On social networks in the Russian segment, they add that the American authorities “expect” the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use ATACMS long-range missiles “against Russian cities”. Thus, propagandists concluded that the United States was “forcing” Ukraine to attack Russia. The messages also refer to CNN material.

StopFake fact-checkers explained that even in the article they write how the United States “does not want to give permission” to Ukraine to use American long-range weapons against enemy targets on Russian territory.

Regarding the Kursk region, the United States officially denied involvement in organizing the operation in the Kursk region. For example, as Reuters writes, the United States still considers Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk region of Russia unexpected.

The Biden administration is now working to determine Ukraine's goals in its offensive, which U.S. officials say has taken Washington by surprise.

Moreover, the American government has not lifted absolutely all restrictions for the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the use of weapons on Russian territory: neither in range nor in use. Actually, the country's leadership is still determining the feasibility of using weapons in the Kursk region. That is about the fact that the United States was not informed about this offensive.

Russian propagandists manipulated correspondence from the Forward Observation Group on Instagram, where photos of military personnel in the Kursk region were published. They claim that this is supposedly evidence of the participation of “militants of an American private military company” in the operation.

But Forward Observation Group is not actually a private military contractor. As the Center for Countering Disinformation explained, FOG is a security and tactical training consulting company that sells tactical gear. Representatives of the company shoot videos from different places where fighting continues in order to promote their own brand.

This is not the first time that Russian propaganda has tried to portray the Forward Observation Group as “a private military company whose mercenaries fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. Thus, former US military man Derrick Bales and the owner of this consulting company already came under the close attention of Russian propaganda after his trip to the front lines of the Ukrainian military to film a documentary about the war in Ukraine. Russian media wasted no time in using his presence as evidence that “American mercenaries are training Ukrainian soldiers”. At the same time, stories are also being circulated by alleged residents of the Kursk region, who claim that they allegedly saw foreign mercenaries among the Ukrainian military.

Derrick Bales himself was also accused of participating in hostilities as a “foreign mercenary”. In response, the American veteran told VICE News that he was not using his military skills to make money in Ukraine.

Russia continues to try to convince the world that it is allegedly at war not only with Ukraine, but also with “the entire NATO bloc”. Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Ukrainian army. Moreover, it also shows Russia’s desire to justify its own failures on the battlefield and spread the narrative of “external control” in Ukraine.

On August 19, Detector Media already wrote about Russia’s message that the United States was allegedly involved in the operation in the Kursk region.

Propagandists are disseminating on anonymous telegram channels a statement by former Pentagon adviser Colonel Douglas McGregor that after the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ invasion of the Kursk region, the chances of peace negotiations have significantly decreased. They say that Washington was afraid of Putin’s reaction to the attack and returned to the idea of creating a government of exile in Lviv. However, this is not true.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security drew attention to this. They note that the official position of the United States and the EU on the operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region remains unchanged: Ukraine has the right to defend itself at its own discretion. US State Department representative Matthew Miller emphasized that the decision to conduct military operations is made by Ukraine itself, and European Commission representative Peter Stano emphasized that the EU fully supports Ukraine’s legitimate right to defend and restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Such statements by McGregor are part of the Kremlin’s disinformation narratives aimed at legitimizing the crimes of Russians. This is an attempt to influence Ukrainian and Western audiences under the guise of “expert” opinions from the West. McGregor has long acted as a mouthpiece for Russian propaganda, justifying the annexation of Crimea and the occupation of Donbas in 2014, and after the full-scale invasion predicted the imminent defeat of Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops broke through the Russian border in the Sumy region on Tuesday, August 6. Already on August 12, President Zelenskyi for the first time directly wrote that Ukraine was conducting an operation in the Kursk region of Russia. Back on August 12, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi stated that Ukraine controls almost 1,000 km of Kursk region. As of August 13, it became known that 74 settlements in Russia are under Ukrainian control.

