Pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives blaming Ukraine and the West for the attempt to kill Slovakian PM Robert Fico and for the Crocus City Hall terror attack in Moscow.
These baseless disinformation stories are part of a wider campaign by Russian officials and media -including by Vladimir Putin himself- to blame Ukraine, NATO and and other actors for both the attacks.
This message is a part of a wider narrative about the lack of democracy in Western countries, in this case, it promotes the idea that "aggressive" Poland and other democratic countries order political murders of the run-away "dissidents".
No evidence is provided to support this claim, which is part of a classic "whataboutism" along the line "you blame me for bad things, but you do the same yourself". It is a whataboutism attempt to deflect attentiona away from Russia's assignations made in UK (like Alexander Litvinenko), Germany (the Tiergarden murder) and other attempts on political opponent such as former rusisan agent Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia which were targeted with a Novichok chemical nerve critical in Salisbury, UK.
This claim was made in connection with the accusations and statements of the Polish Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who ran away to Belarus on 9 May 2024 seeking "political asylum" in this country. In Poland, he is under the suspicion of espionage in favour of Belarus and was stripped of his immunity.
There is no evidence of the involvement of any Western country in the assassination attempt on Fico.
Slovakian media identified the shooter as 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, a self-described writer who previously worked as a security guard and is allegedly linked to pro-Russian group SlovaÄki branci. Slovakia's interior minister, Matus Sutaj Estok, told reporters that Cintula was a "lone wolf, whose actions were accelerated after the presidential election since he was dissatisfied with its outcome."
This message is a part of a wider narrative about the lack of democracy in Western countries, in this case, it promotes the idea that an "aggressive" Poland persecutes its citizens for their political views.
No evidence is provided to support this claim.
This claim was made in connection with the accusations and statements of the Polish Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who ran away to Belarus on 9 May 2024 seeking "political asylum" in this country. In Poland, he is under the suspicion of espionage in favour of Belarus and was stripped of his immunity.
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU violating freedom of speech and press.
On 15 May 2024, EU ambassadors agreed in principle to place an additional four Russian media outlets on the sanctions list, accusing them of propaganda. These are Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestiya and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The decision was based on the fact that these media outlets are used as a tool of Russian propaganda and disinformation. See here for the list of outlets sanctioned previously.
The EU countries are considered free and democratic by Freedom House. In contrast, Russia is considered one of the least free countries in the world. This is the reason why pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives strongly attack democracy and the EU as a viable model to Russia's autocratic system.
Intensively repeated disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets attempting to discredit the EU mission in Armenia, accusing it of espionage, anti-Russian, anti-Iranian and anti-Azerbaijani activities.
From the very beginning, this exclusively civilian mission has been fully transparent about its plans to operate from six hubs. It has no links to NATO or troops from its member countries. From the moment of its launch, EUMA was a target for disinformation, as discussed in our analysis The wrong the wicked and the wacky. Claims about the EU mission in Armenia.
The mission was launched in Armenia in response to a request by Armenia. EUMA conducts routine patrolling and reports on the situation, which strengthens the EU's understanding of the situation on the ground.
This is an often used pro-Kremlin narrative according to which the West is interested in prolonging the war in Ukraine.
The assertion that Western countries harbour a desire for the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine lacks any substantial foundation and is devoid of factual support. Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have a track record of pretending negotiations which are, in fact, just blunt demands for Ukrainian unconditional surrender. We have analysed and exposed this disinformation tactic in several articles, especially: "Prepare for winter" (30 Nov. 2023), "Russian so-called 'peace proposals' are empty PR stunts" (18 Jan. 2023) , "What He Said and What it Really Means - Vol. 2: "Negotiations" (1. March 2022) and "The Kremlin security demands" (21 Dec. 2021).
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative on the morally corrupt West which is presented as a justification for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and serves to deflect responsibility for Moscow's illicit actions. Russia's brutal war against Ukraine is absurdly portrayed as a war against the West and as a noble cause of fighting for the benefit of mankind against the "culture of degeneracy, perversion, and pathology."
Western values as well as concepts which are not necessarily linked with Western values and policies but nevertheless attributed to the West in the article are intended to present the West as pernicious, immoral, degenerate, and a threat to traditional values. The narrative about threatened values is one of the most common pro-Kremlin narratives. It portrays the Russian civilisation as morally superior to the Western. Russia uses this narrative to proclaim itself the defender of traditional social and spiritual values all over the world. Progressive Western attitudes about a variety of normative issues, including the rights of women, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTQ groups, among others, are often undermined and distorted in pro-Kremlin outlets. Respect for individual choices is often falsely portrayed in the pro-Kremlin media as state policies aimed at propagating and imposing specific actions, such as sex changes on the population.
False claim made in connection with the case of Polish Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who fled to Belarus seeking "political asylum". For several months, he was observed by the Polish special services who suspected him of espionage in favour of Belarus and Russia.
Tomasz Szmydt is not an expert in International Public Law and has limited professional authority to accuse Ukraine of war crimes (see previous accusations in our database).
In 2019, as explained by DW: "Szmydt made headlines when he was identified as being a member of a group of judges waging a smear campaign on social media against other judges"
The article contains baseless speculation devoid of any factual basis. It serves the pro-Kremlin aim of eroding morale and a narrative of a disintegrating Ukraine that is in retreat militarily.
The article references a Reuters article, which states that foreign investment and the increase in internally displaced people are most noticeable in the western regions (Lviv and Transcarpathia). However, this fact, which is a consequence of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, has no bearing on the claim that the Ukrainian government is planning a resettlement to western Ukraine, specifically Lviv.
Ukraine has no intention of abandoning Kyiv, the capital city. Even during the height of the war in spring 2022, the government and the president remained in Kyiv.