The self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko, told the American TV channel NBC about it. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is allegedly not independent and could sit at the negotiating table, provided that the USA and Great Britain understand this necessity.

This thesis is spread by anonymous Telegram channels controlled by the FSB. For example, propagandists cite billionaire Elon Musk's refusal to pay for Starlink services in Ukraine, allegedly because he was offended by the words of Ambassador Andrii Melnyk, who advised him to "go to hell."

Detector Media found out whether it is true that Elon Musk refused to pay for Starlink services in Ukraine because of an insult to Ukrainians. According to CNN, the letter to the Pentagon with a notification about the refusal of Starlink funding was sent in September. So, it was before the appearance of Elon Musk's proposals regarding the "peace plan" of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which he published on Twitter on October 3, and before the harsh reaction of Ukrainians to his advice.

In this way, propagandists try to show that Ukrainians are ungrateful, so it isn't worth helping them.

It is reported by pro-Russian Telegram channels and resources concerning an article by the German publication BILD.

Journalists of the publication allegedly exposed and refuted "fake Ukrainian propaganda about "torture house" and "golden teeth" in the village of Pisky-Radkivski, Kharkiv region." It is manipulation.

There is no refutation of the information about torture camps for residents in the territory of the village of Pisky-Radkivski in the Kharkiv region in the BILD materials.

On the contrary, the BILD article confirms this fact. As StopFake notes, the question arose only about the container with the removed dentures, photos of which were published along with other evidence. The materials state that the local dentist recognized his box of dentures.

But this fact does not deny the authenticity of other tools for torture, as well as the existence of the "Kativen" themselves in the territory of the village. BILD journalists write: "One thing can be said for sure: in the village - as in many other places occupied by Russia - brutal torture was used." Residents said that they constantly heard cries for help from various buildings.

The article also includes the testimonies of victims of Russian torture. Russian propaganda tries to justify the crimes of the Russian army and deliberately manipulates information.

In anticipation of the events, they claimed that the Ukrainian authorities were preparing for a fake "Buchi-2" in the direction of Kharkiv and were convinced that the exhumation of bodies in the places of mass burials in Izyum was a desecration of the remains of the dead. 

This information was spread by Russian publications concerning the American magazine Newsweek. Allegedly, the military doesn`t agree with US President Joe Biden on deterring Russia exclusively by non-nuclear means. He said that the American military believed that it would be necessary to "hit the Russians with a hammer" and prepare "a blow to kill Putin in the heart of the Kremlin."

Russian propagandists took the quotes out of context. In fact, the Newsweek article said that “Biden believes non-nuclear threats will stop Putin. His military doesn't think so." It refers to a disagreement over the role of American nuclear weapons and the most effective way to deter Vladimir Putin. The article points out that Washington "told the Russians at a very high level that there would be catastrophic consequences for Russia if they used nuclear weapons in Ukraine."

Moreover, their unprecedented threats are just a reaction to Putin's equally unprecedented speech about a nuclear strike. Russian propagandists spread the thesis that the USA is preparing a nuclear attack on Russia and the assassination of Putin to justify any decisions of Putin and the crimes of the Russian army on the territory of Ukraine, allegedly for protection. More details.

Such a message is spread by the Russian media against the backdrop of a recent statement by the Chairman of the Council of Federations Valentyna Matvienko, who called on the Ukrainian delegation to immediate negotiations. The reports refer to Putin's speeches where he said that it was Ukraine that allegedly unleashed a war back in 2014, began to wage hostilities against itself, and subsequently refused to sit down at the negotiating table. However, then and now it is a lie.

According to StopFake fact-checkers, after the so-called "referenda" on September 28, Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that the occupation of Ukrainian territories made negotiations with Putin impossible. On September 30, the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine “On the actions of Ukraine in response to the attempt of the Russian Federation to annex the territories of our state in order to ensure the security of the Euro-Atlantic space, Ukraine and restore its territorial integrity” came into force. The document fixes the impossibility of negotiating with the current Russian president, but not with Russia.

In the spring of 2022, a series of Ukrainian-Russian negotiations took place to end the war. At the suggestion of the Ukrainian side, Russia continued to demand the surrender of Ukraine. Over the summer, Zelenskyi once again stressed that he was open to direct talks with President Putin “if we are ready to seriously discuss,” Zelensky said on June 7. The appeal said that Ukraine was ready to discuss the return of the territories. The Kremlin avoided negotiations under various pretexts.

