Pro-Russian Telegram channels write about this. The European Union allegedly extended sanctions to the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. With such actions, the European Union allegedly recognized these territories as Russian. It is manipulation. In fact, on October 6, 2022, the European Union agreed to the eighth package of sanctions against Russia, including sanctions against legal entities and individuals involved in pseudo-referendums in the temporarily occupied territories. Sanctions previously imposed on the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions were also extended to the temporarily occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions: a ban on the import of goods from these regions; restrictions on trade and investment; ban on providing tourist services; freezing of assets of persons who are on sanction lists; prohibition of entry for these persons to the territory of the EU, etc. The European Union condemns the occupation of Ukrainian territories and doesn't recognize pseudo-referendums' results. Moreover, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized the Russian regime as a terrorist.

Russian propaganda systematically manipulates facts and passes off wishful information as facts. They previously claimed that over 3 billion people allegedly abstained from voting on Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories. More details.

The Russian media spread this forecast concerning the head of the Russian Gazprom, Oleksiy Miller. Speaking at the Russian Energy Week forum, Miller said that Gazprom predicts an abnormally cold winter for the heating period. It is manipulation.

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, Gazprom doesn't have a meteorological service, so they couldn't make their forecast of a freezing winter in Europe. Scientists also believe that long-term weather forecasts aren't reliable. It is impossible to say precisely what the weather will be like in a few weeks, as all long-term forecasts are based on probabilistic formulations. That is, it is possible to talk only about a certain probability of a cold winter and not to assert that this will be the case.

As the cold season approaches, Russia's energy blackmail of Europe is gaining momentum. However, it is mainly based on Russian manipulation and outright intimidation.

Propagandists also manipulate the topic of finding alternative sources of energy in Europe. In particular, propaganda spreads information that the Germans allegedly cut down almost all the trees in Berlin's central park for firewood. Europe supposedly has to rely only on Russian gas, and its underground storages are empty.

Such "news" is spread on social networks and pro-Russian resources. It is about the central park of Berlin, "Tiergarten." Moreover, due to the lack of fuel and the energy crisis, the Germans allegedly thought about the possibility of heating their homes with horse manure. Despondent Europeans allegedly recall that such a situation has not occurred since the Second World War. They must, as in ancient times, gather around the fire in one room to keep warm. This information was allegedly spread by the British publication Bloomberg. It is not so.

As StopFake writes, there is no information in the Bloomberg publication that the Germans cut down almost all the trees in Berlin's central park. During World War II, the Germans did stock up on firewood by cutting down trees in Tiergarten Park, but now they buy wood as an alternative source of fuel for the winter. The article's authors write that Berlin's central park now looks the same as six months ago, and its trees remain intact. Moreover, it is confirmed by their journalist, who at that time was in the capital of Germany.

In this way, the USA and Great Britain "revenge" Russia for the events in Ukraine. Foreign pro-Russian media write that allegedly after the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines and the "terrorist attack" on the Crimean Bridge, it "became clear" that Washington was "planning large-scale terrorist acts" that would give Moscow a "pretext" for a nuclear strike. The publications write that "Anglo-Saxons" are behind both events. The spread of this misinformation a few hours after the explosion on the Crimean bridge, when no details of this event hadn't yet known, was noticed by fact-checkers of the EUvsDisinfo project.

The Russian media spread such messages concerning the materials of the Washington Post. Allegedly, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Oslo criticized his colleagues for trying to "make money" after reducing gas supplies from Russia. It is not true.

In fact, the Washington Post article "Norway portrayed as both hero and villain of Europe's energy crisis" is devoted to changes in the structure of the gas market in Europe and consumers' reactions to it. "Quoting" the alleged current words of the Polish prime minister, the propagandists resorted to manipulation. Poland gave up Russian gas in May, filled its storage facilities to 100% in August, and the Baltic Pipe for transporting Norwegian gas became operational as early as September. The volumes of Norwegian gas that will be delivered through the pipeline are similar to previous Russian deliveries. Russian propaganda systematically uses quotes taken out of context to make wishful thinking come true. More details.

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.

