Spilnota Detector Media

Manipulation Most countries support Putin in the war against Ukraine

This is written by Russian and pro-Russian information resources with reference to the materials of the American edition of Newsweek. Like, many countries condemned the actions of the West and supported the position of the Russian president on the “situation” in Ukraine. This is manipulation.

There is not a single mention in the Newsweek article that most countries took the side of Russia in the war against Ukraine. The author of the material writes that different countries of the world proceed from their agenda and their own interests in the context of responding to the war. Therefore, they do not always fully share the approach of the US and the EU. Many countries, for example, advocate a "diplomatic settlement" of the conflict, but do not necessarily side with Russia in this war.

As StopFake writes, Daniel DePetrice's article was published in the “Dumky” (“Opinions") section, so the author's opinion is also not necessarily shared by Newsweek. The author notes that, despite the fact that the events in Ukraine are cruel, each country primarily pursues its own geopolitical interests and does not always fully share the “approach of the West”. The article does not say that "most countries have begun to support Putin." Propagandists have distorted the idea that some countries do not want to completely lose ties with Russia and presented it as support for Putin.

Manipulation The losses near Bakhmut are colossal, the bodies of the dead Ukrainian soldiers are not even counted

 Such information is disseminated by pro-Russian telegram channels. Allegedly, this was said in an interview with “HB” (NV) radio by the commander of the volunteer battalion "Svoboda" (Freedom), captain of the National Guard of Ukraine Petro Kuzyk. In fact, Kuzyk didn't say that. The propagandists took the sentence out of context and changed it to their advantage. In an interview with Kuzyk, the word “they” means Russians. The commander was asked about the human losses near Bakhmut, where the enemy is trying to attack. “They are huge. They don't even count the body. Fields, landings in front of positions, all littered with corpses. I watched them: they dragged somebody to bury, pulled off a warm sweater from him and began to put them on right there”, said Kuzyk. One of the popular tactics of Russian propagandists is to distort the words of the Ukrainian military and pass off Russian defeats as Ukrainian ones. Thus, they are trying to hide the fact that Russian soldiers have always been “meat” for the Kremlin and that behind each of their attacks on Ukrainian soil, there are hundreds of dead Russians who will never be buried. 

Manipulation Due to the influx of Ukrainian refugees, the number of HIV patients in Poland has increased

Such information is disseminated by Russian propaganda media. Reports say that over the past six months, the number of HIV-infected people has increased significantly in Poland. In the texts, the propagandists refer to the Polish Ministry of Health. Like, the ministry said that the situation with HIV in the country worsened because of Ukrainian refugees. Allegedly, it was they who brought the infection into the country and spread it there. However, this is fake. As StopFake fact-checkers write, in fact, the Ministry of Health of Poland explained that the number of recorded cases of the disease in the country could increase due to the arrival of Ukrainians, among whom there are also HIV-infected. They fit into the overall statistics, and are offered advice and treatment. The fact that in Poland the incidence of HIV infection has significantly increased due to the “influx of refugees” has not been claimed by anyone. Previously, the fake about Ukrainians spreading HIV concerned Estonia. Russian propaganda systematically spreads lies about Ukrainian refugees abroad in order to change public opinion both about the refugees themselves and about what is happening in Ukraine. Russian disinformation about Ukrainian refugees, in particular, is based on differences in people's values. For example, propaganda calls Ukrainians Nazis (in the sense of radical xenophobes) or claims that Ukrainians are not ready to work to provide for themselves, but only live off European taxes. Read more about the disinformation that Russian propaganda is spreading about Ukrainian refugees in the Detector Media investigation.In the texts, the propagandists refer to the Polish Ministry of Health. Like, the ministry said that the situation with HIV in the country worsened because of Ukrainian refugees. Allegedly, it was they who brought the infection into the country and spread it there. However, this is fake. As StopFake fact-checkers write, in fact, the Ministry of Health of Poland explained that the number of recorded cases of the disease in the country could increase due to the arrival of Ukrainians, among whom there are also HIV-infected. They fit into the overall statistics, and are offered advice and treatment. The fact that in Poland the incidence of HIV infection has significantly increased due to the “influx of refugees” has not been claimed by anyone. Previously, the fake about Ukrainians spreading HIV concerned Estonia. Russian propaganda systematically spreads lies about Ukrainian refugees abroad in order to change public opinion both about the refugees themselves and about what is happening in Ukraine. Russian disinformation about Ukrainian refugees, in particular, is based on differences in people's values. For example, propaganda calls Ukrainians Nazis (in the sense of radical xenophobes) or claims that Ukrainians are not ready to work to provide for themselves, but only live off European taxes. Read more about the disinformation that Russian propaganda is spreading about Ukrainian refugees in the Detector Media investigation.

