Pro-Russian resources claim that the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, made a statement that there “are not and cannot be any Russian national minorities in Ukraine, and their rights must be infringed”. This is manipulation.

This case was investigated by experts from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. They found out that during the telethon, Stefanchuk actually said that “there are no Russian national minorities in Ukraine yet and there cannot be”. However, his words were taken out of context. The point was that representatives of the people who are today committing the Ukrainian genocide cannot have any privileges in our country on any issues related to their national minority.

By manipulating information, propagandists feed the narrative that there is “oppression of Russians and Russian-speaking people” in Ukraine, including to justify the so-called “special operation”. Previously, we wrote about how Russia blurs reality with the help of newspeak using the term “russophobia”.

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.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the Ukrainian military is freezing male seeds using a cryopreservation method. As the authors of the messages explain, this is all planned to “breed the army of Ukrainians with a high level of russophobia”.

Analysts of the VoxCheck investigated this case, who found out that since 2014, cryopreservation has become popular among Ukrainian military personnel. After the start of a large-scale invasion, the number of applicants increased. Some clinics offer free cryopreservation for the military. However, there is no confirmed data, due to which it is possible to “breed” a whole “army” of Ukrainians with an increased level of russophobia. This is a conspiracy theory of Russian propaganda, since the cryopreservation method does not bring out a “special type of people”, but freezes male spermatozoa in liquid nitrogen for further artificial insemination “in vitro”.

The storage of frozen spermatozoa is not limited in time. For the most part, the freezing of male sperm is associated with the “in vitro” fertilization procedure. This is a specific method of treating infertility, that is, in vitro fertilization. However, cryopreservation is advised to be carried out before chemotherapy and operations that can affect the reproductive function of a person. Cryopreservation can be performed not only for men, but also for women (egg freezing).

Propagandists are outraged by the situation that recently happened at the Peoples' friendship university of Russia. As part of the traditional exhibition of the culture of the home countries of the students, a Ukrainian stand was installed. Like, since the flag of Ukraine was on the stand, this means support for the nationalist regime. Moreover, according to a number of Russian officials and media people, the university is a place where the display of the Ukrainian flag is inappropriate and harmful. Propagandists also drew attention to the page of the Ukrainian community of RUDN University on the website of the educational institution. It states that “Ukraine is the Carpathians, vyshyvanka, trembita and the Mriia plane”, which is provocative.

The situation was analyzed by The Insider. According to their findings, this case is an attempt to “cancel” everything Ukrainian in Russia. The symbols, which were called provocative, are unlikely to be russophobic in nature - in particular, the Mriia was designed by the Soviet aircraft designer Viktor Tolmachov, who was born in Kursk, and then studied in Kharkiv and worked in Kyiv. Trembita is a wind instrument, the basis of the Hutsul culture not only in Ukraine, but also in Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary.

Thus, propagandists are trying to justify their aggression against Ukraine. Like, Ukrainian culture and its simple symbols have no right to exist. This may indicate that the real goal of the war against Ukraine is the destruction of an ethnic group that meets the definition of genocide. Detector Media has already investigated how Russian propaganda hangs “russophobia” labels.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that the Polish media is “hiding the truth”: they do not tell that “the United States is inciting discord between Ukraine and Russia” and are doing everything to hide “the real peacekeeping actions of Russia”. Like, all this is a consequence of russophobia, which the Poles feel towards the Russians.

Analysts of The Insider project investigated this case and determined that the material of the Mysl Polska publication became the basis for creating this message. This is a propaganda publication that spreads fakes and manipulations about the Russian-Ukrainian war. Consequently, the materials of the publication do not accurately indicate the position of the country in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Analysts explain that in August 2022, Slovak, Czech and Polish investigators discovered that the Polish newspaper Mysl Polska was supplying content for one of the Russian propaganda editions, NewsFront. More than 7 percent of all content published on NewsFront is reprinted from Mysl Polska.

At the same time, propagandists calling the actions of other countries against Russia “russophobia” imply an allegedly groundless phenomenon, which consists in hatred for everything Russian: from products to culture. However, the so-called russophobia is a response to the actions of the Russian army, leadership and people. The Russians bear collective responsibility for the aggression against Ukraine, which they supported either with appropriate statements or silence. World condemnation and sanctions against the aggressor are the consequences of Russia's criminal actions, and not just “a manifestation of hatred for Russians as a people”, as Moscow is trying to convince everyone. Russian propaganda also wants to convince that “hatred of the Russians” blurred the eyes of many Europeans, thus trying to whiten themselves and become a victim, not an aggressor.