Russian propaganda is increasing the energy blackmail of Europe and is trying to force Europe to abandon sanctions against Russia and stop supporting Ukraine. The Kremlin seeks to pressure and blackmail European governments and create public panic over energy insecurity or rising electricity costs.

According to the EUvsDISINFO fact checkers, the EU member states are preparing for winter and the heating season both at the national and at the EU level. In particular, they adopted a resolution on filling gas storage facilities and distributing them in a spirit of solidarity, using various sources of energy resources, and committed to reducing gas use by 15% this winter. Despite the cessation of Russian gas supplies via Nord Stream, Europe is ready for winter. Underground gas storage facilities in the EU were filled to 82.5% of their capacity well before the November 1 deadline set in the gas storage regulation.

Recently, the Russians made a video about a winter without gas in Europe, which was supposed to scare the Europeans. However, the “powerful gas country” used winter footage from the hitherto non-gasified Russian city of Krasnoyarsk to shoot the film. Propagandists also claimed that 60% of British factories would stop working due to rising electricity prices provoked by anti-Russian sanctions. They tried to scare and fake that the United States is killing Europe, since it is beneficial for them to refuse Europeans from Russian gas.

The Russian media spread the information that the head of the EU Foreign Service called Russia a “fascist state”. And since he supports Ukraine and its government in the war with Russia, then the hidden fascist himself would support Franco's dictatorship in Spain.

This story is given by euvsdisinfo.eu. First, Borrell did not call Russia fascist, but only referred to a reservation made by a speaker at the Inter-Parliamentary Conference in the Czech Republic. And secondly, Borrell is a Spaniard and a representative of the Socialist Party, his public service and track record prove that he opposed the Franco regime and was an active participant in Spain's transition to democratic governance.

Pulling words out of context and distorting them, blaming Ukraine, the EU, the UK, etc. in being “fascists” is a typical tactic in pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystems where anyone who disagrees with Russia can be labeled as a fascist. This is done in order to play on the sensitivity of the topic of the Second World War for Russians, to cause a sharply negative attitude for everyone who is branded with such a cliché.

Most of the Russian media spread the news claiming that Germany has recognized that Crimea is forever Russian. But this is manipulation. Propaganda media refer to an interview with German MP Sarah Wagenknecht, who said: the war must end, it's time to look for compromises - and Crimea can become such a compromise. Then she remembered that Russia is a nuclear state, and that the Black Sea Fleet has been in Crimea for many years - and all this, according to Wagenknecht, will prevent Ukraine from returning Crimea. Firstly, these reflections are the personal opinions of one deputy, and not the entire German parliament, contradicting both the statements of Olaf Scholz, and the position of the German government, and numerous EU bodies, whose position is supported by Germany. All of them unanimously call Crimea Ukrainian, and are not going to recognize its annexation.

Secondly, Wagenknecht is a representative of the German Livi (Die Linke) party, which constantly promotes pro-Russian messages. Representatives of this party assured that the “referendum” in Crimea was legitimate; traveled to the Russian-occupied Donbas and assured the German parliament that Azov was a “neo-Nazi battalion.” But, as StopFake testifies, even this party has not officially declared that it recognizes Crimea as Russian. Thus, the Russian media again used their favorite trick: they took the personal opinion of a sympathizer of Russia in Europe, in this case, the German woman, and they pretend that this is the position of the whole country.

Photos of elderly women carrying firewood are circulating on social networks, with captions that German pensioners are supposedly preparing for winter because of problems with gas. This is manipulation.

In fact, in the photo are Russian pensioners. Fact-checkers of the MithDetector project found that the photos were taken in 2018-2019 by Russian photographers to illustrate materials about whether the Russians will have time to prepare for winter. Despite the fact that Russia is trying to blackmail the West with gas supplies, many regions of Russia are still not connected to the gas supply system, so they must prepare firewood for the winter.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European countries are really trying to find alternative sources of energy instead of Russian gas. Alternatives include harvesting firewood and acquiring wood-burning stoves. Demand for wood stoves in Germany has doubled compared to last year. In the past, less than 6% of Germans used wood for heating, but this year the number is likely to arise.

Pro-Kremlin publications spread the statements of German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock that support for Ukraine is supposedly more important than the opinions of Germans and she does not care what German voters think about it.

