Spilnota Detector Media

Manipulation Prohibition of left-wing parties in Ukraine may prevent accession to the EU

Such messages are distributed on pro-Russian Telegram channels. In particular, propagandist Anatoliy Shariy, whose party is also banned in Ukraine, claims this. However, ше is manipulation. Ten pro-Russian political parties have been prohibited in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. As for seven, the ban process is still ongoing.

However, as StopFake writes, banned parties can be called left-wing only partially. Most of them did not identify themselves as leftists before and came up with this argument after the ban. Furthermore, the reason for the ban is their anti-Ukrainian activities. "The grounds for restricting the activities of these political forces are anti-Ukrainian political and organizational activities, war propaganda, public statements and calls to change the constitutional order by violent means, the threat of violation of the territorial integrity of the state, actions aimed at illegal seizure of power, demonstration of manifestations of cooperation with the enemy, spreading information regarding the justification or recognition of the legitimacy of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine," the Security Service of Ukraine reports. Therefore, those parties that worked against Ukraine were banned, and the ban will in no way affect the accession to the EU.

Manipulation The nine-year-old son of the president of Ukraine is his military adviser

Information that the nine-year-old son of the Ukrainian president is his "military adviser" is being spread by Russian propagandists. In propaganda messages, they refer to the words of Olena Zelenska about how her son reacts to what is happening in the country. However, it is manipulation. Zelenska did not call her son Zelensky's military adviser.

As EU vs DISINFO writes, such statements "distort the comments of the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, to show that the Ukrainian leadership is incompetent and humiliate Ukraine. In fact, Olena Zelenska told the Daily Mail about how she communicates with her children about the war and how the reactions of the eldest daughter Oleksandra and the youngest son Kyrylo differ. Russian propagandists are trying to pass off the reactions of a nine-year-old boy to the war in his country as military advice to the president. In this way, Russian propaganda seeks to ridicule the military leadership of Ukraine to show that he is allegedly so incompetent that he needs childish advice.

Manipulation Due to sanctions against Russia, Austria has returned to the "coal age"

Russian propagandist mass media write about it. For example, the publication "RIA Novosti" claims that the sanctions allegedly forced Austria to return to the "coal age" and reduce the use of gas. In their messages, the propagandists refer to Bloomberg, but the headline says the opposite.

Fact-checkers from StopFake found out that Austria's decision was not caused by sanctions against Russia but by the desire to minimize the risks provoked by Russia. As StopFake writes, Austria is not "returning to the coal age." However, it is only diversifying its sources to protect itself if, due to the fault of Russia, gas supply interruptions may begin in the country. The reason for this decision of the Austrian government is not sanctions against Russia, as propagandists write about it, but Russia's unilateral decision to limit the supply of natural gas to European consumers to blackmail and intimidate Europeans to force the European Union to lift sanctions against the Kremlin.

Manipulation Ukraine is threatened with a military coup

This manipulative thesis was spread on the Russian military-propaganda TV channel "Zvezda," namely: the program "Glavnoe with Olga Belova" came out with this "theme." The program repeats several fakes and manipulations, in particular, regarding the split between the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhny; also about Zelensky's surrender of "western Ukraine" to Poland and riots of units in the Armed Forces and requests of captured servicemen of the Armed Forces not to return them to their homeland. The plot also contains fakes about the mandatory mobilization of women in Ukraine to "replenish the ranks of the Armed Forces due to combat losses" and manipulations on the topic of Zelensky signing a decree on sending territorial defense fighters to the front. Propagandists are convinced that both ideas "are not supported by Ukrainian civilians and the military." Most of these manipulations and fakes have already been refuted by "Media Detector."

Manipulation In Mariupol, universities and colleges are resuming work

Russian propaganda promotes the manipulative thesis through social networks that some universities and colleges in Mariupol are resuming work and preparing for the admissions campaign. In particular, various reports refer to three educational institutions - Mariupol State University, Pryazovskyi State Technical University, and the College of Pryazovskyi Technical University. These messages are mainly distributed through telegram channels created in the occupied territories. Read more about the work of "occupation telegram channels" here.