Manipulation Ukraine supplied Azerbaijan with phosphorus munitions

The network is spreading a message that Ukraine allegedly supplied Azerbaijan with banned white phosphorus ammunition during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in the fall of 2020. Robert Menendez, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said this. This is not true.

Speaking at the hearings on the consideration of US policy in the Caucasus, Robert Menendez really accused Azerbaijan of violating humanitarian law during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in the fall of 2020, in particular, in the use of ammunition containing white phosphorus. He also said that these munitions were supplied by Ukraine. Mendez neither specified what kind of a "report" he was referring to, nor did he provide any other evidence that Ukraine did indeed transfer banned weapons to Azerbaijan. He added that in the fall of 2020, this information was "widely covered" in the media. Philip Reeker, senior adviser for Caucasus negotiations at the US State Department, denied the existence of such reports.

According to StopFake, in early November 2020, Russian media, citing the Russian film director of Armenian origin Sarik Andreasian, spread information that Ukraine allegedly supplies Azerbaijan with phosphorus bombs, which they use to bombard Nahirnyi-Karabakh. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine did not provide any military assistance to Azerbaijan during the war, although it supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.

Manipulation Ukraine “changed its mind” about returning Crimea

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. Like, Zelenskyi got scared and abandoned plans for the military de-occupation of Crimea. Allegedly, Zelenskyi was convinced that the Russian army would not leave Crimea just like that, and therefore "they should not waste time on forceful methods". Allegedly, Crimea should be de-occupied through diplomacy. Like, the "collective West" advised Ukraine to "more realistically" look at the de-occupation of Crimea. This is not true.

In fact, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in an interview with the Financial Times, did not say anything about his intentions to refuse to return Crimea. Moreover, he noted that Ukraine will return all its territories. As long as the occupation of Ukrainian territories continues, there will be no peace in Ukraine. The president also noted that Russia is trying to force the Ukrainian authorities to make concessions due to systematic attacks on critical infrastructure and the energy system.

According to StopFake, the propagandists took out of context Zelenskyi's phrase that he would support the non-military de-occupation of Crimea, if any. Crimea, according to the President, should be de-occupied, and everything else is a waste of time.

Manipulation All schools in Zaporizhzhia switched to Russian standards

This information was disseminated by Russian TV channels. Like, the students told reporters that it was hard for them to study when the teachers spoke to them in Ukrainian. Now teachers explain in class that Ukrainian language is inconvenient and how Ukrainians themselves get confused with it.

As an example, the TV report shows one of the schools in the temporarily occupied Melitopol, which has been under the control of Russian troops since February 25. Since then, the inhabitants of Melitopol, who stay in the city, have been persecuted by the Russians. For a blue and yellow ribbon or the Ukrainian language, Russian invaders can shoot them, and if, while checking the phone on the street, they find Ukrainian content in instant messengers or somewhere else, they punish people with a fine or imprisonment.

Schools in the Zaporizhzhia region continue to work online. In schools that began to work offline in the occupied territory of the region, children are taught according to Russian textbooks, where history is rewritten according to the KGB manuals, many teachers are brought from Russia, as the locals refused to cooperate with the occupiers. Therefore, it is incorrect to say that all schools in Zaporizhzhia have switched to Russian standards; rather, operating schools have been forced to switch to Russian standards.