Russian anonymous telegram channels began to spread messages that in fact everything was happening under the so-called “cover” of the United States and the American government.

“Without Washington’s participation, Kyiv would hardly have risked entering Russian territory. Because of American interests, the residents of Ukraine are suffering, which the United States has turned from a state into a military anti-Russian project”, the propagandists add.

However, the United States officially denied involvement in organizing the operation in the Kursk region. For example, as Reuters writes, the United States is still considering an unexpected invasion of Ukraine into the Kursk region of Russia.

The Biden administration is now working to determine Ukraine's goals in its offensive, which U.S. officials say has taken Washington by surprise.

Moreover, the American government has not lifted absolutely all restrictions for the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the use of weapons on Russian territory: neither in range nor in use. Actually, the country's leadership is still determining the feasibility of using weapons in the Kursk region. That is, we are talking about the fact that the United States was not informed about this offensive.

And, as CNN writes, the United States does not allow Ukraine to use the American long-range weapons provided for attacks in the Kursk region of Russia, since it believes that it would be more expedient to use them for attacks on the temporarily occupied Crimea.

This is how Russia once again promotes the narrative of “external governance” in Ukraine: With this, propagandists want to show that all political decisions in Ukraine are made by Western officials. While Ukrainian politicians are subject to these decisions, without the right to appeal them. Any events occurring in Ukraine that are not in favor of Russia are allegedly caused by external control. Fake robes strive to create the image of a puppet country that cannot exist on its own. Let's say Ukraine constantly needs “protection”.

The authors convince us that most often, peaceful people who suffer from “external control” pay taxes “who knows where”, are zombied by “Western values” and have literally lost the right to be heard. That is, they show that such an “impact” is bad and leads to stagnation in all spheres of people’s lives.

Propagandists are spreading information in the media that the attack by Ukrainian forces on the Kursk region allegedly indicates the “agony” of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and that panic and a coup d’etat will soon begin in Kyiv. In doing so, they refer to statements by American political scientist Scott Bennett.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security drew attention to this message. They note that this is not the first time that propaganda has been trying to predict the collapse of the “Zelenskyi regime”, starting in 2023, constantly spreading fiction about a military coup, a “third Maidan” or the elimination of the President by third forces. The goal of these Kremlin manipulations is to impose on Ukrainians and Western audiences the idea of Ukraine as a “fragile” and “vulnerable” state.

Scott Bennett is a longtime darling of Russian propaganda. For example, in November 2023, he visited the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and spread lies that Soledar was allegedly destroyed by “American weapons”. And in March 2024, Bennett even approached Putin with a request to grant him Russian citizenship, declaring a desire to use his skills “for the good of Russia”.

Russian resources claim that French General Bertrand Toujouse believes that NATO would be unable to respond to a potential Russian attack. When spreading this information, propagandists refer to the material from Politico.

However, Toujouse’s words were manipulated, they write in the StopFake project. In fact, in the Politico text, the French general simply drew attention to what areas of defense Europe should improve to effectively defend against Russian aggression. In particular, we are talking about the mobility of military weapons. As Toujouse writes, the rapid transport of weapons is hampered by excessive bureaucratic procedures, inconvenient infrastructure (including tunnels and bridges) and a shortage of railway cars.

To strengthen this area of defense, EU member states introduced a new military mobility pledge in May 2024, which will help ensure the rapid and smooth movement of military personnel and materiel within and outside the EU. Commitments include investments in dual-use infrastructure and a simplified procedure for obtaining permits for the transport of military equipment across borders.

Bertrand Toujouse does not believe that Europe is powerless against a potential Russian attack. European countries are identifying weak areas in their defense systems and implementing changes accordingly.

The pro-Kremlin resource RT (formerly Russia Today) reported that it had in its possession a video of a “captured Ukrainian saboteur” who was allegedly captured by the Russian military at the Kursk border checkpoint. The person in the video, kneeling and blindfolded, says in Russian that “they were going to Sudzha” and that “it was necessary to “remove” the village of Hordiivka for those who took it (the village - Ed.)”.