Manipulation The West is preparing for a long war, and for Ukraine, the situation is reaching a dead end

This thesis, referring to an article in The Washington Post, is spread by pro-Russian Telegram channels and media. In fact, it is manipulation. On June 17, The Washington Post published an article titled "With limited options in Ukraine, the US and allies are preparing for a protracted war." The authors of the article wrote that "the US and its allies are preparing for a long war in Ukraine, although the Biden Administration is trying to prevent Putin from winning by sending military aid to Ukraine while trying to reduce the impact of this war on world hunger and the global economy." . Therefore, in terms of "preparation for a long-term conflict," according to the context of the article, it is more about preparing a plan in case of one of the possible variants of the development of events. Furthermore, this is quite logical from the view of responsible state leadership. However, it is the context that Russian propaganda leaves out of the discussion.

The same applies to the "dead-end for Ukraine" issue. The article does include the following sentence: "But analysts say that despite the surge in foreign aid and the strong morale of Ukrainian troops, Kyiv and its supporters can hope for little more than a stalemate with Russia's much larger, better-armed army." And again Russian propaganda took the sentence out of context. In this case, we are talking about the battles in Donbas essentially in "real-time." That is, the assumptions of experts relate to the state of affairs on the part of the front at a certain point in time and do not generalize the opinion about the war as such. Also, the events in Donbas are compared with the Ukrainian army's successes in the Kyiv battle. So, it is generally about certain successful actions of both warring parties.

Manipulation Prime Minister of Great Britain Boris Johnson said in one of the interviews that he is tired of Ukraine

Russian propaganda media spread such information. Reports say that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is allegedly tired of Ukraine, as evidenced by his words in one of the interviews.

"The world is tired of Ukraine. (…) The topic of Ukraine is getting boring; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said about it in an interview with Sky News," the propagandists write. However, this is manipulation. In fact, the Prime Minister of Great Britain expressed his full support for Ukraine in the war with Russia and warned against "a little fatigue" that began to appear in the world around the topic of Ukraine.

As StopFake writes, Johnson also emphasized how important it is now to show that "we are with Ukraine for the long term" and to ensure the "strategic stability" that Kyiv needs. He added that even a theoretical success of Russia in the war against Ukraine would be a disaster.

Manipulation World sanctions against Russia are not working

Citing an article in The Economist, Russian media tell their audience that even Western experts admit that Russia has increased its oil exports despite sanctions. However, this is manipulation. In fact, as the Center for Combating Disinformation writes, economists emphasize that Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia have increased their purchases of Russian oil. At the same time, according to the same experts, Russia is forced to sell the surplus at huge discounts and, therefore, to its detriment.

The use of certain theses in the Western media creates a false impression among the Russian population about Russia's successes on the economic and military fronts. They are trying to convince Ukrainians of the same, spreading such messages through social networks and messengers. It should be noted that this is not the first time Russian propaganda has tried to convince its citizens and the outside world that the imposed sanctions are not working, although it is not true.

Manipulation "Critically" or "catastrophically," there is no blood of certain groups or Rh

Suppose such a thing is reported on social networks; in that case, it is a provocation or deliberate information sabotage - write the fact-checkers of the "NotaYenota" initiative, referring to the Kyiv City Blood Center.

In messages, the enemy tries to appeal to emotions: first, to point out that the army lacks something; secondly, to summarize significant losses. Mention of a specific group is pseudo-specific, fact-checkers write. Instead, people spread fake emotional messages out of a desire to help.

It is necessary to understand that there is never an urgent and acute need for blood due to the lack of a particular group and rhesus, the Center's experts explain. They added that blood is always needed to replenish the blood bank, so the call to become a donor is always relevant.