After the outbreak of a full-scale war in Ukraine, Western states supporting the Ukrainians stopped or limited trade with the aggressor; well-known brands left the Russian market; a significant number of European countries closed their airspace and imposed retaliatory sanctions on the criminal actions of the Russian army. To explain why the world reacts this way to the “special military operation”, Russia uses the word “russophobia”.

“Russophobia” is the term for all actions aimed at deterring Russian aggression against Ukraine. According to the messages of the Kremlin media, this is a completely groundless phenomenon, which means hatred for everything Russian: from products to culture.

According to the definition of Russian wikipedia, there is a kind of “russophobia” on a cultural and ideological basis, which arose because of the West's idea of its own superiority in cultural and economic terms, and Ukraine fell under the destructive influence of the West. The main idea promoted by the Russian media - ”russophobia”, that is, all measures to stop Russia's military aggression against Ukraine, has no reason.

In fact, the so-called “Russophobia” is nothing more than a response to the actions of the Russian army, leadership and people. The Russians bear collective responsibility for the aggression against Ukraine, which they supported either by their respective statements or silence. World condemnation and sanctions against the aggressor are the consequences of Russia's criminal actions, and not vice versa, as Moscow is trying to convince everyone.

Russia presents “russophobia” as a separate type of Nazism, which originated in Ukraine and is massively spreading around the world. Anyone who criticizes Russia is a russophobe, and, accordingly, a Nazi. At first, the disinformation message about “russophobia” was aimed more at the Ukrainian audience, but after the international community supported Ukraine in the war, it spread to European countries as well. It even went as far as accusing Israel of Nazism.

Russia substitutes the meanings of concepts. The Kremlin media put the meaning of another term into the word “russophobia”, namely xenophobia – a sharp rejection of a foreign culture, language and way of life, which can manifest itself in the political life of the state through discrimination based on national and cultural grounds. The meaning of this word in a much narrower sense, according to Russian propaganda, is hidden behind the term “russophobia”. With so-called russophobia, Russia also justifies the attack on Ukraine.

This is the second text for the new section “Newspeak”, which Detector Media is launching as part of the “Disinformation Chronicles” project. In it, we will tell and explain new lexemes that Russian propaganda uses to distort reality.

We recall that the newspeak is an artificial language from George Orwell's dystopian novel “1984”. In the novel, Newspeak names words that lose their original meaning and have a completely opposite connotation. For example: war - peace. According to the plot of the novel, such a technique was used by the totalitarian party. It was it who gained popularity among representatives of real totalitarian regimes. In particular, Nazi and Russian.

Russian media are spreading information that Ukraine plans to ban calling a hare “rusak”  (gray hare). Like, this name is associated with the Russians and Russia. As evidence, the propagandists cite an alleged video recording of a live broadcast on the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1. On it, during a story about the defense of the Donetsk airport in 2014-2015, the news feed allegedly noted: “The gray hare” will be forbidden to be called a “rusak-hare” - the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It's fake.

StopFake's fact-checkers discovered that an excerpt circulating online had been edited. The official account of the TSN program on Facebook has a full version of the broadcast of the news marathon for January 16 with a report by journalists from the Rada TV channel about the battles for the Donetsk airport, which was used by propagandists. The original video in the news feed contained information that the White House believes that Russia's attempts to demoralize the Ukrainians failed again, citing CNN.

In this way, Russian propagandists are trying to nourish the narrative that Ukrainians are Nazis and russophobes who hate everything related to Russians.

Such a message is being shared by propagandists on social networks and in telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It says that Ukrainians allegedly started calling Russian schoolchildren on behalf of representatives of the gas service and asking them to turn on the gas and go and get some rest. Allegedly, peaceful Ukrainians are arranging sabotage and want to blow up multi-storey buildings. The authors of the messages add to the publication the so-called “audio recording of the call”, during which the woman asks the child to turn on the gas burners, “and go to rest in another room for two hours”. The woman herself claims that she is calling from the gas service, and so they conduct “remote checks”.