After the successful counter-offensive of the Ukrainian army in the east and south of the country, the Kremlin's rhetoric has changed: now Russia has demanded peace talks. However, the words were not backed up by actions: at the end of September, Russia held illegal pseudo-referendums in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the results of which were not recognized by any democratic country in the world.

Russian and Ukrainian mass media spread the news that the head of the Federation Council Valentyna Matviyenko "called the Ukrainian delegation to immediate negotiations."

She made this statement at the G20 Heads of Parliament Summit in Indonesia. Ukrainian mass media reported on Matviyenko's statement concerning a brief report by Russian Interfax.

However, in the Telegram channel of the Federation Council, the press service distributed extensive quotes from Matviyenko's speech during the meeting and communication with journalists after it. It is clear from these messages that Matviyenko didn`t offer any negotiations.

Firstly, she called for "the settlement of the internal Ukrainian crisis", although there is no Ukrainian crisis, instead, there is Russia's war against Ukraine. Secondly, she said that "the status of the new four subjects of Russia" couldn`t be discussed, that is, the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions.

Finally, she declared that Russia was "ready to stop further hostilities, but on the terms that Russia would offer." So Matviyenko doesn`t actually offer any negotiations - it is an ultimatum. All these statements are needed only to tell in the news of the First Channel that "the curators of the West don`t allow the Ukrainian parliamentarians to achieve peace", forbidding them to negotiate.

The Russian mass media spread the news that the Ukrainian military fired on the "UN mission" in Sievierodonetsk with HIMARS. It is manipulation.

According to StopFake, the UN mission hasn`t been working in the city for more than 7 months. The day after the shelling, it was reported in the headquarters of the General Staff that on September 30, the Armed Forces hit 6 command posts of the Russians.

Now it is not known what exactly is in the former building of the UN mission, but fact-checkers found a video in which military equipment of the occupiers is standing near the building in which the UN mission was located until March 2022.

This may be one of the confirmations that the command post was located in the building. Russian propagandists spread headlines about the "shelling of the office of the UN mission" to promote the message that the Ukrainian military shells civilian objects.

The Kremlin media reports this regarding collaborator Volodymyr Rogov. Ukraine allegedly blocked entry to the "liberated" part of the Zaporizhzhia region, so now residents can`t leave the territory controlled by Kyiv. People are allegedly not being released for various imaginary reasons and are being threatened. It is not so.

In fact, entry is blocked from both sides. The head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Starukh explained that the entrance to the temporarily occupied part of the region was closed after the Russian military fired on a humanitarian convoy in Zaporizhzhia. A safer algorithm for the passage of vehicles to occupied territories is currently being developed. Serhii Haidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, announced the closure of exits to the temporarily occupied territories through Zaporizhzhia due to the tragedy with the humanitarian convoy.

The information that the occupiers don`t allow Ukrainians to leave the temporarily occupied territories of the region is also confirmed by the local mass media. Now, to leave the occupation, the Russian military requires filling out applications, which must contain all personal data, copies of documents, information about the location at the time of departure, etc.

So the Ukrainian authorities have restricted entry for the safety of citizens, but instead, the occupiers are blocking passage to obtain personal information. Earlier, propagandists spread fakes about the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired upon refugee columns in Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv Region. And they also manipulated that Russia would "consult with the population" of the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia region regarding determining "borders". More details.

Russian media write about this. The majority of Austrians allegedly want their country to maintain neutrality.

Allegedly, for this, it is necessary to stop helping Kyiv and lift sanctions from Russia. The motivation for such statements was allegedly added by an article in the Austrian edition of Express with an open letter of invitation. 47,000 Austrians have already signed it. It is not so.

According to the fact-checkers of The Insider project, the letter published in Express contains pro-Russian rhetoric. Apart from the total number of signatories, there is no other information that could be used to claim that the letter was signed by Austrians. The letter doesn`t include names or pseudo-users, so there is no evidence that these are people and not bots. Anyone from any country can register and vote, as the site does not verify at least the email address. The population of Austria is about 9 million, so even 47 thousand signatories are only 0.5%, not the majority, as agitprop claims.