As fact-checkers from Stop Fake noted, Annalena Burbock’s quote was taken out of context, and its meaning was distorted. The head of the German Foreign Ministry did not say that the support of Ukraine is more important for her than her own voters.

Burbock emphasized that the task of European politicians now is the maximum social support for their citizens due to the increase in energy prices this winter, but also unconditional solidarity with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

“We remain in solidarity with the people of our country, just as we stand side by side with everyone in Ukraine”, concluded Annalena Burbock.

Allegedly, high energy tariffs and the predicted difficult winter period led to this. Russian propaganda makes such conclusions allegedly on the basis of individual materials from the German media (Die Welt, Tagesschau, etc.).

In fact, according to the latest Tagesschau polls, more than 53% of Germans support sanctions against Russia despite the difficulties in the economy. As the Center for Counteracting Disinformation writes, Russia is repeating for Europe the scenario already worked out in Ukraine to intimidate society with an energy crisis. Russia propaganda has been spreading similar disinformation predictions about frozen Ukrainians and an imminent governance crisis in the Ukrainian information space since 2018. Now the Kremlin is intimidating the Germans with a cold winter and the potential resignation of the government due to the inability to get through the heating season.

This thesis is spread by pro-Kremlin propagandists. They say that it is the leaders of the West who incite discord and that the West will allegedly support Ukraine in the fight against Russia "to the last Ukrainian." Thus, propaganda is trying to create the appearance that the West wants to destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians.

In fact, Western states, in particular the European Union, support Ukraine's resistance against Russian aggression and took part in the Crimean Platform initiated by Ukraine. It was after this event that Russian propagandists began to actively promote the thesis that the West wants the death of Ukraine. The platform aims to increase the effectiveness of the international response to the long-term occupation of Crimea, increase international pressure on the Kremlin, prevent further human rights violations and protect the victims of the occupation regime, as well as achieve the main goal - the de-occupation of Crimea and its peaceful return to Ukraine.

Such news is spread through pro-Russian telegram channels, in particular, it was spread by the Politika strany channel. The messages say that no restrictions have been introduced. Like, despite the requirements of Ukraine on restrictions, the EU did not give in and did not introduce anything. In fact, the authors substitute facts and hide the most important thing: there are significant limitations.

According to Reuters, EU foreign ministers have decided to make it harder for Russian citizens to obtain visas. The visa facilitation agreement has already been suspended. This will significantly reduce the number of visas issued by the European Union. The procedure will be more picky and long.

However, so far we are not talking about a general ban on tourist trips of Russians. Among the countries that opposed visa restrictions for Russians are Germany and France. At the same time, the countries of Eastern and Northern Europe strongly support the ban.

Ukrainian and Russian media spread the news with reference to Russian Defense Minister Serhii Shoihu. He said this at a meeting of the so-called First International Anti-Fascist Congress, which is designed to become a platform for upholding the historical truth about the decisive contribution of the USSR to the defeat of fascism during the Second World War, as well as to counteract the spread of Nazi ideology.

According to the Russian minister, the Russophobic idea is being actively promoted from the high European stands to ban all Russian citizens from entering the EU countries and this is a vivid manifestation of Nazi policy.

Anonymous Telegram channels and Russian media are spreading the news that allegedly the six largest European countries have not made new "war promises" to Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the "special operation". They said that military aid could weaken precisely when Kyiv announced a counteroffensive. Allegedly, this is stated in an article by Politico.

As StopFake writes, the Politico article does not contain any information that European countries have abandoned their promises. The article deals with two problems: the reduction of weapons stocks at the moment in those countries that have actively helped Ukraine since the beginning of the war, as well as the delay in the supply of weapons from Germany and France. The article emphasizes that Germany and France should better fulfill their promises and help more actively.

German fact-checkers of Correctiv found out that Unser Mitteleuropa (Our Central Europe) published a false article alleging that the director of the Economic Security Bureau, Vadym Melnyk, admitted that "Ukraine is selling military aid" to the West and "mass appropriation of Western funds." It seems that he said this in an interview with the Ukraine 24 channel.

