Spilnota Detector Media

Manipulation The USA and Europe can no longer actively support Ukraine.

The Russian propaganda media spread such messages concerning The New York Times materials. They said that the capacity of the USA and Europe to provide Ukraine with weapons is already running out. But it is not so.

Experts whose opinions are given in The New York Times talk about the need to consolidate the West's efforts to help Ukraine and speed up the pace of providing heavy weapons as part of military aid. In particular, it is said that the US defense industry is currently working for the needs of Ukraine, and President Joe Biden is negotiating with the countries of the Middle East to provide Ukraine with stocks of Soviet-made weapons. According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, Russian media reports about the lack of weapons among Ukraine's allies are aimed at destabilizing the situation inside our country. Russian propaganda systematically uses out-of-context or distorted quotes from Western media to convince Ukrainians that the world has left Ukraine to fend for itself and that without Western aid, Ukraine will not be able to withstand such a "strong adversary."

Manipulation The West is tired of helping Kyiv

Mykhaylo Onufriyenko, a pro-Russian journalist and blogger from Ukraine, said this on the TV channel of Kremlin propagandist Volodymyr Solovyov "Solovyov Live." He believes that "the Anglo-Saxons, of course, are ready to fight to the last Ukrainian, but Europe does not want to fight." And allegedly, the West does not want to help Ukraine because it thinks about the heating season and whether there will be gas. However, it is not true. Even though the EU is preparing for a complete gas blockade by Russia, support for Ukraine does not stop. Western countries help Ukraine defend itself against Russia and provide humanitarian aid. In addition, the other day, Ukraine received a German grant of 1 billion euros. On July 7, the European Parliament supported the provision of European macro-financial assistance to Ukraine for 1 billion euros.

Manipulation All began to "look up" to Russia as to the USSR. And in some ways, more seriously, given the set of sanctions

Such a statement was made by the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council and former President of Russia, President of Russia Dmytro Medvedev.

It follows from Medvedev's words that the previous history of post-Soviet Russia was not taken seriously in the West. He gave the example of the meeting of the leaders of the states in the G8 format turned into the G7 because Russia was not invited there.

"If they ignore you, things are bad as in childhood, when neighbors came to fight in your yard. If you get scared and run home, you are nobody and will not be called anywhere else. And if you hit first, the chances of defending your position become significantly higher," wrote the former president of Russia.

Manipulation The UN claims that the Ukrainian military violates the norms of humanitarian law

Materials with this content appeared in Russian propaganda media. Reports claim that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet announced during the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. It is said that Bachelet accused the Security Service of Ukraine of violating the norms of humanitarian law in the eastern regions of Ukraine and expressed her fears about the arrests of pro-Russian collaborators. The military commissar reported on the war in Ukraine. Still, the main complaints about human rights violations and humanitarian law in the context of the military actions that Russia is conducting in Ukraine were addressed to the Russian military.

According to StopFake, among the facts of such crimes, the report mentions shelling of civilians, destruction of the civilian infrastructure of cities and villages, murders not related to hostilities, arbitrary detention of civilians, and cases of rape. However, the pro-Kremlin mass media drew attention exclusively to violations of international humanitarian law by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the eastern regions of Ukraine to discredit Ukraine and the Ukrainian military. Fact-checkers emphasize that the report on the Ukrainian military mentions only the problem of pro-Russian collaborators, the guarantee of their rights, and the problem of Russian prisoners of war.

Manipulation The British are being deceived that fuel prices have risen due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine because fuel is cheaper in Ukraine

In social networks, a manipulative thesis is being spread to a foreign audience that the British are allegedly being deceived about the increase in fuel cost after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. As an "argument," they use a comparison of the price of fuel in Ukraine and Britain, and they also call to "wake up and do something."

Fuel prices in Ukraine are lower than in Britain. However, according to Reuters Fact Check, it is due to fuel taxes. At the same time, in both countries, retail fuel prices rose after the outbreak of the Great War. Head of the research department of The Global Economy Project Neven Valev, RAC spokesperson Simon Williams, and Wood Mackenzie chief analyst Isabelle Gilks ​​explained that countries with lower excise taxes on fuel have lower prices. Williams added that Ukrainian gasoline "currently has no excise tax and only 7% VAT." According to Gilks, taxes on petrol and diesel in Britain "include 20% VAT and fuel duty of almost 53p per liter". So the difference in the cost of fuel in Ukraine and the UK is affected by taxation, which does not prove that the public is being deceived about the prices in the UK. This manipulation is being spread to fuel the message of "general war fatigue" and cause the British to mistrust their government, and in the future to encourage them to oppose the government's initiatives to support Ukraine.    