The author of the "blogger and entrepreneur" initiative is Gerald Markel. He blogs about politics on Telegram. During the coronavirus pandemic, he spread fakes about the alleged sudden death from vaccination, which he called fascism, and compared the government's policy to 1938. Markel also supports Vladimir Putin's policy.

Russian media write about this. The reports refer to the materials of the German publication Der Tagesspiegel, which published the article based on information from its sources. This is manipulation.

StopFake's fake checkers found an article referenced by Russian media. It was published on September 27 in Der Tagesspiegel Background in the Energy and Climate section. This is the author's column of the journalist Jakob Schlandt, hidden from free viewing through personal registration.

In fact, the author considers the possible involvement of both Russia and Ukraine in the damage to the gas pipeline. However, the author of the article calls the accusations against Ukraine "speculations that can`t be substantiated in any way." Russia, in his opinion, has more reasons to carry out such an attack, since blackmail around energy carriers has been ongoing on the part of Russia for several months. The author also notes that the level of gas in Germany's storage facilities continues to rise steadily, even though the gas pipeline has been down for four weeks. According to the Federal Agency for Network Technologies, the current level of occupancy of German gas storage facilities is about 91%.

According to CNN, on September 26 and 27, European security officials observed Russian Navy support ships and Russian submarines near the leak sites in the Nord Stream pipeline.

Two Western intelligence officers and another source familiar with the issue gave the newspaper this information. So far, the involvement of the ships in the explosions on the gas pipeline has not been established, investigators are studying the evidence.

The Russian media manipulates the statements in Der Tagesspiegel Background, deliberately suppresses information about alleged sabotage by Russia, and focuses only on Ukraine.

Earlier, Russian propagandists said that the US was supposedly "behind the explosions" on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

Russian media and pro-Russian Telegram channels write it regarding the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmytro Peskov.

They said that there is no final decision on the extent to which the region will be "joined" to Russia, so the opinion of the residents will be asked. It is manipulation.

Before the illegal pseudo-referendums, the collaborator Rogov said that the Zaporizhzhia region would "join" Russia within the current administrative borders. Moreover, the Russian media deliberately coined the term "territories occupied by Kyiv", which is a technology for replacing concepts. Carrying out the so-called "expression of will" in violation of legal norms and "under the muzzles of machine guns" shows that Russia is not interested in what the residents of the temporarily occupied territories want. The situation at the front changes daily, so propagandists manipulate and leave room for an information retreat.

There can be no question of "joining" the temporarily occupied territories to Russia. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, the decision on territorial integrity is made exclusively by the citizens of Ukraine in an all-Ukrainian referendum.

Russian propaganda tries in every way to justify the occupation of Ukrainian territories. To do this, they create the illusion of support for their actions by the residents of the occupied territories. They previously wrote that the turnout for the pseudo-referendum in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region "exceeded 50%." Foreign "observers" also allegedly confirmed the "transparency" of Russian pseudo-referendums in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

Thus, pro-Kremlin media reports that on October 1, the Armed Forces of Ukraine officially took control of the city of Lyman, where the Russian occupiers managed to hold a fake referendum on joining Russia. CNN journalists allegedly refuted Kyiv's statement about the encirclement of the Russian army by Ukrainian troops in Lyman.

CNN journalists did write in the article that they arrived in Lyman 30 minutes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Lyman was completely cleared of Russian troops. "On Sunday, there are no signs of the presence of Russian troops at all - a few damaged Russian tanks, or dead Russians, or Russian prisoners. There were few traces of the encirclement," the CNN website says.

Battles for Lyman continued from September 5. On September 30, Serhii Cherevatyy, the spokesman of the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced the completion of the encirclement of Russian troops in the Lyman.

On October 1, Serhii Cherevatyy confirmed that the Armed Forces entered Lyman. However, battles with the enemy are still ongoing in the city.

Cherevatyu noted that Lyman's release is necessary to:

• continue the successful Kharkiv operation;

• capture an important area that opens the way for the liberation of the Ukrainian Donbas, in particular, directions to Svatove, Sievierodonetsk, Kreminna, etc.