On the other hand, to date, about 80% of the Zaporizhzhia region has been occupied by Russians. The city of Zaporizhzhia has never been under occupation, so no one has taught schoolchildren of Zaporizhzhia city and is not teaching now according to Russian standards.

Manipulation Ukraine is building a modular nuclear reactor "for terrorism"

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. They say that the “real” goal of the Ukrainian authorities is not to obtain electricity, but to terrorise and create a “dirty bomb”. Also, allegedly Ukraine will be used for the disposal of nuclear waste. It is not like that.

Ukraine, the US, Japan and South Korea will cooperate to build a small nuclear reactor. This became known on November 12. This will help Ukraine improve the country's energy security. It will take two years to complete the project.

According to StopFake, small nuclear reactors are used to generate electricity. They have nothing to do with nuclear weapons. Most of these small reactors are installed underground, which is also an advantage in the face of possible rocket attacks.

Manipulation Power outage in the homes of Ukrainians is the result of the shelling of military infrastructure

Such news is spread by propagandists and anonymous telegrams. Reports say that Russia is allegedly only targeting military infrastructure, resulting in power outages in residential buildings. However, this is a substitution of facts.

According to experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation, Russia is shelling the energy infrastructure of Ukraine in order to leave Ukrainians without electricity and heat in the winter. That is, the occupiers are destroying civilian infrastructure.

In addition, the military infrastructure does not power civilian homes as it is designed to ensure the current military activities.

Manipulation Kherson residents who did not want to live "in Russia" now suffer in Ukraine

Russian propaganda resources, in particular Volodymyr Soloviov's telegram channel, are happy to post photos of queues in Kherson, where people stand for water, humanitarian aid, phone cards and the like. They also write that those who did not want to live under the “Russian world” now should “survive under the Ukrainian one”. This is open and direct manipulation.

In Kherson, after the liberation, the situation is very difficult: there is no electricity, communication, Internet, water, heating, problems with medicines and food. But these are the consequences of the Russian occupation, during which the Russians first robbed the city, then destroyed critical infrastructure facilities, including gas and water supply systems, and energy supply. Now local utilities are trying to return light and heat to the city as soon as possible, volunteers bring water and humanitarian aid, mobile operators distribute mobile cards so that people can call relatives in other cities. The authorities are asking people not to return to the liberated city for the time being due to the difficult humanitarian situation. But all this is the fault of the Russians, who systematically and massively stole from the Ukrainians and Ukraine everything that could be taken out (for example, a raccoon), and everything that they could not loot was destroyed.

Examples of how the “Russian world” operates can be found in any Ukrainian cities under occupation: systematic looting, destruction of civilian infrastructure, destruction of everything that cannot be sent to Russia.

Manipulation The decision of the President's Office to speed up the supply of light only made it worse

Telegram channels from a network run by Russian intelligence are promoting the following message: Ukrainians have suffered because of the decision of the President's Office to restore power as soon as possible. Firstly, their equipment breaks down, and secondly, this will lead to fires and big problems with the energy system. This is manipulation.

Firstly, because the Office of the President does not turn on or order the lights to be turned on after massive shelling by the Russian army. This is done by the state enterprise Ukrenergo together with local services, as well as the DTEK concern. They bring light to homes whenever possible, they also turn it off: sometimes according to the schedule to stabilize the system, sometimes in an emergency - after damage to the system and before it is restored.

Secondly, this manipulation is an attempt to blame the Ukrainian government or the president for blackouts in order to divert attention from the main culprit, that is, Russia. Ukrainians now often live without electricity due to the fact that Russia is massively shelling the objects of the energy system of Ukraine, it has been doing this systematically since October 10th. This is a war crime for which Russia is responsible. And the Ukrainian government and the power industry itself are trying to restore this system after the destruction. Unfortunately, the situation is critical. And fires occur in Ukraine not because of the voltage fluctuations, but because of Russian missiles.