Manipulation The West blocks mass media that tell the truth about events in Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spread a manipulative thesis about Western countries, accusing them of blocking mass media that allegedly "tell the truth about the events of Ukraine." He did not specify which media it was about. It is known that the EU and Britain block Russian state propaganda media such as RT or Sputnik. These publications are financed by Russia and systematically spread Russian disinformation; Ukrainian and foreign experts have repeatedly written about this. In particular, the Council of Europe explained that on March 2, the European Union urgently banned the broadcasting of Sputnik and Russia Today on the territory of the Union until the Russian Federation and its related mass media "cease actions of disinformation and information manipulation against the EU and its member states." In addition to the direct blocking of the activities of these media, the Facebook accounts of these publications are also blocked in Britain and EU countries (with this request, the governments of the countries addressed to Meta). On the other hand, several foreign publications have recently been blocked in Russia: Voice of America, BBC, Radio Liberty, Euronews, and The Telegraph. They were blocked precisely because of informing about Russia's actions on the territory of Ukraine and the course of the war.

Manipulation Turkey engages in piracy because it seized a Russian cargo ship with Ukrainian grain

Such a reaction of the illegally installed "authority" in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region was caused by the arrest of a Russian ship that left the port of Berdyansk and was transporting grain. The Russian media spread a flurry of criticism of the Turkish authorities' decisions. For example, Russia is accused of causing world hunger, and at the same time, they are not allowed to sell their own grain. However, it is manipulation.

The Turkish authorities had proper legal grounds to decide to arrest the cargo ship "Zhibek Zholy" in its territorial waters. According to the message of the Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, at the beginning of July, the Turkish customs detained the ship based on a letter from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine with a request to inspect the ship and take samples of grain for laboratory examination, as there is a suspicion that the ship carries out illegal export of grain from the port in temporarily occupied Berdyansk. Berdyansk is a Ukrainian city, so there cannot be Russian grain there. Based on the inspection results, Ukraine expects further confiscation of grain for its benefit and punishment of those guilty of the crime. The ship's owners - the Kazakh National Company "KZHT" - reported that a Russian company is currently leasing the ship for grain transportation and cooperating with Ukraine and Turkey to comply with the norms of international law. StopFake writes about it in detail.    

Manipulation In Ukraine, women's military uniforms are produced due to the upcoming mass mobilization

Russian mass media and individual users of social networks are spreading information that allegedly, due to the upcoming mobilization of women in Ukraine, they are launching the production of women's military uniforms. It is manipulation.

Tailoring women's military uniforms is a volunteer initiative of Kyiv City Council member Iryna Nikorak. She was motivated by the fact that currently, service members are forced to wear men's uniforms and shoes since there is no women's field uniform in the Ukrainian army. Almost 90% of women sew the received form on their own if at all there is such an opportunity. The volunteer believes that in the conditions of war, it is necessary to provide men and women with comfortable and functional uniforms that consider the peculiarities of physiology. The issue of providing military servicewomen with appropriate uniforms has been repeatedly raised for eight years. Due to the full-scale war, the problem became more acute. According to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, 37,000 women serve in the Ukrainian army and must perform daily tasks at the front. Therefore, tailoring women's military uniforms is in no way connected with the "mass conscription of women into the ranks of the Armed Forces." In this way, Russian propaganda presented the volunteer initiative to help servicemen as an action of the authorities in the context of the fake "future mobilization of women." By the way, we have also repeatedly talked about the spread of other fakes regarding the mobilization of women.    

Manipulation Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov announced the Third World War

This news is spread by the Russian propaganda media, referring to the minister's interview with SkyNews. It is actually not true.

As the StopFake fact-checkers write, Russian propagandists spread a quote taken out of context and distorted by Oleksiy Reznikov. "Please do not feel any fatigue! Please continue your support! Do not be afraid to reach a new level of escalation with the Russians because, quite frankly, the third world war began on February 24 of this year. It is sincere, and it is real life... We are the first battlefield in this war. If we all fall, the next battlefield will be European countries. Therefore, we will win together," said Reznikov, addressing the NATO countries. Reznikov did not declare war but only stated that it began. From what has been said, it is clear that Russia is responsible for this. However, the Russian propagandists did not like it, so they left the words out of context.

Manipulation Deputy Secretary General of NATO Dan Mircea Geoana said that NATO is not obliged to help Ukraine

Such a thesis is spread in the Russian-speaking and Georgian-speaking segments of Facebook. In particular, a post with such a message appeared on the "Global Politics" page.

The post refers to the words of NATO Deputy Secretary General Dan Mircea Geoana regarding Ukraine. According to the post, Geoana said in an interview with "European Truth" on June 27 that NATO's task is not to help Ukraine, so the Alliance is not obliged to do so.

According to the post, Geoana also refuted Kyiv's accusations of insufficient aid, noting that the Alliance is doing everything possible to prevent war with Russia. However, it is manipulation. According to fact-checkers from Myth Detector, the information spread by Global Politics is partly false. In fact, Mircea Geoana did state that the Alliance's priority is to avoid escalation with Russia, adding that various forms of assistance to Ukraine remain NATO's responsibility and that this process will continue. Commenting on the criticism of the Ukrainian leadership, Geoana said that he would probably have done the same in their place.