In fact, this video is static and it is evidenced by several facts. First of all, the person in the video has a strong Russian accent, which is not typical of Russian-speaking Ukrainians, but rather of Russians. In addition, even one of the Russian so-called “military correspondents” with an audience of 95 thousand subscribers could not remain silent and said that “this is our fake”, adding that “this is not the time for this”. And many Russians themselves did not believe in the veracity of the video, claiming that it was a decree.

Previously, Detector Media denied the information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces using an American Stryker armored personnel carrier near the Judge shot up a car with civilians.

Pro-Russian propaganda telegram channels, including Polish ones, are distributing a video in which a Russian military UAV allegedly recorded a war crime by Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel. Propagandists claim that the Ukrainian military shot at a civilian car in the border village of Zelenyi Shliakh near the town of Sudzha (Kursk region, Russia). The car, “from the fire of an American Stryker armored personnel carrier”, allegedly camouflaged in a forest belt, rolled to the side of the road and burst into flames. As a result, on an anonymous telegram channel they add that the driver and passengers of the car died.

In fact, there is no real evidence that such an incident actually happened. In the video, which was first distributed by one of the so-called Russian “military correspondents” (that is, the same propagandist), it is impossible to establish what exactly caused the car to catch fire.

Russia has once again decided to resort to fake accusations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the killing of civilians. This time near the city of Sudzha, where fighting continues. Thus, the Russians are trying to divert attention from the war crimes of the Russian army itself against the civilian population of Ukraine by resorting to a propaganda tactic called “deflection”.

At the same time, by recalling the American Stryker armored personnel carrier in this fake, propagandists are fueling a narrative aimed at both internal and external audiences: they say that NATO has broken into Russian territory.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are promoting the message that the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the head of the Office of the President Andrii Yermak allegedly do not intend to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, because then they will lose power and influence. Therefore, according to propagandists, Kyiv is preparing a provocation to incite the Kremlin to a powerful response, preferably with the use of tactical nuclear weapons.

By spreading this information, Russia seeks to shift responsibility for the war and the death of Ukrainians onto the Ukrainian authorities. In this case, the Russians resort to “scapegoat” propaganda tactics, abdicating responsibility for a possible nuclear strike and shifting it onto Zelenskyi and Yermak. However, the main reason for the continuation of the war is Russia, in particular, its aggressive policy towards Ukraine and its unwillingness to engage in fair and conscientious negotiations.

Also, citing a recent article by The New York Times about a supposedly possible secret military operation in Ukraine, propagandists claim that the Western press is taking the United States “out of the negative case of supporting terrorism”. According to the article, after the Kremlin warned the Pentagon about a “provocation from Ukraine”, the Americans contacted Kyiv and told it not to do anything like that.

By making statements about Ukrainian terrorism, Russia is diverting attention from its own terrorist acts on Ukrainian territory. Thus, the Kremlin makes similar accusations to those brought against itself. In addition, in this case, propagandists are feeding Russian narratives that “Ukraine is a puppet state” and is led by “overseas masters”.

Let us recall that Russia regularly makes accusations against Ukraine regarding preparations for the use of chemical weapons, or a “dirty” nuclear bomb.

Pro-Kremlin sources are disseminating information that Ukraine has sharply changed its rhetoric against the backdrop of military defeats and setbacks at the front and has declared its readiness to hold peace negotiations with Russia. When reporting this, propagandists refer to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

In fact, Dmytro Kuleba’s words were manipulated, distorting the context of what was said. Journalists for the StopFake project write about this.

On July 23, 2024, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine flew to China for negotiations with the head of the Foreign Ministry, Wang Yi. The main topic of discussion was the search for ways to stop Russian aggression and the possible role of China in achieving peace in Ukraine. Following negotiations with his Chinese colleague, Dmytro Kuleba noted: Ukraine does not refuse negotiations with Russia, but the process should begin when Russia is ready to negotiate in good faith, and now such readiness is not observed on the Russian side.