The Russian Ministry of Defense also announced the withdrawal of troops from the Lyman and explained the loss of the Lyman allegedly by "withdrawing to more remote frontiers." On Sunday, October 2, the city was completely cleaned from invaders. Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Malyar reported that the occupiers tried to break through and lost personnel and hundreds of pieces of equipment. At the same time, pro-Kremlin anonymous Telegram channels condemn the retreating Russian military and demand that the prosecutor's office deal with the commanders for not fulfilling the requirements of the Combat Statute of the Russian Armed Forces. Therefore, we can assume that the Russian army, realizing that it would be surrounded by our troops, did not withdraw "to more profitable borders", but fled in an organized manner from the Ukrainian city of Lyman.

he Italian newspaper "La Repubblica" wrote about it, referring to the NATO intelligence report. The information was picked up by other foreign and some Ukrainian media. The Center for Combating Disinformation stated that it is not true.

According to the monitoring of the CPD:

As of October 3, 2022, such information has not been published on the NATO website.

NATO has regularly recorded the activity of Russian submarines since the Cold War. The Alliance made statements about the modernization of navigation systems and armament of Russian submarines as early as 2016. The Center emphasizes that such unsubstantiated statements by the media only increase Russia's information terrorism. Even Russian propagandists, who willingly spread the news about the training of strategic nuclear forces, this time cautiously quoted the newspaper "La Repubblica" and believe that the probability of the actual use of such weapons is quite small.

This was reported by the pro-Kremlin media regarding the retired colonel and former senior adviser to the US Secretary of Defense Douglas McGregor. He believes that most members of the alliance don`t want to enter into an open armed confrontation with Moscow, and no one in NATO, except for Poland, is interested in a war with Russia. McGregor predicts the disappearance of NATO if support for Ukraine continues. It is not true.

Douglas McGregor has been talking about the "inevitable defeat of Kyiv" and spreading the Kremlin's message about nuclear weapons almost since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine.

Russian propaganda often uses the opinion of some former American military officer and presents it as the official position of the United States. Russians have been recently confused by Ukraine's application to join NATO and the fact that NATO has officially declared its readiness to help Ukraine. To neutralize these statements, propagandists spread the thesis that it is a provocation and a counter-message to Putin.

Such information is spread by anonymous Telegram channels controlled by the FSB.

Allegedly, people believed Zelenskyy and moved to the controlled territory of Ukraine, hoping that they would be given housing, work, and compensation for the loss of property. Months have passed, but the issue didn't get off the ground.

At the same time, housing is already being built and distributed in Mariupol, and in Ukraine, they have not been able to build a single residential building for people during this time. It is not true.

Ukraine's state and international partners are trying their best to provide housing for forced migrants, provide preferential loans for the purchase of real estate at 3% per annum and motivate entrepreneurs to provide them with jobs. For example, modular towns for refugees were opened in Lviv, Kyiv, and Chernihiv regions, followed by Chernivtsi and Rivne regions.

In territorial communities in safe regions of Ukraine, local people rebuild old houses and give them to resettlers for free and indefinite use. From October 1, the Cabinet of Ministers expands the possibilities of resettlement of internally displaced people, in particular, the amount of compensation for people who provided temporary housing to internally displaced people within the framework of the "Shelter" program is doubled. Homeowners will now receive 900 hryvnias instead of 450 for each such person per month.

The State Youth Credit Fund regularly buys apartments for homeless people. In several regions, plots of land are set aside for the construction of housing for displaced persons. You can already stand in line for apartments. In addition, during martial law in Ukraine, those employers who employ migrants are to be paid UAH 6,500 for each employed person.

Employers can spend these funds on the wages of such employees. Everything is not as smooth as we would like with the arrangement of the displaced persons. Every month, their number grows because the Russian army continues wiping out entire streets and cities in East and South Ukraine.

In July, 6.6 million displaced people were registered in Ukraine and each of them has to start life from scratch due to Russian aggression in their homeland. And the fact that these people were left homeless one day is not the fault of the President's Office, the main blame lies with the whole of Russia. 

Such information is distributed in Russian propaganda media. In their materials, propagandists refer to the publication of the New York Times.

According to propagandists, the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly recognized the futility of using the American HIMARS multiple launch rocket system. As StopFale writes, some reports refer directly to the battles for the city of Bakhmut, where HIMARS did not significantly affect the success of the Ukrainian side. However, the Russian media significantly distorted the real publication in the New York Times.

In fact, NYT journalists, citing the Ukrainian military, write that in the Bakhmut direction, the Armed Forces of Ukraine “could not seriously affect the Russian supply chain,” even with HIMARS missile systems. We are not talking about the "uselessness of use" or the "inefficiency" of the American MLRS.