Manipulation The New York Times reported that Russia was largely unaffected by the sanctions

This manipulative thesis, spread by the Russian media, is part of the fakes about the supposed "ineffectiveness of Western sanctions against the Russian Federation" and that "anti-Russian sanctions hit Europe more painfully than the Russian Federation." This time, Russian propagandists used the New York Times article as "proof" that "Russia was almost unaffected by the sanctions." However, this thesis is not there.

Manipulation The West wants to fight against Russia to the last Ukrainian

This manipulative thesis is spread by various pro-Kremlin speakers, followed by the Russian media. Russian propaganda also says that, in addition to Ukrainians, the "collective West" allegedly intends to sacrifice residents of the Baltic states and Poland.

As StopFake writes, the call to "fight to the last Ukrainian" is attributed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In fact, Johnson did not call on the Ukrainians to die; on the contrary, he warned the Russians that they would defend their country - and if necessary - to the last drop of blood. The leaders of the G7 also did not push Ukraine to fight "to the last Ukrainian"; instead, they expressed their readiness to share the burden of this struggle and pledged to provide Ukraine with indefinite support in defense against Russian aggression.

Manipulation According to CNN, the success of Russia will lead to the division of the territory of Ukraine

The Russian propaganda media spread this thesis. Pro-Kremlin media reports say that the American media CNN emphasizes the superiority of the Russian army over the Ukrainian one and talks about some of the successes of the Russian offensive in Donbas.

From these points, Russian journalists conclude that Russia's success will lead to the division of Ukraine. At the same time, the propagandists ignore the statements that such tactical victories of the Russian army can only be a fleeting achievement in the absence of heavy offensive weapons in the Armed Forces. As StopFake writes, CNN states that the Russian military commander Yuriy Kotenok himself believes that the Russian troops do not have enough human resources to surround the heavily fortified cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. In fact, according to fact-checkers, referring to CNN, Russian propaganda tells about the fact that the international media allegedly recognized the successes of the Russian army and prophesied "the division of the territory of Ukraine." But in the CNN article, there are no statements or evaluative judgments that territorial division awaits Ukraine in case of further military successes of Russia. More details.

Manipulation The Russian army is waiting in Lysychansk

The Kremlin mass media spread information that allegedly, all residents of the Ukrainian city Lysychansk dream of the arrival of Russia and are looking forward to it. As StopFake writes, in their reports, the Kremlin mass media refer to the French channel "France 2" report from the combat zone in Lysychansk.

According to propagandists from RT and other pro-Kremlin resources, "most residents of Lysychansk are hostile to the Armed Forces and are waiting for the Russian army." However, this is manipulation. In fact, the TV channel "France 2" report, which Kremlin mass media referred to, was not about all the residents of Lysychansk but only about the majority of those who remained in the city with whom the journalists managed to communicate.n There were 100,000 residents in Lysychansk, and only 15,000 people stayed in the town, most of whom, according to the report's authors, was allegedly waiting for Russia's arrival. The rest of the residents evacuated to other settlements in Ukraine where there were no hostilities. More details.

Manipulation Ukrainian refugees in Riga will be evicted in July

Russian propaganda media spread such information. Reports claim that refugees from Ukraine have been expelled from hotels in Riga since July 1. In such messages, propagandists refer to the statement of the mayor of Riga.

They said that from this day on, the authorities plan to terminate contracts with hotels for the free accommodation of Ukrainian refugees, so they will have to find a roof over their heads and pay for it on their own. However, it is manipulation. In fact, the Mayor of Riga, Martins Stakis, said that from July 1, there might be problems with the resettlement of refugees, but now the authorities are actively looking for ways to solve these problems. According to the mayor of Riga, the municipality provides part of the housing for refugees. Currently, about 2,080 Ukrainians are living in the city. Some of them were moved to more modest accommodation a few weeks ago. More details.

Manipulation Undamaged houses will be demolished in Mariupol, so residents are advised to return to avoid losing their homes

Petro Andryushchenko reported to this fake in his Telegram. According to him, "secret" information about the houses in Mariupol, which are subject to demolition, has been distributed by Russian-controlled media. The information spreads quite quickly and causes a frenzy of resonance among the evacuated residents of Mariupol.

Petro Andryushchenko believes that this information is a deliberate fake.

"Having analyzed the list of buildings, we can confidently say that at least 30% of this list have no damage at all.

The purpose of spreading such disinformation is the same. Through the psychological influence and the fear of losing the last thing, to force the residents of Mariupol from the evacuation to return home to Mariupol, where for the occupiers, there is a catastrophic lack of working population," Andryushchenko emphasized and urged residents of Mariupol not to panic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Manipulation Ukraine is threatened with a military coup

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

Manipulation In Mariupol, universities and colleges are resuming work

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Manipulation World sanctions against Russia are not working

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

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

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

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

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

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