On the eve of his visit to China, Kuleba also made a statement about peace negotiations with Russia, once again emphasizing that one of the goals of the visit to China is to eliminate “competition between peace plans”. This statement was made in the context of the peace summit on Ukraine, which took place in June 2024 in Switzerland. Many countries of the world took part in it, but both Russia and China were absent.

Ukraine is considering a diplomatic settlement to the war against Russia, but it must be fair and take into account the Ukrainian Peace Formula. The Ukrainian side invites China to take part in the second world summit and makes efforts to attract Russian representatives.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are disseminating information that 47% of Ukrainians support negotiations between the United States and Russia on peace without the participation of Ukraine. In reporting this, propagandists refer to polling data from the European Council on Foreign Relations.

However, the Russians manipulated the information, write experts on the VoxCheck project. On July 3, 2024, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) did indeed publish a report entitled “The Meaning of Sovereignty: Ukrainian and European Perspectives on Russia’s War against Ukraine”, for which they conducted a public opinion poll in 15 European countries, including Ukraine. And these surveys referred to in the messages were actually conducted. However, propagandists mistranslated the question of US-Russian negotiations without Ukraine. The report does not say that 47% of Ukrainians support this format of negotiations.

In fact, they note that Ukrainians are concerned about peace negotiations between the United States and Russia without the participation of Ukraine. The verbatim wording of the question is: “Concerns that the United States will negotiate a peace agreement with Russia without the participation of the Ukrainian government”. 47% of Ukrainians surveyed agree with this statement completely or partially, that is, they are really concerned about the possibility of peace negotiations without Ukraine. 49% (37% completely and 12% partially) do not experience such anxiety. However, respondents were not asked whether they supported this format of negotiations.

With this manipulation, propagandists seek to persuade Ukrainian society to negotiate as quickly as possible, moreover, on Russia’s terms. Thus, by appealing to supposedly public opinion about “support for negotiations between the United States and Russia on peace without the participation of Ukraine”, Russian propaganda seeks to achieve this goal.

The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council has recorded a new information campaign by Russian propagandists to discredit the approval by the US Congress of a bill to allocate almost $61 billion in aid to Ukraine.

According to the Center, the key narrative of Kremlin propaganda is: “US assistance will have no impact on the situation on the battlefield”.

Russia also promotes the following messages:

“Assistance will only prolong the war and lead to more casualties among Ukrainians”;

“Most of the funds will remain in the United States. Americans are enriching themselves at the expense of the lives of Ukrainians”;

“The allocated assistance will be the last that Ukraine will receive”;

“The United States provided assistance during the harsh mobilization in Ukraine”;

“Now, after the decision to help Ukraine, is the best time to negotiate a truce”.

The Kremlin promotes disinformation through the Nigerian publication THE NATION, the Senegalese SENE NEWS, and the Egyptian El Mostaqbal. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

• THE NATION, for example, published an article about the alleged sale by the Office of the President of Ukraine of land to the Soros Foundation in order to bury chemical waste.

• SENE NEWS publishes “investigative articles” about Ukraine with links to anonymous sources or fictitious journalists.

• El Mostaqbal quotes Russian officials accusing Ukraine and spreading narratives about “biological laboratories” or that “Ukraine is a US puppet”, for example.

Considering that the fakes on the analyzed resources have not received significant publicity among the international community, unlike the Russian information space, we can conclude that Russian propaganda uses these media to increase the confidence of the Russian domestic population in false information. Like, “even foreign media are writing about this!”.

You can read more about how Russia promotes its narratives through African media in a joint study by the Center for Countering Disinformation and the Molfar OSINT agency.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reports that the Kremlin has intensified its disinformation campaign against Ukraine in the Middle East.

Russia is intensively using its diplomatic missions and intelligence network, and various means of propaganda.