As the StopFake fact checkers explain, in fact, such an audio recording was previously distributed among users in the Kazakh segment, and has nothing to do with Ukraine. Back in 2018, this case was discussed on the national TV channels of Kazakhstan. It was discovered that the recording itself was made somewhere in their country, as local names were used.

Propagandists spread this message in order to destabilize the situation and once again nourish the narrative that Ukrainians are Nazis who do not even feel sorry for children.

Kremlin resources are spreading the thesis that after the de-occupation Crimea and Donbas will be given “as a sacrifice to russophobic foreigners”. Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly said this while speaking in the Verkhovna Rada. This is a fabrication.

In fact, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, during his annual address to the Verkhovna Rada, spoke about the restoration, development of the country and the temporarily occupied territories after the war, and that Ukraine should provide priority conditions for those foreign companies that were in Ukraine or came to Ukraine during war, or left the Russian market during the war.

Russian propagandists spread information that Ukraine allegedly intends to “seek and punish” people who will celebrate the New Year according to Moscow time, that is, an hour earlier. Local chats warn Ukrainians about this.

They say that Ukrainians are called upon to “keep an eye on their neighbors and call the SSU by phone” if someone “dares” to celebrate a holiday, Moscow time, even in their homes “at midnight Moscow time”. Allegedly, such citizens will be accused under the article “Treason of the Motherland” of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It's fake.

Throughout Ukraine on New Year's Eve there will be a curfew from 23:00 to 5:00 and a ban on the use of pyrotechnics. It is forbidden to be outside during curfew. Therefore, it is not clear how they will “detect” people who are supposedly going to celebrate the New Year according to Moscow time. The statement that such people will be punished for “state treason” is also not true.

StopFake journalists checked the information in open sources and did not find any reports of “raids” on New Year's Eve. Earlier, propagandists wrote that in Ukraine they decorate Christmas trees with toys with Nazi symbols.

Ukrainian-language postcards were hung in Skadovsk saying that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are already close. The authors also ask the locals to report on all Russian-speaking citizens after the liberation of the city. Like, the court and "the death penalty” awaits them. At the same time, Ukrainian-speaking residents of the city can “privatize” the property of Russian-speakers. They tried to illustrate the “patriotism” of the leaflets with the help of a trident and the slogan “Glory to Ukraine”.

Such a message is promoted by pro-Russian telegram channels. Allegedly, the division of Ukrainians will take place thanks to the draft law “On national minorities (community) of Ukraine” and that people’s deputies consider this to be more important than solving the issue of supplying water and electricity to homes.

The requirement to reform legislation on national minorities is one of the conditions that the European Union puts before Ukraine on the way to full membership. The bill was finalized on the basis of the opinion of the Council of Europe and in close cooperation with its experts.

People's deputies pass laws, but do not supply water and electricity to homes. Problems with this arose due to Russian rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities. Blackout is another Russian war crime for which it should be held accountable.

This information was disseminated by the Russian media. Allegedly, a resident of Odesa hung out the flag of Russia with the inscription "Odesa is a Russian city" and for this the court sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

As the StopFake fact-checkers write, the man was indeed sentenced to 15 years in prison, but because the court found him guilty of high treason, collaboration activities and kidnapping.

The State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine reported that he openly demonstrated his pro-Russian position and was an agent of the FSB. On August 22, he placed a Russian flag on one of the residential buildings in Odesa. A man with two more recruited residents of Odesa collected information about the locations of military facilities on the territory of Odesa, information about law enforcement officers, pro-Ukrainian activists and participants of the ATO, and transmitted this data to their curators in Russia.

He and his associates bought weapons for saboteurs, worked on creating a network of agents in the law enforcement agencies of the Odesa region and planned to kidnap a patriotic businessman, a volunteer, in order to “destabilize the situation in the city” and “after the capture of Odesa by the aggressor’s troops, exchange a Ukrainian patriot for Russian prisoners”.

He was detained with associates during the kidnapping of an entrepreneur with the use of drugs. The recruited Odesans were dressed in military uniforms.

Russian propagandists manipulate facts to show that Ukraine can sentence persons for 15 years.

Pro-Russian telegram channels write about this in the context of the decision to demolish the monument to Catherine II in Odesa. Like, now in Ukraine there is a “cleansing” of the remnants of Russian culture. Further, there will allegedly be a “change in reality”: renaming cities, replacing monuments and names of heroes, the Russian language will be banned “everywhere”, moreover, people will be fined for its use.