StopFake fact checkers add that, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Ukrainian forces continue to deliver aimed fire from the HIMARS MLRS on the accumulation of enemy manpower and military equipment in all directions, including the Bakhmut one.

Information that the West is no longer ready to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons is spread by pro-Kremlin propaganda media. It is also distributed in anonymous telegram channels.

Such reports, ostensibly citing Bloomberg, claim that neither the United States nor the EU countries are allegedly ready to increase the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine during the war with Russia.

However, according to StopFake, the original Bloomberg article does not say that the West is no longer ready to supply heavy weapons, but discusses the difficulties that arise in each of the countries with the supply of one or another type of weapon.

After the announcement of mobilization in Russia, as well as the holding of pseudo-refendums in the EU countries and the United States, they announced the need to continue supporting Ukraine and increasing the supply of weapons. The Kremlin needs such messages in order to stake out the opinion that soon Ukraine will be left without weapons and will not be able to repulse the Russian invaders.

Also, such messages create the appearance that all foreign partners of Ukraine are becoming indifferent to it.

Such "sensational news" is reported by the Russian media with reference to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba after the September 22 meeting of the UN Security Council on maintaining peace and security in Ukraine. Like, NATO will enter into a conflict against Russia on the side of Ukraine. This is not true.

At the meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to Ukraine, there was no talk of "NATO's intention to enter the war against Russia." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba only commented on Ukraine's readiness to join the ranks of the Alliance. The diplomat also stressed that it was Russia, having unleashed a war against Ukraine, that violated the basic principles of international law, and now the threat of war hangs over all countries.

Answering a question about the prospects for Ukraine's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry replied: "I think that now NATO wants to join Ukraine." It was this quote by Kuleba that the Russian media used to create fake news about "NATO's entry into the war", but this was not even discussed - this is Russian disinformation. Kuleba spoke about security guarantees and the right to self-defense of Ukraine in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter.

Such information is systematically disseminated by the Russian media. They reported problems with water supply in the temporarily occupied Makiivka, Donetsk region: there, local residents stand in long queues near water distribution points, and only 6 liters are given per person. The Russians say the water supply will not be restored because the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal, the only water artery, remains under Ukrainian control. This is manipulation.

Part of the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal really remains under the control of Ukraine, but the inhabitants of the occupied cities do not have normal access to drinking water not because of it. According to VoxCheck, the water infrastructure of Donbas was outdated until 2014, and after that it was further damaged due to the actions of the Russian army. On February 19, 2022, the Russians fired on the pumping station of the South Donbas water pipeline, in April they repeatedly fired on the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal. That is why the cities of the temporarily occupied Donbas and Luhansk region were left without water supply. Active hostilities and the occupation of a part of Donbas do not allow repairing the canal and other facilities.

There is a shortage of water not only in the occupied, but also in the territories controlled by Ukraine. Since 2014, the operation of the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal has been stopped several times in separate sections after Russian shelling. Today, water is periodically turned off in Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and other cities due to the need for repairs.

Such a thesis is spreading in anonymous telegram channels controlled by Russia. Like, this was told by an American official of the NBC News channel. It seems that the statements of US officials, which refer to intelligence data about Russia, were most often invented in order to "get ahead of the Russians". This is not true.

The NBC News website published the material “In a break with the past, U.S. is using intel to fight an info war with Russia, even when the intel isn't rock solid»

The experts invited to the studio came to the conclusion that "it does not have to be reliable intelligence", because "it is more important to get ahead of them [the Russians], in particular Putin, before they do anything." They agree that US officials may announce not entirely reliable intelligence, but not invented.

As you know, US intelligence shares operational data with the Ukrainian military command, and this has repeatedly allowed successful operations or delayed Russian attacks. If US officials announced fictitious intelligence data, this would cause extreme damage to the credibility of the US and play into the hands of Moscow. To date, this has not happened.

Such messages are distributed in pro-Russian telegram channels. In particular, this was stated by propagandist Anatolii Sharii whose party is banned in Ukraine. This is manipulation.

Sharii noted that on the video of the rallies in Russia, he did not see a single person falling under the announced mobilization. In his opinion, there are no such rallies in Ukraine, otherwise all those present would have been given draft notices randomly.