The task of the Kremlin’s next hybrid special operation:

● justify a war of conquest;

● discredit Ukraine and Western countries;

● impose unacceptable terms of negotiations;

● improve your own position in the region;

● achieve a reduction in the economic and political pressure that Moscow experiences due to aggression and the commission of war crimes.

Employees of the Russian embassy in Egypt, for example, received instructions from the Kremlin to hold a series of meetings under diplomatic cover to spread disinformation about the war and carry out recruitment activities.

Also, as part of this operation, the Russians are sending propaganda materials to the embassies of other states in Cairo, which justify waging war against Ukraine.

It is, in particular, about two “documents” entitled “On the role of the West in the conflict in Ukraine” and “On the situation around Ukraine”. These materials present a pro-Putin version of the history of Ukraine since the collapse of the USSR. And Russia, of course, is presented as a victim.

The key idea that Russia is promoting in the Middle East is that there is no alternative to the scenario it has imposed for ending the war.

Russia is silent about the situation in the Belgorod and Kursk regions - the Putin regime is not able to ensure security in the border areas. Russian authorities are hiding attempts by residents there to evacuate on their own, and are also blocking the evacuation.

That is, propaganda is doing everything possible to hide the truth about the security situation in the country. Russia’s goal is to use the population as a “human shield” and hold “elections” at any cost. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

Propaganda resources are disseminating information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces, allegedly with the support of up to 300 “foreign mercenaries”, tried to invade the Belgorod region of Russia from the area of Odnorobivka, Nekhoteievka and Sidoroshyno. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the Russian Ministry of Defense, as well as to the corresponding statement by Putin.

In fact, this information is not true. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Units of the Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR), the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVK) and the Siberia Battalion entered Russian territory in the Hraivoronskyi district of the Belgorod region and Tiotkino in the Kursk region on the morning of March 12. They consist of ethnic Russian emigrants, prisoners and former Russian military personnel who voluntarily stood up to defend Ukraine.

GUR representative Andrii Yusov in a comment to the Suspilne (Public) stated that on the territory of Russia these units operate as “independent structures and organizations”. They consist of Russian citizens and therefore, accordingly, “are at home”.

Russian propagandists claim that the confiscation of frozen Russian assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine will lead to inevitable economic collapse. This message gained traction in early 2024, as proposals to use these assets for reconstruction efforts in Ukraine became more common.

Specialists from the EUvsDisinfo project drew attention to it. They explain that while there is heated debate about the advisability of avoiding this decision, its critics argue that it could violate the principle of state sovereignty and undermine confidence in Western financial institutions, arguments made by propagandists are a serious exaggeration.

Russia has said that if its assets are confiscated, it will respond by confiscating Western assets on its territory and resorting to other economic actions. However, this will not lead to the consequences of fearful propagandists. The dissemination of this message aims to question the actions of the West and try to stop these processes.

A team of propagandists from Kyrienko, the first deputy head of Putin’s administration, was involved in the Russian special operation Maidan-3 (M3). This is stated by the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Lieutenant Andrii Kovalenko.

Also involved in the implementation of the special operation are the Russian special services - the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which are responsible for creating profiles on TikTok, Russian channels on Telegram, as well as bot farms from which disinformation is spread.

Moreover, Medvedchuk and his project “The Other Ukraine” have been added to this special operation, which “uses individual odious pro-Russian characters with Ukrainian passports working for Russia”, notes Andrii Kovalenko.

Let us recall that the Intelligence Committee under the President of Ukraine previously revealed the plan of the Russian special operation “M3”, the budget of which was $1.5 billion and the goal of which was to destabilize the situation inside Ukraine.

• Read also: During the spring of 2024, the Russian information special operation Maidan-3 will reach its climax - The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

To promote their narratives and undermine the situation in Ukraine, Russians are massively purchasing and creating channels on Telegram and other social networks. Representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate Andrii Yusov said this on Radio Svoboda (Liberty).