In fact, Russia (USSR) has been rewriting history and continued Russification for many years. Now Ukraine is restoring historical truth and Ukrainian culture. Due to Russian aggression, Ukrainians voluntarily refuse to use the Russian language, associating it with the language of the occupier. Russian propaganda manipulates the language issue and uses the "inferiority complexes" of Ukrainian culture and Ukrainians imposed by the Soviet period.

Russian media and pro-Russian social media accounts are circulating videos with the Euronews logo and a similar style of English subtitles. The story says that supposedly the auction house Bolland & Marotz is holding an auction where participants will be able to purchase Dostoievskyi's letters, Chaikovskyi's handwritten notes, a series of Vrubel's sketches and other exhibits. Moreover, after the sale, all these exhibits will allegedly be destroyed, because Russia has discredited itself in the war with Ukraine. So the destruction of the Russian cultural heritage is a logical consequence. It is not true.

According to the Georgian fact-checkers of the MythDetector project, the story spread on behalf of Euronews is fictitious. The video is modified with computer software, the media did not prepare such a story. Auction house Bolland & Marotz also denied the organization of such an auction. The company also said that the idea of ​​such an event is contrary to internal policy.

On October 21, Russian propagandists began spreading such information via Telegram. The reason was the interview of Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), during the political talk show "Hovoryt Velykyy Lviv" on the "NTA" TV channel. He allegedly said that the Russian language should completely disappear in Ukraine. Propagandists promote the idea that it was the ban on the Russian language in Ukraine that caused the war. Now they will allegedly rewrite and ban all history, culture, and customs in South and East Ukraine. Instead, they will impose an ideology acceptable only in the West of Ukraine. Propagandists took Danilov's words out of context and misinterpreted them.

Danilov said: "The Russian language must disappear from our territory altogether as an element of hostile propaganda and brainwashing of our population... English is mandatory, and our native language is mandatory. And it is hazardous to plant these Russian narratives here."

It is not the first year that Russian propagandists have used the "language issue" and "discrimination against Russian speakers" to artificially incite enmity between Ukrainians and divide Ukrainians by place of residence.

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine, propagandists have regularly pushed the message that the Russian army is protecting Russian-speaking Ukrainians; otherwise, Ukrainians would be punished for communicating in Russian. Earlier, propagandists spread fakes that the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine plans to remove Russian literature from libraries. Propagandists also spread fakes that a woman was tied to a pole in Dnipro for speaking Russian.

It is the opinion spread by Russian propagandists in the media and Telegram channels.

The main characteristic of Ukrainians should supposedly be the Ukrainian language, but no one communicates in it, except on television. It can be seen in the video during the Russian attack on Kyiv by kamikaze drones when people reacted by speaking Russian and using Russian profanity.

The thesis that Ukrainians are "sick" and "possessed" Russians has been spreading since at least the beginning of April 2022. As "Detector Media" already recorded, Tymofiy Sergeitsev, propagandist and author of the plan for "denazification" of Ukraine for 25 years, believes that Ukrainians don't exist, but only "malorosy" or simply sick Russians. Moreover, separatist Pavlo Gubarev called for the killing of several million Ukrainians "until they understand that they are sick and need to be treated."

Thus, propagandists justify Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine and motivate Russians to go with weapons to "treat" Ukrainians. More details.

Such news is spread by the pro-Kremlin propaganda media, as well as by anonymous telegram channels. Reports say that Ukrainian children did not learn Russian despite their great desire. Allegedly, the Ukrainian authorities discriminate against the Russian language at the state level. However, this is not true.

According to StopFake fact-checkers, in the Kherson region and in general on the territory of Ukraine, the study of the Russian language was not prohibited. According to Ukrainian legislation, at the request of representatives of national minorities, it is possible to organize a separate class for teaching in the desired language but Ukrainian as the state language should be a priority. In the Kherson region it was not only possible to study the Russian language as a subject, but there were also schools where studies were generally held in Russian.

In fact, according to the law "On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language" the language of the educational process is Ukrainian, but no one forbade learning Russian.

