Millions of Ukrainians are encountering russian propaganda every day. It spreads through TV, radio, mass media, social networks and by word of mouth. To defeat the enemy, we must fight it on all fronts. To this end, we have prepared a daily compilation of russian fakes.
Today, the russian information space is not as active, since russia is on holiday. It is the anniversary of Odessa clashes of 2014, so the russian propaganda is blaming Ukraine of being a Nazi state once again.
We see the evolution of the “pagan” narrative. Before, russian propaganda accused “Azov” battalion of being pagans. Now, all Ukrainian Nazis, who are the majority of the population, are pagans and, somehow, satanists. At the same time. It seems russian propagandists don’t really know what “pagan” actually means.
Main fake narratives:
- Ukrainian soldiers are surrendering en masse
- Ukraine is being controlled by the west
- russians don’t commit war crimes, Ukrainians do
- Ukrainian refugees are causing crime and spreading disease
- Sanctions against russia are destroying Europe
- The world is dominated by russophobia
FAKE: Angelina Jolie is a UN agent
Source:
Disproof:
According to this fake, Angelina Jolie had traveled to Ukraine as a UN agent, to divert public attention from Azovstal. Which is a weird accusation, coming from russia, since russia would be the main beneficiary if someone would divert the world’s attention from russian war crimes in Mariupol.
But, on some level, one could understand russian propagandists. After all, we have all seen movies with Angelina Jolie. And, seeing how deep into the fantasy realms russian propaganda has gone, we feel like we need to explain something to russian people.
You see, Angelina Jolie is not a UN agent. She is not a professional assassin, either. She is not a hacker, or a bank robber, or an heiress of a famous British archeologist. Furthermore, she is an actress, and those are all movies. And movies are not real, they are make-believe, fairy tales. Just like russian propaganda.
FAKE: Ruble is the one of the strongest currencies of the planet
Source:
Disproof:
On paper, this fake seems legit. The ruble is rising against the dollar and euro, and is, on paper, stronger than it was before the war started.
But how is that possible, you ask? With all the companies and businesses pulling out of russia, trade embargoes and sanctions, how did ruble become stronger? The answer is, it didn’t.
Just before the fall of the USSR, you could theoretically buy a dollar for half a ruble. Only theoretically, because you could not buy dollars in USSR, it was illegal. During the existence of the USSR, the ruble was not a convertible currency, so the Soviet government could basically assign it any value it wanted.
So what we are seeing now is history repeating itself. After russia invaded Ukraine and its economy started to stagnate under heavy sanctions, russia made ruble non-convertible. Nobody inside russia can buy dollars or euro, and all the foreign trade deals are made with foreign currency. So the ruble has become a lie, and russian government can make its value as high as it wants, as long as it can cover the difference with the remaining foreign exchange reserves.
By the way, you can buy dollars on the russian black market, but it would cost you around 300 rubles for one dollar. That’s three and a half times more than before the war.
Be advised: russia is waging a full-scale information war against Ukraine. There are multitudes of new fakes swarming through the mass-media every day. To protect you and your family, be sure to obtain and share your information only from official sources.
Official information channels:
· Office of the President of Ukraine
· General Staff of Ukrainian Armed Forces
· Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
· Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
· Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
· Ministry of Internal Affairs
· State Emergency Service of Ukraine
· State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
· Centre for Strategic Communication
· Centre for Desinformation Resistance
· State Special Communications Service of Ukraine
Information about transportation and infrastructure:
· State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine
· Boryspil International Airport”
· Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority
· Danylo Halytskyi International Airport Lviv
· State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety
Keep calm and trust only official sources. Ukraine will prevail!
The material was prepared by ZMiST. Please follow ZMiST on Twitter and Facebook.