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine writes that in order to destabilize and influence the socio-political situation in Ukraine, the Kremlin is taking the following actions:

• to achieve the goals of promoting Russian narratives and destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, a massive purchase and creation of telegram channels is being carried out;

• bot farms are being created that amplify Russian rhetoric on social networks;

• The GUR has lists of people whom Moscow can attract to disseminate Russian narratives and influence the socio-political situation, but their data has not yet been disclosed;

• narratives are disseminated both in Ukraine and abroad.

We urge you to be careful and trust only verified sources of information.

Russian propagandists are spreading information that the son of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, supports Russia. The so-called “ataman of the Cossack society of Australia” Semen Boikov recorded a video from the Russian Consulate General in Sydney, in which Ivan Syrskyi, allegedly the son of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, “congratulated the Russian army on the defeat of the Ukrainian military in Avdiivka”.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Security analyzed this information. In fact, Ivan Syrskyi, who became the “hero” of the video, is not the son of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He is the son of Oleksandr Syrskyi's ex-wife from her other marriage. The commander-in-chief did not adopt Ivan, and broke up with his mother back in 2009.

The ex-wife of Oleksandr Syrskyi left with her children and new husband for Australia 14 years ago. Colonel General Syrskyi does not maintain any relations with her family. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council has already written about this.

In this case, propagandists seek to discredit Oleksandr Syrskyi. In addition, the purpose of such stuffing is to demotivate Ukrainians and make them despair of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Previously, in the Newspeak section, we wrote about how and why the word “virus”  was again remembered in Russia after the appointment of Oleksandr Syrskyi to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

On the eve of the presidential elections in Russia, the occupation “administrations” and propagandists are promoting the message that “85% of the population in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine supports Putin”. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about this.

The Russians also sent special detachments to the occupied territories of Ukraine to create the appearance of supporting Putin. Their task is to oversee the falsification of ballots and monitor the work of the so-called “election commissions”.

One can take part in illegal “elections” in enslaved territories with either a Russian or Ukrainian passport, ID card or other identity document. And this indicates the failure of forced passportization in the occupied territories of Ukraine. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. At the same time, this is another tool of the Russian special services to identify “unreliable” Ukrainians.

This statement was made by Putin during an interview with pro-Russian journalist Tucker Carlson on February 6, 2024. Like, “Ukrainians still feel like Russians, and in this sense, what is happening is to a certain extent an element of civil war”.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Security denied this information. In fact, the Russian-Ukrainian war is by no means “civil”, because its participants have been citizens of different states for many years.

Yes, Russians really live in Ukraine and some of them are defenders of the Ukrainian state. However, this fact alone destroys the propaganda narrative about the alleged “persecution of Russians” or that ethnic Russians in Ukraine are “waiting for their liberation” by Russia.

Russian propaganda continues to deliberately nourish the narrative of “civil war” and “protection of the rights of Russian speakers”, starting with the occupation of Crimea and the Russian war in Donbas in 2014. The Kremlin sees this as an element of justification for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Russian media are actively distorting the decision of the International Court of Justice, adopted on January 31. Propagandists said that the Court rejected all of Kyiv's demands. Pro-Kremlin “experts” also claim that the Court’s decision supposedly confirms that “Russia honestly fulfilled its obligations to cooperate in the fight against the financing of terrorism”, and the Court itself “refused” to recognize Russia as an “aggressor state”. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that Ukraine, as a plaintiff, did not demand that the International Court of Justice recognize Russia as an aggressor, therefore all propaganda statements about this are disinformation. The court considered the case not on whether Russia is an aggressor state, but on whether it finances terrorism and promotes racial discrimination in the occupied Ukrainian territories. In particular, Ukraine accused Russia of violating the Conventions for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the Prohibition of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. We are talking about the beginning of Russia’s occupation of parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk regions and Crimea in 2014. The lawsuit did not directly address a full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. On January 31, 2024, the International Court of Justice announced its decision on this claim. The court indeed rejected most of the Ukrainian arguments, among which was the payment of compensation to Ukraine. But he admitted that Russia violated the provisions of both Conventions. Thus, Russia is, at the highest possible level, officially recognized as a state violating international law. Although the Court rejected most of Ukraine's claims that Russia financed terrorism, this decision in no way confirms the “honesty of Russia”, as Russian propaganda claims. The court ruled that Russia refused to investigate allegations that funds were flowing from Russia to Ukraine for possible terrorist financing.

