moon are equally valid reasons to leave.

“BRICS is a more influential version of the G7”

Russian propaganda sought to pit the BRICS against the Group of Seven (G7), an association of major liberal democracies from which Moscow was excluded in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea. Because of the fact of the expansion of the BRICS, the propaganda convinced that the organization to which Russia continues to belong has now become much more powerful than the organization from which Moscow was expelled. Therefore, propaganda social networks were filled with figures that should convince of the key role of the enlarged BRICS in the future world: “BRICS is now four times the size of the G7 in terms of population”, “BRICS now accounts for 36% of the globe, and this is twice as much as the G7”, “BRICS will become the owner of 44.35% of the world's oil reserves”. Potential new members of the BRICS in a separate order befell the comparison with Western countries by pro-Russian social networks: “These six states are home to more than 400 million people, which is comparable to the population of the entire EU. The size of the GDP per PCS of the new BRICS members exceeds $8 trillion: this is comparable to the size of the economies of the “locomotives” of Old Europe - France and Germany”. Finally, in one of the anonymous channels, it was assumed that BRICS would replace the UN in the future: “BRICS is gradually turning into UN 2.0. only without the West”.

Although these figures are formally correct, most of the old and new members of the BRICS are not at all going to resist the West to please Moscow. In addition, the BRICS countries are much more diverse in terms of the nature of their cultures, economies and political regimes compared to the post-industrial democracies of the G7. The G7 countries are also united by long-term military-political cooperation in the format of NATO or bilateral agreements with Japan. Between the key members of the BRICS, India and China, there is a long border confrontation. Newly invited members Iran and Saudi Arabia have long been engaged in a cold war in the Middle East with hot proxies, for example in Yemen or Syria. And only recently, with the mediation of China, they agreed on a temporary cold peace. Therefore, BRICS is primarily a consultative platform for states with very different interests, and this form of interaction in the organization is likely to continue in an expanded format.

“BRICS de-dollarizes the world and Russia”

Russian propagandists have long predicted an early end to the dominance of the dollar in international trade, which should protect Russia from the impact of international sanctions. Therefore, in the context of the summit, Russian propaganda intensified dreams of a single BRICS currency as an alternative to the dollar. This opinion was also promoted by Putin in his speech. Due to the diversity of the political regimes and economies of the BRICS members and their not very close economic interaction, the single currency is a completely unrealistic project that was not even on the summit agenda. The parties only agreed to consult on increasing settlements in local currencies. But the Russian media believes that, despite the difficulties, Putin will make progress in creating a single currency: “Putin intends to deprive the United States of their main weapon in foreign economic policy of the ability to use the dollar to influence other countries”.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that Western countries allegedly refused to provide security guarantees to Ukraine. Propaganda refers to the words of the lawyer Mykhailo Soldatenko, who allegedly wrote about this in a column for the Ukrainian Pravda publication. It is not true.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. In fact, Mykhailo Soldatenko did not claim that Western countries, in particular the G7, refuse to provide security guarantees. In his column, he noted that the very word “guarantees” is not mentioned in the declaration of the G-7 leaders after the NATO summit. Ukraine is currently negotiating with the US and the UK on a bilateral treaty on security guarantees.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit Western partners and sow discouragement among Ukrainians. Earlier, we talked about the message that Russian propagandists spread that international support for Ukraine is being reduced due to corruption.

Anonymous Telegram channels that broadcast pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread the information that Poland's supposedly ruling party has made an announcement. It says that Ukraine must transfer Lviv to Poland in exchange for help. It's fake. 

The fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation drew attention to the case. They established that such an announcement does not exist, it is an invention of propaganda. Moreover, the Polish authorities and the Polish people systematically help Ukraine. 

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit Poland and sow discord among the allies. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the manipulation that the office of the President of Ukraine allegedly threatens Poland with a break in relations after the war.

Russian media are actively spreading information that Ukraine threatens Poland with a “complete break in relations” after the end of the war. Like, adviser to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podoliak said that “Ukrainian-Polish friendship is over”. However, this is manipulation.