Manipulation British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said she insists on returning Ukraine to negotiations with the Russian Federation

The Kremlin media is spreading disinformation that Liz Truss insists on returning Ukraine to the negotiations and connecting the Baltic countries and Poland to the negotiation process, the Center for Countering Disinformation at the NSDC warns.

In fact, on June 16, Liz Truss announced the UK government's support for Ukraine.

An excerpt of Liz Truss' direct speech from the released statement: "We must also support Ukraine in the negotiations. So far, Russia has shown that it is not serious about the negotiations. We cannot allow Ukraine to be pressured to give up territory in a way we would never agree to. Through the G7 and NATO, we are doing everything possible to strengthen the hand of Ukraine. We also need to make sure our Baltic and Polish friends are involved. Sanctions should be in force as long as Russian boots are on Ukrainian soil. Moreover, we have to keep increasing the pressure."

Manipulation "Nooses" and "anacondas" on the Ukrainian front

Resorting artistic images when government politics do not allow the use of a direct term is a classic propaganda technique. In particular, the image of a "loop" is used in the absence of an environment, which is a clear concept despite the definition.

For example, pro-Russian telegram channels from the "SBU list" increasingly call the combat situation in Severodonetsk a "loop." Propagandists refer to closed data obtained from British intelligence, according to which the Russian army is allegedly deliberately not closing the loop so that more Armed Forces soldiers fall into the trap. We cannot deny or confirm this information, but we pay attention to the manipulative nature of the concept used.

They also compare the situation to the "Anaconda Plan" concept during the American Civil War, which aimed to "suppress" trade by cutting off the connection between the east and west of the Confederacy. In fact, the famous name was invented by journalists, and historians are debating the effectiveness of the plan.

Manipulation "Nooses" and "anacondas" on the Ukrainian front

Resorting artistic images when government politics do not allow the use of a direct term is a classic propaganda technique. In particular, the image of a "loop" is used in the absence of an environment, which is a clear concept despite the definition.

For example, pro-Russian telegram channels from the "SBU list" increasingly call the combat situation in Severodonetsk a "loop." Propagandists refer to closed data obtained from British intelligence, according to which the Russian army is allegedly deliberately not closing the loop so that more Armed Forces soldiers fall into the trap. We cannot deny or confirm this information, but we pay attention to the manipulative nature of the concept used.

They also compare the situation to the "Anaconda Plan" concept during the American Civil War, which aimed to "suppress" trade by cutting off the connection between the east and west of the Confederacy. In fact, the famous name was invented by journalists, and historians are debating the effectiveness of the plan.

Manipulation British Foreign Minister Liz Truss said she insists on returning Ukraine to negotiations with the Russian Federation

The Kremlin media is spreading disinformation that Liz Truss insists on returning Ukraine to the negotiations and connecting the Baltic countries and Poland to the negotiation process, the Center for Countering Disinformation at the NSDC warns.

In fact, on June 16, Liz Truss announced the UK government's support for Ukraine.

Manipulation "Critically" or "catastrophically," there is no blood of certain groups or Rh

Suppose such a thing is reported on social networks; in that case, it is a provocation or deliberate information sabotage - write the fact-checkers of the "NotaYenota" initiative, referring to the Kyiv City Blood Center.

In messages, the enemy tries to appeal to emotions: first, to point out that the army lacks something; secondly, to summarize significant losses. Mention of a specific group is pseudo-specific, fact-checkers write. Instead, people spread fake emotional messages out of a desire to help.

Manipulation Ukrainian refugees in Riga will be kicked out on July 1

"News" under this title was published by Russian and Belarusian publications concerning the mayor of Riga, Martins Stakis. Allegedly, he stated that the hotels in the capital may soon stop accepting Ukrainian refugees for free and that on July 1, the agreement between the Latvian government and representatives of the hotel business may terminate. On June 15, Martins Stakis gave an interview to Latvian Television (LTV) and spoke about Ukrainian refugees.

