Such information was disseminated on social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan allegedly made a statement about Crimea, which “is Russian territory and will always be so”. The authors of the fake message add that the Turkish president is supposedly giving a clear signal to the whole world that continuing to arm Ukraine is “pointless and futile”. Such publications refer to Erdogan’s interview with the American PBS television channel. It's a lie.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project investigated this case and found out that the Turkish President did not make such statements in an interview, and propagandists simply made it up. At the same time, he said that, in his opinion, today it is impossible to force Russia to leave the temporarily occupied peninsula, but “time will tell”.

Turkey has taken a strong position in supporting Ukraine and condemning the occupation and subsequent annexation of Ukrainian Crimea by Russia. But he emphasized that the Crimean Tatar people remain loyal to Ukraine, but not to the aggressor. And during a speech at the Crimean Platform summit on August 23, 2023, the Turkish leader also emphasized that Crimea is part of Ukraine, and Turkey speaks about this “at all international platforms”.

Find out here what propagandists wrote about the bilateral meeting between Putin and Erdogan in Sochi on September 4, 2023.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that the cause of the explosion of grain tanks in the Turkish port of Derince on August 7 was supposedly a weapon intended for the Ukrainian military. “Or maybe there was not only grain, but also deadly “toys” for the Armed Forces of Ukraine?” - one of the telegram channels wrote. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case. None of the Turkish and foreign media claimed that there were weapons or military equipment at the site of the explosion. On August 9, Turkey's Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Ibrahim Yumakli, stated that “the explosion occurred due to technical consequences caused by dust compression”. He also promised to conduct research.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainians as a threat to the security of other countries. All this is in order to reduce support for Ukraine. Earlier, we refuted the fake that the crime rate increased in Poland because of the Ukrainians.

In the Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, they are spreading an alleged document of the Ukrainian embassy in Turkey. It refers to the allocation of budgetary funds to exceed the amount of living expenses in Turkey for five defenders of Mariupol released from Russian captivity. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications drew attention to the case. The Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Turkey officially denied this information on the official website. The fact that this document is fake, “is evidenced by non-existent registration numbers, an invalid Embassy form was used, in particular, a long-defunct website of the Embassy is indicated (current website: turkiye.mfa.gov.ua), other rules for maintaining official correspondence are violated”.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit the Ukrainian military and complicate the cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey, aimed at the release of the Ukrainian military from Russian captivity. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the manipulation that Russia destroyed the entire fleet of Bayraktar drones in Ukraine.

Such a thesis appeared in the Russian propaganda media, as well as in the Turkish media spreading messages the same as the ones of Russian propaganda. The reports said about the so-called “dirty plan” of the United States to bring “Zelenskyi” to power in Turkey. That is, an allegedly puppet president will carry out all the orders of his curators, as allegedly the Ukrainian president is doing it. The authors of the messages argue that in this way Washington will resolve conflicts with Moscow on all possible fronts.

Analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case. They emphasize that this is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation message that calls into question Ukrainian statehood and sovereignty. In such reports, the authors do not provide any evidence to support the allegations made in the context of the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This disinformation statement attempts to denigrate the President of Ukraine as a puppet of the United States and the West.

However, Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. Ukraine has a functioning government and economy, it is a member of many international organizations (for example, the UN, the Council of Europe and a party to international agreements). Ukraine has bilateral diplomatic relations with most countries.

Russian propaganda media spread the message that the leader of the Turkish “Batkivshchyna” (Motherland) party, Doğu Perinçek, who is one of the presidential candidates in Turkey, promises to change the “rules of the game” for the United States and NATO, withdraw the country from the North Atlantic Alliance, and recognize Crimea and other occupied territories as part of Russia. Like, this will entail political upheavals in Turkey and the shaken position of the West.

Analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project investigated this case. They explained that such statements by the Kremlin media would only try to increase the popularity of the fringe Turkish politician Doğu Perinçek, who is known for his pro-Russian and anti-Western rhetoric. At the same time, Perinçek has virtually no chance of becoming President of Turkey, as his party failed to collect enough signatures for his presidential candidacy to formally submit him to the election commission.

By spreading this message, Russian propagandists are trying to demonstrate the lack of unity of the NATO states, in particular, on Russia's aggression against Ukraine. In addition, they create an opinion about the readiness of other countries to recognize Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territories as legitimate. This is not the first time such misinformation has been circulated. Detector Media has already covered the Kremlin's theses about the inconsistency of the NATO member states on sending weapons to Ukraine, the recognition of the fallacy of supporting Ukraine, the inevitability of the collapse of NATO if the anti-Russian course is maintained, the recognition by Western countries of the so-called “LDNR”, etc.

Such a message was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Europe planned the cataclysm and in this way decided to punish Turkey for its attitude towards Russia. They say that everyone suffers from the fact that they support Russia “trying to help it”, and Europe at the same time punishes them. The authors of the messages add that Europe is using the so-called “tectonic weapon”.

Analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project investigated this case and found that this is a conspiracy theory of propagandists. There is no evidence to support this, besides, there is no evidence for the existence of “tectonic weapons”.

A “tectonic weapon” is a hypothetical device or system that can trigger earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or other seismic events at specific locations, interfering with Earth's natural geological processes. According to the propagandists who used this definition, Europe used precisely this “weapon”.

Fact-checkers add that there is a 1978 Convention on the Prohibition of military or any other hostile use of environmental methods. It has been ratified by 75 states, including EU states. In fact, the convention prohibits the use of artificial methods of causing earthquakes, tsunamis and other phenomena for one's own benefit.