Nazi coups and abused kids - again…

Ukraine is constantly among the most targeted victims of pro-Kremlin disinformation. This week it is once again the major topic for outlets specialised in spreading disinformation. One of the reasons is probably the death of Arsen Pavlov, aka Motorola - one of the most famous faces among the Russian military leaders of the “separatist” forces. Pro-Kremlin media immediately started accusing Ukrainian authorities and President Poroshenko in particular of his death. Russia Today (RT), for example, quoted accusations made by the self-proclaimed authorities of the occupied territories, without any attempt to let the accused party respond (http://bit.ly/2dCG0yp). It was, we learned, apparently not only the Ukrainian President who was to blame, but also Ukrainian “nazis”. Multiple pro-Kremlin outlets used as evidence a video where a group of people claiming to be the ultranationalist Misanthropic Division say that they killed Pavlov (http://bit.ly/2ewr7zj). The Misanthropic Division itself later dismissed the video as a fake (http://bit.ly/2ecUxnb). This reminds us of a similarly styled fake video threatening the Dutch people with terror attacks if they voted for closer EU/Ukraine ties; it was later proven to be a fake produced by the infamous St Petersburg troll factory (http://bit.ly/2ezhBeG). One more culprit was also named - a Latvian hitman (http://bit.ly/2euY0k7). This accusation was “backed” by a picture which turned out to be stolen from social networks and belonging to someone else completely (http://bit.ly/2eGRnpP).

But Ukraine disinformation was not all about Motorola. In Dmitry Kiselyov’s talk show on Russian national TV, we again heard the never-ending claims about a “coup” in Ukraine (http://bit.ly/2elpAAU). In Vladimir Solovyov’s show, it was the similarly ancient claim about “fascists” governing Ukraine that was recycled (http://bit.ly/2ekGFZ4). And in the Vremya Pokazhet talk show, we heard that Ukraine is occupied by the US, who need a “civil war” there (http://bit.ly/2dMSyq9) - no mention that the only country currently occupying Ukraine is Russia, and that the “civil war” is Russian military aggression. Many media also multiplied a story about the Ukrainian group, Right Sector, brutally assaulting children in the city of Kharkiv for speaking Russian (http://bit.ly/2eu5Mt9). Right Sector refuted this story (http://bit.ly/2ezLs7I), which by the way cannot be found anywhere apart from pro-Kremlin outlets (and anyone who has visited Ukraine knows that it is no problem to speak Russian there). Again, we are reminded of an old fake by pro-Kremlin outlets - the now infamous invention by Russian state media of the “crucified Russian boy” from Slavyansk (who never was) (http://bit.ly/2f01meY). Original