He said the state should provide more compensation for hosting refugees in hotels. Otherwise, they will no longer provide these services, and refugees will have to find new accommodation.

Manipulation The Americans accused the United States and Ukraine of stealing $ 40 billion

Russian media are actively spreading the news that the Americans have accused the United States and Ukraine of stealing $ 40 billion in military aid. In particular, RIA-Novosti wrote about it. Do reports say that under the news of allocating a new tranche of aid, Americans ask the authorities where the previously given money went? Also, Americans under this post seem to be concerned about the use of taxpayers' funds and financial responsibility for government actions. Russian propaganda turned the comments of anonymous users into loud headlines such as: "Where did the money go?", "Ukrainians spent the previous 40 billion too quickly!" etc. However, all this is manipulation. According to StopFake, the news was made based on the comments of seven anonymous users of the social network Twitter. Their authors are not opinion leaders, experts, or analysts. In addition, comments were added almost simultaneously, which is a sign of the activity of bots. Therefore, it is evident that such an opinion cannot reliably reflect Americans' views. Russian media often use this technique to create news and mislead readers artificially. It is not the first time Russian propaganda has tried to discredit US aid to Ukraine. Earlier, we wrote about how similar attempts were made based on extracted citations from an article published in The Wall Street Journal. Similarly, during the week, propaganda used comments from individual social media users from France and Germany to spread the idea that citizens of these countries did not support and "dislike" Ukraine.

Manipulation The leaders of Italy, France, and Germany will persuade Ukraine to give up part of the territories to end the war as soon as possible

Such messages were spread by Russian telegram channels and the media on the eve of the visit of EU leaders to Ukraine. Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov quoted French President Emmanuel Macron to support his thesis, saying that Ukraine should negotiate with Russia on its own. We should notice that Russia has repeatedly used manipulation to pressure the world to change the situation in its favor. These manipulations are refuted by statements made at a joint press conference of Germany, France, Italy, and Romania leaders after they visited Ukraine. "We always support the dialogue because one day the conflict will end, and negotiations must begin. But the terms of the talks must be determined by Ukraine: France and Germany will never be mediators behind Ukraine and will never demand conditions from Ukraine," he said. President of France Emmanuel Macron. "Russia is trying to force the borders inside Europe. And this is unacceptable. Therefore, Germany and other countries have sided with Ukraine from day one," said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. "Italy wants to see Ukraine as part of the European Union. So, it will support Ukraine's status as a candidate and in the future accession to the EU. This path involves deep reforms," ​​said Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. "Today in Kyiv with my European colleagues - Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Emmanuel Macron, and Prime Minister Mario Draghi - to show our strong support and full solidarity with President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian people," said President Ioannis. It should be noted that after such statements by EU leaders, the Russian media again began to actively threaten Russia's use of nuclear weapons, which is also an element of pressure and intimidation.

Manipulation More than 100,000 residents of Zaporizhzhia have applied for Russian citizenship

The Russian newspaper Izvestia published an article stating that more than 100,000 Zaporizhzhia residents had already applied for Russian citizenship, and thousands had prepared the necessary documents. The publication refers to the statement of the collaborator Vladimir Rogov, appointed by the occupiers as the head of the so-called council of the military-civil administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, on the air of the Russian propaganda TV channel "Solovyov Live."

"There are already more than 100 thousand people - this is 100% who are now in queues. And thousands of people who have already prepared packages of documents," Rogov said. The article also mentions the following: "In the first three days, the city's passport office [Berdyansk] processed 25 applications for Russian citizenship. There are 70 more people on the list… Several residents of Melitopol have also already been given Russian identity cards, Rogov said on June 11. On the same day, Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Kherson region's Military-Civil Administration (MCA), received Russian citizenship. In addition to him, the first passports of the Russian Federation that day were handed over to 25 more residents of the region."