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

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

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

Such information is disseminated in the Russian media. They say that a significant fine is provided for the performance of Katiusha, because it glorifies the totalitarian regime. Allegedly, this was reported by the Riga police in response to an appeal from a group of Russian-speaking pensioners. Allegedly, the Latvian authorities have chosen a Russophobic course and unleashed a war with monuments that honor the feat of Soviet soldiers. This is not true.

According to The Insider's fact-checkers, in fact, there is not a single list of banned songs in Latvia. It is forbidden to perform the anthems of the USSR and the former Latvian SSR in public places as official symbols of the totalitarian state. In the “news”, the Russian media manipulate the words of the head of the public relations department of the Riga Municipal Police, Tom Sadovskis, published in the online publication Baltijas Balss (“Voice of the Baltics”). In his commentary there was no mention of the performance of songs in the family circle, the propagandists themselves added this thesis.

The Baltijas Balss portal is bilingual, but Sadovskis' answer to pensioners' questions is published only in the Russian version, there is no such material in Latvian. As fact-checkers have established, nowhere on the Internet, except for the Russian version of Baltijas Balss and Kremlin propaganda publications, is the Katiusha ban mentioned. There are no reports of initiation of administrative cases for such guilt either.

Russian propaganda media spread the news that Ukrainians are calling on the country's leadership to negotiate with Russia "for the sake of saving the lives of peaceful people." As proof of this news, they cite a single petition that was created on the website of the President of Ukraine on July 26.

The petition exists, in almost two days it has received less than 500 votes, but even if it receives the necessary 25,000 votes, it does not reflect the real picture of public sentiment in Ukraine.

As reported by StopFake, a recent study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) shows that the absolute majority of Ukrainians are not ready for territorial concessions or compromises with Russia, even if this prolongs the war and threatens the country's independence. In July, the number of people not ready to compromise with Russia even increased: in May, 82% were not ready to make concessions, and in July - 84%. So, despite the existence of the petition, Ukrainian society does not currently perceive compromise as a possible option for ending the war.

In addition to spreading this manipulation, the Russian publication "Izvestia" simply lied: it claims that the petition gathered 30 thousand votes.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has spread another fake: it seems that Ukraine is shelling the Zaporizhzhia NPP, and because of this threatens Europe with an industrial disaster.

"With maniacal tenacity, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are shelling the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest in Europe, not caring about its preservation and violating the resolution and decision of the IAEA general conference. It is obvious that the Ukrainian side is deliberately leading the case to a large-scale industrial disaster. We see that the USA and its European allies are completely satisfied with this," said the representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ivan Nechaev.

It is another accusation that has no evidence. On the contrary, it is the troops of the Russian Federation that are creating the prerequisites for an industrial disaster at the nuclear power plant by bringing heavy weapons to the territory of the station. StopFake writes about it.

Thus, on July 21, the Energoatom company reported that the Russian occupiers brought at least 14 units of heavy military equipment with ammunition, as well as weapons and explosives to the engine room of the 1st power unit of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The company said that an arsenal of imported heavy equipment with all ammunition is located next to the equipment that ensures the operation of the turbogenerator - and the use of the weapons could lead to an explosion at the station. Earlier, Energoatom, which controls all operating nuclear plants in the country, has repeatedly stated that Russian forces are turning the ZNPP into a military base and using it as a shield. In addition, the occupiers constantly capture local workers, and there is evidence of their torture. Read more about the situation at the ZNPP here.

Pro-Kremlin mass media report it concerning Russian security forces. Allegedly, the detainees will be sent to the so-called filtration camps for a further detailed inspection by the SSU. In turn, the SSU in Mykolaiv will look for people who have ties to Russia and are not loyal to the Kyiv regime. It is not true.

In fact, the Russians were alarmed by the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Vitaly Kim, who appealed to the people to help save the Mykolaiv Region from shelling and promised a reward for information about the fire adjusters. Kim called to provide information on persons who, in your opinion, corrected the fire of the occupier, the Russian military, and helped them. "After a detailed check and confirmation of the provided information, you will receive a reward of $100," noted Vitaly Kim.

The SSU is really working to detain enemy agents who correct missile attacks on Ukrainian cities, not just someone's friends, and they face up to 15 years in prison, not the so-called filtration camps that the Russians opened in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine and where Ukrainian citizens are detained which threaten Russian control over Ukraine.