In fact, since the 21st of September, just in Russia at rallies against mobilization the police disperse and beat the protesters and shoot. Already on the first day of protests in different cities of Russia at least 1,176 people were detained. The detainees are handed draft notices to the military enlistment office, the Russian service of the BBC reports.

There are many women among the protesters, they come out with posters “No to war!” and “Our children are not fertilizer!”.

In addition, military registration and enlistment offices were set on fire in several regions of Russia. In the military registration and enlistment office of the Irkutsk region of the Russian Federation, the head of the draft commission was shot.

At the same time, rallies were also held in different cities of Ukraine, at which participants demanded the return of prisoners of war who had not yet been released from Russian prisons. No arrests were recorded at rallies in Ukraine, there is no evidence that any of the protesters were handed draft notices.

This information was disseminated by the Russian media. Allegedly, this was said by the First Deputy Commander of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (2016-2019) Serhii Kryvonos. Russian propagandists manipulated the words of Kryvonos - the phrase was taken out of context.

As fact-checkers from StopFake noted, Serhii Kryvonos in an interview for the Ukrainian Media Network YouTube channel spoke about a hundred thousand Ukrainians killed by Russia since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. “Only in Mariupol alone, 87,000 people died, and this, I think, is not the final figure. Who will answer their relatives and friends if they are still alive?”, he said.

Serhii Kryvonos did not make statements that these were supposedly losses of the Ukrainian army.

Due to the fact that the war continues and part of the territory of Ukraine is temporarily occupied by the Russians, it is impossible to calculate the exact number of civilians who died. Experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) believe that the Russians in all the occupied Ukrainian territories are deliberately massacring Ukrainians and mocking them. This is confirmed by the mass graves and mass graves in the cities of Izium, Bucha, and Irpin, liberated by the Ukrainian military.

The Russians are deliberately spreading theses about the heavy losses of the Ukrainian military in order to show the supposedly low combat capability of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to raise doubts among Ukraine's Western partners in military assistance and to divert attention from their own defeats.

Such information is disseminated in the Russian media with reference to representatives of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian Security Council. Like, it is Washington that deliberately lowers the nuclear threshold, creating a threat to Russia's national security. And politicians in the West are frankly talking about the admissibility of using weapons of mass destruction against Russia.

Russian propagandists stepped up the manipulative justification in the international arena after Putin once again threatened Western countries with the use of nuclear weapons on September 21. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine, Russians have been regularly spreading the thesis of "nuclear retaliation for NATO states." Thus, Russia refuses a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine and resorts to outright nuclear blackmail and intimidation of other countries with the use of nuclear weapons.

This thesis is extended by the pro-Kremlin media with reference to Sar Webknecht, a member of the German parliament. In his appeal he said that he considers it unrealistic to force Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine and says that if this is to be tried, the conflict will continue forever.

However, according to EU vs Disinfo analysts, the assertion that “the return of Crimea to Ukraine is impossible” is the opinion of a member of the German parliament, and not the agreed position of the Bundestag or the government, which has always supported UN and EU resolutions and actions condemning the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Propagandists deliberately distort this thesis in order to once again promote the pro-Kremlin narrative about Crimea and direct it to the international community. Like, Crimea is no longer possible to return, even European countries recognize this.

Such information is disseminated in the Russian media. They say that a significant fine is provided for the performance of Katiusha, because it glorifies the totalitarian regime. Allegedly, this was reported by the Riga police in response to an appeal from a group of Russian-speaking pensioners. Allegedly, the Latvian authorities have chosen a Russophobic course and unleashed a war with monuments that honor the feat of Soviet soldiers. This is not true.

According to The Insider's fact-checkers, in fact, there is not a single list of banned songs in Latvia. It is forbidden to perform the anthems of the USSR and the former Latvian SSR in public places as official symbols of the totalitarian state. In the “news”, the Russian media manipulate the words of the head of the public relations department of the Riga Municipal Police, Tom Sadovskis, published in the online publication Baltijas Balss (“Voice of the Baltics”). In his commentary there was no mention of the performance of songs in the family circle, the propagandists themselves added this thesis.

The Baltijas Balss portal is bilingual, but Sadovskis' answer to pensioners' questions is published only in the Russian version, there is no such material in Latvian. As fact-checkers have established, nowhere on the Internet, except for the Russian version of Baltijas Balss and Kremlin propaganda publications, is the Katiusha ban mentioned. There are no reports of initiation of administrative cases for such guilt either.