The high-profile title of the article is another fake propaganda machine. First, Zaporizhzhia is not occupied but is part of Ukraine. Therefore, mentioning Zaporizhzhia in the title is already a manipulation to attract attention. Secondly, in addition to the actual regional center, there are two large cities in the region - Berdyansk (population - of 109 thousand people as of 2020) and Melitopol (almost 150 thousand people as of 2021), which are now temporarily occupied. That is, when the occupiers talk about 100 thousand inhabitants of Zaporizhzhia, it is rather about the number of Ukrainians who remained in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region for various reasons.

In addition, the occupiers are actively spreading information that obtaining Russian passports has also begun in Kherson. However, for Kherson (a regional center with a population of almost 280 thousand as of January 2022), they show much more modest figures - there only 1.5 thousand people "expressed a desire to change citizenship."

Manipulation The United States is harming Ukraine and is delaying arms supplies

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, gave an interview to the Russian newspaper RIA Novosti, in which he accused the United States of deliberately prolonging Ukraine's predicament. "The United States is prolonging the troubles of Ukraine. The United States is prolonging this bad period for Ukraine, for the people of Ukraine," Peskov said. The statement was widely circulated in the Russian media. For example, RT wrote that the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov announced that America was prolonging Ukraine's troubles and delaying the process of arms supply, which was terrible for the country. In fact, Peskov's words are manipulation and an emotional reaction to the unprecedented assistance the United States provides to Ukraine. It is almost 54 billion dollars allocated by the US Congress. The total amount of aid includes the cost of weapons that the United States supplies to Ukraine. Also, in his statement, Peskov "forgot" to say that it was because of Russia that "all the troubles" and the "bad period" arose in Ukraine. Silencing the root causes and shifting one's responsibility for war crimes against Ukraine to anyone else (Ukraine, the United States, the collective West) is part of the information policy of the occupiers. Of course, it is more advantageous for Russia to leave Ukraine without help and support because, unfortunately, we will not be able to resist such an enemy on our own. Also, in this way, Peskov is somewhat intimidating, saying that even Ukraine's partners in this war are only harming it. Hinting that as long as the United States sends weapons, the war will continue. However, the war in Ukraine began not because of actions but because of an attack by Russia, which, in particular, with the help of American weapons, Ukraine is resisting.

Manipulation The Germans support Russia

The Russian propaganda media spread this thesis. In their articles, they refer to pro-Russian comments published under the material of the German public television ZDF on Twitter. Propagandists claim that the Germans are choosing Russia, thus reacting to one of Volodymyr Zelensky's statements. The German public television ZDF tweeted an interview with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in which he said that Ukraine needed confidence that the German government, including Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, supported Ukraine. Russian media called these words of the Ukrainian president an ultimatum. According to StopFake, pro-Russian comments quoted by the Kremlin media can be found under the ZDF publication. Still, it is impossible to say, given them, that all Germans choose Russia. It is manipulation. According to fact-checkers, a poll conducted in April 2022 showed that 89% of Germans fully support or are inclined to support Ukraine, and about 82% of Germans fully support or tend to believe that the Russian authorities are to blame for what is happening.

Manipulation The United States is concerned about the disappearance of billions of dollars sent to Kyiv

This message was spread by the Russian media and social networks concerning an article in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), published on June 13. Russian propaganda has traditionally exaggerated information and speaks of "ordinary sawing" and "expected theft." However, the quotes announced by the Russian media are taken out of context and distort the opinion expressed in the original source. The fact-checkers from StopFake drew attention to the manipulation. The WSJ published an article about how much money the United States spends daily on military aid to Ukraine under the headline: "Since billions go to Ukraine, officials are concerned about the possibility of fraud and waste." It reports that the United States sends about $ 130 million a day in aid to Ukraine (including the cost of weapons, not just money as such). The US Congress has also allocated nearly $ 54 billion to Ukraine, exceeding annual aid to any other country, including aid sent to Afghanistan at the peak of US military involvement there. The article's authors, referring to the opinion of American politicians, draw attention to the need to establish an effective mechanism for controlling the allocated funds, which did not happen at the beginning of the war due to the need to respond quickly to challenges. That is, Americans want to be sure that the money allocated goes to their goals. And this is natural, given the amount of funding.