Manipulation The U.S. lifted sanctions on Ramzan Kadyrov

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. Allegedly, the information that Kadyrov was excluded from the sanctions lists was published by the U.S. Treasury department on November 14. It is not true.

The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) indeed published information about the amendments to the sanctions lists on November 14th. Among other things, it was said that the deleted data of Ramzan Kadyrov, associated with various transliterations of his name - "KADYROW, Ramzan Achmatowisch" - was changed to "KADYROV, Ramzan Akhmadovitch".

Data from the Sanctions List Search tool confirms that the sanctions against Ramzan Kadyrov are in effect.

Probably, in this way, propagandists are trying to undermine the confidence of Ukrainians in the United States. Previously, there were already reports that the United States could betray Ukraine.

Manipulation Training of Ukrainian military in the UK revealed a "low level of training"

This was written by the Russian media with reference to the British edition of the Financial Times.

Allegedly, Lieutenant colonel John Harris who is in charge of training Ukrainians said that they are poorly mastered in “weaponry, battlefield tactics and cyber security” and that “the Russian armed forces makes it difficult” to resist.

We are talking about the article «Ukrainian army recruits join British boot camp to prepare for combat» in the Financial Times.

As the fact-checker Stopfake noted, the Russian propaganda completely distorted the essence of the article in the Financial Times, because the material just praises the high motivation of Ukrainians and their willingness to learn.

“They are the most motivated, determined, hungry-to-learn trainees that I’ve worked with across the world in my 20 years of soldiering,” Harris said. “That they train in water up to their knees for 36 hours and can still laugh, joke and quickly answer questions says it all for me.”

The conclusions are completely opposite to what the Kremlin propaganda writes about.

Russian propagandists are spreading manipulations about the “failure” of the Ukrainian military in exercises abroad, because they are actually afraid of motivated opponents trained according to NATO standards who will launch a counteroffensive and push Russian troops out of Ukraine.

Manipulation More than 70% of Germans are against increasing military aid to Ukraine

Such information is disseminated in social networks. The authors of the publications allegedly refer to a survey conducted for the German TV program ARD-Deutschland Trend. Russian media write that the Germans rebelled against the increase in military assistance to Ukraine. This is manipulation.

As StopFake writes, the German company Infratest Dimap really conducted a survey commissioned by the German TV program ARD-Deutschland Trend. Such surveys are carried out systematically. This time, 1,307 Germans with the right to vote expressed their opinion. The survey was conducted over the phone or online from 31 October to 2 November. The question on the supply of weapons to Ukraine sounded like this: “Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February. Germany reacted to this with different steps. Please indicate below in each case whether they are appropriate, excessive or insufficient (…) regarding German arms support for Ukraine?”. That is, in this case, they estimated the number of weapons, and did not investigate issues of support.

A total of 41% of Germans consider the volume of military assistance sufficient, which is 2% more than in August this year. 30% of Germans consider excessive deliveries of weapons - this is 2% less compared to August. 21% called aid to Ukraine insufficient, which is also 2% less than two months ago. The remaining 8% probably found it difficult to answer.

Manipulation US troops are fighting in Ukraine

In social networks, they write that supposedly the US military is already on the territory of Ukraine. Social media users write that Biden is allegedly “approaching World War III” or “risking the lives of Americans to launder taxpayer dollars to enrich himself, his family and his corrupt allies”. This is manipulation.

In fact, US military personnel are checking the delivery and distribution of weapons in Ukraine. There is no evidence of the presence of combat forces in the country, Reuters fact-checkers note. During a November 1 press briefing, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder provided details on US military personnel in Ukraine. He said small teams of embassy personnel conduct "inspections" and provide security assistance. Their mission is to “track the US-provided weapons and prevent their illegal distribution throughout Eastern Europe”. Ryder also said that this should not be taken as an escalation of U.S. involvement in the war noting in particular that U.S. personnel "are not going to operate on the front lines".