Neither the Correctiv publication nor the editors of the Media Detector could find Melnyk's interview with the Ukraine-24 channel of July 5, where he stated this. Also, no other sources contain such a statement by Melnyk. The article in the German edition is, in fact, a literal translation of the news of the Russian media that was massively distributed on July 6. It was in them that Melnyk's statement was quoted and noted that he told the Ukraine-24 channel about this, and there is no link to the interview in both Russian and German media.

Propagandists say that today's behavior of Europe is reminiscent of the behavior of Nazi Germany. This seems to be similar to the case when signs “Juden sind hier unerwünscht” (“Jews are not welcome here”) appeared in Germany after 1933. Today's discussion about visas is like a European sign "Russians are not needed here."

According to EUvsDISINFO project fact-checkers, the decision to ban Schenhen visas for Russian citizens has not yet been made. The solution will be discussed at the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Prague at the end of August 2022. The ban on visas for Russian citizens was initiated by Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who believes that "visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right." These words were spoken in the context of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. The idea of ​​a visa ban was supported by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. He said Russians "should live in their own world until they change their philosophy."

Otherwise, gas prices in winter will be record high and exceed $4,000 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Russia uses energy prices as leverage to blackmail European countries. As the Center for Counteracting Disinformation writes, propagandists voice various arguments to convince. They argue that it is likely that Europe will not be able to fill the gas storage facilities in time as a result of “problems” with Nord Stream. Allegedly, in the event of a cessation of Russian gas supply, the available gas will last only 2.5 months. In anticipation of a difficult winter, the Germans bought up all the electric heaters, stock up on firewood and insulate their houses. Europe should be encouraged to engage in dialogue with Russia by the fact that "the Europeans will not survive the winter." Propagandists are also trying to convince Europe that energy sanctions are a mistake, because attempts to replace Russian energy supplies have failed. Like, for Europeans, the rise in the cost of life and energy prices is more important than the support of Ukraine.

This is not the first time Russia has used blackmail and intimidation to achieve its goal. Previously, propaganda spread the thesis of Putin's press secretary Peskov that the countries of Europe, trying to "punish" Russia, are already actively paying for it. The propagandists also argued that the sanctions were preventing Gazprom from supplying more gas to Europe.

This is reported by the Russian media. Allegedly in Germany, journalist Alina Lipp and her parents were blocked from accessing bank accounts. Allegedly, this is how the German authorities reacted to the fact that Lipp shows the truth about the Donbas. As propagandists write, "the family is being hounded, persecuted and threatened." This is manipulation.

Alina Lipp is a German blogger who claims to be an "independent journalist" but in reality spreads Russian propaganda narratives. Lipp is included in the "Peacemaker" database for propaganda of Russian Nazism, informational support of the "special operation", etc.

According to the fact-checkers of The Insider project, the German prosecutor's office did block the account of the "journalist" because she collected donations in Germany in support of her propaganda activities, and then transferred the funds to a personal account in a Russian bank. Paypal closed the account of Lipp and her father, who lives in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Fact-checkers suggest that Lipp's mother's account may also have been blocked due to participation in a scheme to finance illegal activities. However, this information has not yet been verified.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to pass off punishment for the criminal activities of its colleague as an attempt to put pressure on “independent media” and “independent journalists”.

The first five posts with the hashtag #againstsanctions on Twitter were posted from suspicious or fake accounts, according to fact-checker MythDetector. Europeans seem to have started posting photos of empty plates with the message that everyone ate the sanctions.

Russia has stepped up its "gas blackmail", that is, it continues to intimidate Europeans with the prospect of a cold winter. In particular, propaganda in this context often uses the emotional verb "survive" and refers to experts predicting a gloomy future for the German economy and industry.

This is reported by anonymous Telegram channels. Allegedly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz accidentally said that Ukraine is being used as a testing ground for new weapons. It is not true.

In an interview with the Canadian edition of The Globe and Mail, Olaf Scholz said that Ukraine was given some weapons systems that the Bundeswehr does not have. However, Scholz did not call the transferred weapons experimental and did not talk about the fact that they are being tested in Ukraine. He also said that German specialists teach Ukrainians how to use this equipment correctly.