Analysts of the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that Podoliak did indeed make a statement about competition with Poland, but only in the context of free trade and a market economy. He noted that although Ukraine and Poland take different positions on some economic issues, this does not threaten the relations of both states. In an interview with the FreeDom TV channel, Podoliak stressed that bilateral relations between Ukraine and Poland are at the highest level. He also cited the Polish-Ukrainian negotiations in the field of agriculture as an example, saying that “this discussion will not lead to breaks or anything like that”.

By spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to discredit relations between Ukraine and Poland. In addition, in this way they want to set the Poles to be skeptical towards the Ukrainians and help them. Like, the Ukrainians are really ungrateful and only use Poland in their own interests. However, this is not the case – Ukrainians help develop the Polish economy and make a valuable contribution to the culture of the state. This is evidenced by the level of cooperation between Poles and Ukrainians in a number of industries.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that Polish President Andrzej Duda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi met in Lutsk and implemented the first stage of the Warsaw Union. Like, then the Poles will seize part of Ukraine. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the “Brekhunets” (Liar) project drew attention to the case. Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr Zelenskyi did meet on July 9 and led the events to perpetuate the memory of all the victims of World War II and the 80th anniversary of the Volyn tragedy. The President of Poland wrote on his Facebook page to “demonstrate friendship in the face of a complex history”.

Russian propagandists systematically spread disinformation about Poland to convince Ukrainians that they want to take over Western Ukraine. Russian propaganda is trying to sow discord between Poland and Ukraine. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that NATO could agree to send troops to the territory of Ukraine.

Anonymous users spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in the Georgian segment of social networks claim that “no one has fired the Russian ambassador in Ukraine” and that he allegedly “still works in Kyiv”. These reports are a reaction to the decision of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to send the Georgian Ambassador to Tbilisi for additional consultations on the state of health of Mikheil Saakashvili. However, information on the Russian ambassador is unreliable.

The messages were noticed by MythDetector, the Georgian project. They emphasize that Ukraine severed diplomatic relations with Russia on February 24, 2022 due to Russian aggression against Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian authorities did not break off consular relations with Russia in order to protect the rights of Ukrainian citizens, including Ukrainian political prisoners who are still in Russia. In addition, on April 20, 2023, the mayor of Kyiv, Vitalii Klychko, terminated the agreement with the Russian Embassy on the lease of land and sent a request to the Cabinet of Ministers to return the embassy's land to Ukrainian ownership.

Project analysts also note that Russia has not had a full-fledged ambassador to Ukraine since 2016, since then this function has been performed by temporarily appointed persons. Until mid-February 2022, Oleksandr Lukashyk was acting as Chargé d'Affaires. After the termination of diplomatic relations, Volodymyr Zhehlov heads the embassy, but in his official position he is an adviser to the ambassador. Although he was presented with his credentials by Russian President Volodymyr Putin in August 2022, due to a break in diplomatic relations, Ukraine does not recognize him as an ambassador.

By spreading such disinformation, its authors want to destabilize the internal political situation in Georgia, cause skepticism about the sequence of actions of the Ukrainian authorities and aggravate the crisis in relations between Georgia and Ukraine.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Ukraine is “spreading” Nazism throughout Europe, so monuments to Nazis have begun to be erected there. The authors are sure that Ukraine is inciting the West to create an organization that can destroy Belarusians and Russians.

The case was worked out by analysts from the EU vs Disinfo project, who explain that none of these themes is true: neither about monuments, nor about “Nazi organizations”. The myth of Nazi Europe was used by the Kremlin after Russia attacked Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea back in 2014. Thus, Moscow is still trying to become a victim, which allegedly suffers at the hands of Western leaders. Like, “Nazi” Ukraine is supported by the same “Nazis”.

In support of the thesis about “European Nazi organizations”, propagandists cite the situation when Estonia allegedly banned Russians and Belarusians from using weapons on their territory. In fact, in the country, permits for the issuance of weapons will become invalid for citizens who are not members of the EU and NATO. The changes will affect not only ethnic Russians or Belarusians living in Estonia. Estonian Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets assured that the restriction is a direct consequence of unprovoked Russian aggression in Ukraine. That is, any restrictions concerning Russians or Belarusians are labeled by Moscow as "Nazi". However, this is only a response to Russian aggression.