Manipulation The notebook made in 2021 indicated in advance the date of the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

In the Georgian segment of social networks, a video is being circulated in which they open a notebook with Ukrainian symbols and show that on the page with the date February 26 it is noted that this is the “Day of the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine”. The author of the video also emphasizes that the notebook was made in 2021, and the full-scale invasion of Russia began in 2022. As a result, they note that this notebook confirms that the Russian attack on Ukraine was pre-planned by the West. This is manipulation.

In fact, the notebook notes the beginning of the Russian occupation of Crimea on February 26, 2014, and not the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. So, the videos distributed on social networks are manipulation, probably counted on ignorance of the history of Russian-Ukrainian relations. The Georgian fake checkers from MythDetector drew attention to the spread of the fake.

Manipulation Anti-government rallies were held in Prague, in particular against support for Ukraine

Last week, the third demonstration in the last two months took place in the Czech Republic, organized by the ultra right, the Communist Party and fringe groups. Among the demands of the protesters: to start negotiations with Russia on the purchase of gas. To do this, they believe, it is necessary to cancel sanctions and stop the supply of weapons to Ukraine. They also demand to ensure the status of neutrality, that is, withdrawal from NATO and the EU. More than 100,000 Czechs took part in these protests, organizers say. This is manipulation.

In fact, eyewitnesses say that this demonstration was the weakest, with no more than 10-20 thousand people taking part in it. According to the fact-checkers of the NotaYenota project, according to the results of the poll, 8 out of 10 Czechs do not support the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, in support of Ukraine, many more demonstrators once again come out to Prague squares than to pro-Russian rallies. These actions are held under the slogans "Czech Republic against fear" and "We can cope".

Anti-government rallies in the Czech Republic are organized by pro-Russian leaders. One of them is Ladyslav Vrabel, known as "an ardent admirer of Putin." The day before, he noted the need to go to Moscow and conclude gas agreements. Vrabel repeatedly gave interviews to Russian propaganda media and rejoiced at pseudo-referendums in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The action was filmed by Czech videographer Zharko Yovanovich who previously worked on the Russian army TV channel “Zviezda” (Star).

The Czech government has already taken action to deal with the crisis by capping energy prices and launching broad support for families and individuals struggling with rising gas prices. The government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala is taking a hard line on the Russian invasion and is an important partner for Ukraine. The Czech Parliament declared the Russian regime a terrorist one. Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov announced more than 50 projects with the participation of the Czech Republic to strengthen the Ukrainian army.

Manipulation Serhii Prytula's Fund announced another collection of money, inflating the cost of one armored personnel carrier by 2.5 times

Pro-Russian telegram channels write that volunteers have announced another “muddy collection” for British Spartan armored personnel carriers. It seems that the purpose of raising funds is not the purchase of armored personnel carriers for the Ukrainian army, but the desire for profit. Like, Serhii Prytula announced that it is necessary to collect 200 million hryvnia for 50 cars, but in fact they will cost about 58 million. This is not true.

Detector Media received a comment from the Prytula’s Fund regarding car purchases. As the volunteers explained, Spartan armored personnel carriers will be bought from warehouses in the UK. The need to purchase was agreed with the military command. The choice was influenced by several factors: technical condition, price, sufficient quantity in warehouses and logistics. The Fund also explained that the amount of the fee, in addition to the cost of the armored personnel carriers themselves, includes their pre-sale preparation, transportation, and customs clearance. Also, the amount of the fee includes the training of the Ukrainian military by British instructors.

Russian propaganda is systematically trying to discredit the work of Ukrainian volunteers. Earlier, propagandists wrote that Ukrainian volunteers “cynically collect money” during Russian attacks and tried to convince them that it makes no sense to donate to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and help volunteers.