In terms of racial discrimination, Ukraine focused on accusations against Russia of committing illegal actions against the Crimean Tatars, the Mejlis, culture and religion. However, Ukraine’s arguments regarding the recognition of violations by Russia in Crimea of the right to assembly and freedom of speech, as well as Russia’s participation in the persecution, abductions and murders of Crimeans, did not satisfy the Court. However, it ruled that Russia had banned teaching in Ukrainian since its occupation of Crimea in 2014, limiting the rights of Ukrainians and thus violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The decision also states that Russia, with its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, violated the Court’s 2017 decision, which prohibited any action that could “worsen or prolong the dispute before the Court or complicate its resolution”. According to the Court, these actions “seriously undermined the basis of mutual trust and cooperation and thus made the resolution of the dispute more difficult”.

It should be noted that Russia manipulated the provisions of the Court’s decision in its favor, although previously Russian propaganda actively tried to discredit not only this international body, but also a number of other institutions. In particular, by spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to create the false impression that the international community has recognized Russia’s actions as lawful.

Pro-Russian resources disseminate information that after the “coup d’etat” of 2014 in Ukraine, people who were supporters of peace negotiations with Russia were killed. In asserting this, propagandists refer to Putin, who made a corresponding statement.

In fact, this information is not true, write the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. There was no coup in Ukraine in 2014. Propaganda uses this expression as a revolution of dignity, since Russia cannot come to terms with the strength and determination of Ukrainians in the struggle for independence. Then, as today, Ukrainians defended the European vector of development, democratic values, their rights and freedom.

There was no extermination of Ukrainians who sought dialogue with Russia. Proof of this can be the fact that before the start of a full-scale war, pro-Russian political parties functioned in Ukraine. Moreover, 38 pro-Russian politicians from the “Opposition platform — for life” still owe mandates. Pro-Kremlin media were and are also in Ukraine. Now there are simply clickbaits and manipulations, including about “internal problems of Ukraine”, but after the start of the great war they stopped quoting Russian disinformation, and obvious denim in the interests of Russians disappeared from them.

In the end, there can be no talk of any “peaceful relations between Russia and Ukraine”,  since in 2014 Russia annexed Crimea and started a war in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russian propaganda once again accuses Ukraine of being unprepared for negotiations, but the reason for the refusal is the lack of trust in Russia, because it has repeatedly violated agreements.

• Read also: Russia has always strived for peace, but Ukraine does not want to “agree”.

Pro-Kremlin media are spreading information that Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that it is necessary to “kill” all Russian passport holders living in the countries of the European Union. It's a lie.

The VoxCheck analysts analyzed the case and found out that the prime minister did not call for killing people with Russian citizenship at all. Experts add that the Kremlin’s minions manipulated one of Kaja Kallas’ quotes:

“In a situation where a person’s acquisition of Russian citizenship is a clear signal of support for terrorism and Russian actions against Estonia and our allies, it is certainly necessary to consider the person’s suitability for life in a human rights-respecting democratic country”.

The question is whether a person can function in European society and not threaten people's lives. Moreover, the Prime Minister of Estonia says: such a decision may indicate that, if necessary, a person (who has received Russian citizenship and lives in Estonia) is ready to join the Russian army and commit crimes against Ukraine and Ukrainians.

She also assured that the official position of the Estonian authorities is to look for ways to deport persons who decide to obtain Russian citizenship.