Manipulation An unprecedented war was declared against Russia

It was stated during a so-called international economic forum held in Saint Petersburg, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov. He spoke about his vision of the financial situation in the world. He assured that "everything will be restored on a new basis in the conditions of the absolutely unprecedented war that was declared and started against us." The fact-checkers of the project "Bez Brekhni" drew attention to the quote of Putin's press secretary. Peskov is probably referring to US and EU economic sanctions imposed on Russia over three months. Hundreds of international companies have also stopped cooperating with the country, causing the Russian economy to suffer. However, calling all these actions an unprecedented war, Peskov forgot to add that it happened as a result of the real war that Russia started on the territory of Ukraine. That is, the war is not going on against Russia, and if it were not for the military actions of this country, as a result of which hundreds of peaceful Ukrainians die and cities are destroyed, nothing would have happened.

Manipulation Putin did not achieve his goals, gaining only Ukraine, not the whole of Eastern Europe

Russian propagandist Margarita Simonyan suggested that NATO declare that Putin's goal was the whole of Eastern Europe and that, thanks to NATO's actions, he did not achieve that goal, gaining only Ukraine. "NATO declares that Putin's goal was the whole of Eastern Europe. Or the whole of Europe. And he did not achieve this goal... In the end, Putin received only Ukraine. And no goals. And so, NATO prevented the escalation of the war. Take a good plan," the propagandist said.

In this way, she responded to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's words: "We have a responsibility to ensure that Putin does not achieve his goal, that the war does not escalate. At the same time, NATO must consider how to be a strong player and prevent war from escalating. "

Simonyan resorted to one of the most common tactics of Russian propaganda - the substitution of concepts and artificial blurring of real goals by much broader ones, which no one planned to achieve. In fact, since February 24, 2022, the Kremlin has constantly been changing the purposes of the war in Ukraine, its rhetoric, and its timing. These "updates" of versions show that Russia has failed to achieve its goals either in Ukraine or abroad. Fighting continues in Ukraine, and Ukrainian defenders are resisting Russian invaders. Indeed, some Ukrainian territories are now temporarily occupied by Russia - but this is no reason to say that "Putin got Ukraine."

Manipulation The Armed Forces refuse to fight with weapons provided by the West

Russian media reported that the Ukrainian military allegedly refused to fight with weapons provided by Western partners. This thesis is disseminated concerning a CNN article. CNN does have a paragraph saying that "some units (AFUs) prefer to use commercial drones equipped with explosives" instead of the American Switchblade. In other words, it is already clear from this quote that this is not a mass renunciation of all Western weapons by the Armed Forces, and Russian propaganda has distorted CNN material. Another quote from the material confirms this: "In some cases, according to one of the sources familiar with American intelligence, Ukraine has simply decided not to use unfamiliar Western systems."

Manipulation Germany transfers billions of euros to Ukraine while German pensioners are "starving"

This manipulative thesis is spread on Facebook to foreign audiences. German-language reports claim that while "at home [German] pensioners are starving," the government has provided 22 billion euros to Ukraine and plans to pay even more.

Fact-checkers discovered this manipulation from the German publication Correctiv. According to a government spokesman, Germany has allocated about 1.83 billion euros to Ukraine since 2014, about 1.6 billion euros for various aid programs since February 2022, and about a billion euros for military purposes. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that since 2014, Germany had supported Ukraine for more than two billion euros. "Comparing assistance to Ukraine or refugees with the situation of pensioners in Germany, as they are presented in a Facebook post, is not new. It has only recently been rumored that Ukrainian refugees can receive a pension ten years earlier than Germans, which is not true," Correctiv added.