Manipulation The Tula Cartridge Plant continues to supply cartridges to the United States

Such information is disseminated by pro-Russian information resources. They say that sanction restrictions do not prevent sales of cartridge products in the United States and do not have a significant impact on the work of the enterprise. This is manipulation. The posts cite the company's explanations for the 2021 income statement. In fact, the sanctions against the Tula plant have nothing to do with the war in Ukraine, since they were imposed as a US reaction to the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Oleksii Navalnyi with the Novichok nerve agent. The sanctions limit the conclusion of new contracts for the supply of weapons and ammunition from Russia. However, the sanctions did not affect previously concluded contracts, and therefore it was possible to continue their implementation. Over the period from September 2021 to March 2022, the volume of cartridge imports from Russia to the United States did not really decrease. However, in April 2022, the US government made a legislative decision to stop the usual trade relations with Russia. From April 2022, the duty on the import of cartridges from Russia to the United States is 30-45%. In April-June, the import of Russian cartridges decreased by 88% compared to the previous quarter. In June, the US President set a fixed duty rate for Russian products at 35%. Given that almost half of the products of the Tula Cartridge Plant are systematically exported, the company is now suffering from the loss of one of its main sales markets. In July, out of 1,397 workers, the plant transferred 530 workers to downtime with the payment of two-thirds of their wages, and another 337 workers quit. Thus, Russia is trying to promote disinformation messages that sanctions are not hurting the Russian economy and the West is still secretly trading with Russia despite the sanctions. More details.

Manipulation Twitter began to specifically label accounts of Ukrainian media

Telegram channels are circulating reports that supposedly Twitter has begun to use special marks not only for Russian, but also for Ukrainian state media. Thus, it is hinted that the Ukrainian state media are just as propaganda-oriented as the Russian ones. This is manipulation. In August 2020, Twitter, indeed in order to counter Russian disinformation and propaganda, began tagging and downsizing accounts controlled by the Russian authorities. In 2021, the social network expanded the list of countries and accounts that it restricts and designates. It also included Belarusian state media.

Now, according to the company's rules, tags appear in accounts from China, France, Russia, Great Britain, USA, Belarus, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. Thus, they designate accounts: government agencies and organizations; state media, the editorial policy and content of which is influenced by the state; persons (journalists, editors) associated with the specified media. At the same time, Twitter notes that such designations are not used in state-owned media that have an independent editorial policy, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US.

Manipulation Dmytro Kuleba was surprised by Europeans' complaints that they couldn't live without gas and gasoline

The Russian media distorted the words of the interview of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, which he gave to the Spanish publication El Mundo.

When Dmytro Kuleba was asked "how to live without gas or gasoline," he answered that he was asking a counter question - "what about Europe's plans to transform into a "green" economy." His question hadn't answer.

At the same time, Europe has already found an alternative to Russian gas in other markets, which Kuleba also drew attention to in his interview. Kuleba noted that Kremlin lobbyists mostly promote the theme of the lack of alternatives to Russian gas.

Russian propaganda again used interviews of Ukrainian officials in foreign media to promote the narratives they needed: about the alleged futility of sanctions against Russia and Russian gas, which only cause damage and suffering to Europeans. Moreover, as Kremlin propaganda wants to show, Ukrainians allegedly don't appreciate such sacrifices. More details.

Manipulation Defense Minister Reznikov recognized Ukraine as a "training ground" for Western weapons

Russian and some Ukrainian media reported this regarding the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Oleksiy Reznikov, interview for Politico.

Russia allegedly understood that the Ukrainian authorities consider their country a "testing ground" for Western weapons, so they warned the world about the danger of using a "dirty bomb." In fact, in an interview, Reznikov talked about the prospects of supplying Ukraine with new weapons from allied countries. And also about the fact that the use of Western weapons by the Ukrainian Armed Forces helps push Russian troops out of Ukraine.

The minister called on the partners to test their weapons on the battlefield against the Russian occupiers and ensure the weapons' effectiveness in combat. "We have a combat test site in Ukraine during this war. I think all countries see how we use these systems. You are aware that we have eight different 155 mm artillery systems in use on the battlefield. So it's like a competition between systems," Reznikov said.

The Russian media took this quote out of context and spread a fake in the spirit of "turning Ukraine into a Western training ground" and a "colony of the collective West." Ukraine allegedly lost its independence while receiving military aid from international partners. Russia, having initiated a full-scale war against Ukraine, wants to destroy our country as a state and uses Ukrainian territory as a training ground for prohibited Russian weapons. More details.

Manipulation Scott Ritter "tested" Twitter: "Bucha was a war crime. Ukraine did it"

In this way, former American military man Scott Ritter, loyal to the Putin regime, decided to allegedly test the reaction of the social network to the "wrong" opinion.

Currently, his page is blocked, but screenshots with a "test" about Bucha were shared on Twitter by supporters of Russia. As the Center for Combating Disinformation pointed out, in fact, such a tweet is another manipulative "throw-in" and a deliberate provocation to determine possible changes in the reaction of Western society to the Russian genocide in Ukraine.

Russia is actively using Scott Ritter as an "expert" to promote narratives needed by the Kremlin to foreign audiences.

"We warn you! All information, even made public by well-known Western experts, needs to be carefully checked!" the Center emphasized.

Manipulation Ukrainian military shot several civilians dead while attempting to shoot down Iranian drones

It was reported by Russian websites regarding the German publication Der Spiegel. During the shooting down of drones, bullets from small arms allegedly hit random people. However, it isn't true.

Russian propagandists twisted the ending of Jörg Römer's article "How Ukraine shoots down Russian kamikaze drones." The journalist wrote, "Ukrainians should be careful with such shots so that the bullets do not hit civilians. Many people have already died from such shots."

StopFake analysts reached out to Römer for an explanation. He replied that it was a general statement, not about Ukraine's deaths. After that, the journalist added the last sentence of the article: "Many people have already died from such shots in other places." And added a link to his other article, "Every bullet fired upwards falls downwards."

Russian propagandists resort to such manipulations to show that Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities don't endanger civilians. Thus, they shift responsibility for their crimes to the Ukrainian army.

Manipulation German soldiers refuse to serve in the army because of the war in Ukraine

In particular, information is distributed in social networks through the propaganda resource "RIA Novosti." The reports say that with the start of the war in Ukraine, more and more soldiers allegedly want to resign from the service. This information was published by the German publication "Der Spiegel." However, it's manipulation. In fact, according to analysts of The Insider, the magazine did publish material about the German army, but it was about something else. This year, the number of people who refuse military service for personal reasons in Germany has increased significantly, but in general, it remains low. According to the statement, the number of cancellations increased from 209 in 2021 to 810 in the first eight months of 2022. However, the text didn't mention Ukraine's war with Russia and didn't call it the reason for the decrease in the number of people willing to serve in the German army. According to official information, in 2021, the number of the Bundeswehr (military) and the reserve was 183,725 people. So 0.4% of soldiers and trained reservists submitted discharge reports and applications for refusal of service.

Propagandists spread it to convince everyone that the Russian army is the strongest and everyone is afraid of it. Even the German military allegedly doesn't want to serve on their territories because the Germans feel threatened by the Russian army.

Manipulation 58% of Americans oppose providing aid to Ukraine

Russian propagandists spread such information. The reports say that American society seems to resist giving support to Ukraine. It's evidenced by the alleged survey results, which the analytical company Morning Consult provided to The Hill newspaper. Most of the respondents are allegedly firmly against the provision of aid. However, it is manipulation.

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, in the original version of the survey, respondents were asked whether the United States "has an obligation" and "responsibility for helping Ukraine," as well as whether they are against assisting Ukraine. However, Russian propaganda interprets the survey's results in its way: it says that "the Americans spoke out against it."

Propagandists widely spread the narrative that the West is stopping aid to Ukraine to intimidate Ukrainians once again. Moreover, emphasize how the whole world is allegedly tired of war. Allegedly, Ukraine will soon be left without any help because everyone has lost interest in the w