Ukraine war - how we got here
- Thread starter nottyboi
- Start date
Seriously?
That piece is some of the most one-sided pro Kremlin bullshit I have ever read.
Russian themes
Numerous themes of disinformation either originated in Russia or favoring the Russian point of view have been reported.
Claims of altruistic Russian motivations
Russia has claimed that their motivations are to "liberate" Ukraine,[14] and to remove Nazis from power.[15]
Liberation of Ukraine
A few weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin's former adviser and Kremlin insider Sergei Markov said it would not be a "war against Ukraine, but to liberate Ukraine" from the pro-Western government that took power in 2014, adding that "a military operation now would prevent a wider war in future."[14] On 1 March 2022, Markov claimed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a "war between Russia and (the) United States puppet who now occupy Ukraine. It's liberation of Ukraine and it's a proxy war of United States against Russia. We believe there's no independent Ukrainian government and this government is wholly under the control of the United States security community."[16] Markov later admitted that the war in Ukraine was more difficult "than had been expected. It was expected that 30 to 50 percent of the Ukrainian Armed Forces would switch over to Russia's side. No one is switching over."[17]
On 24 February 2022, Russian Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who is part of Putin's inner circle, said that "the purpose" of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was "to protect people living in Ukraine".[18]
Removing neo-Nazis from power
Putin has repeatedly described Ukraine, which has a Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as being governed by neo-Nazis.[19][20] Putin has said he wants denazification of Ukraine.[15] Zelenskyy has stated that his grandfather served in the Soviet army fighting against the Nazis;[21] three of his family members died in the Holocaust.[22]
While Ukraine has a far-right fringe, including the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and Right Sector,[23][24] analysts[who?] have described Putin's rhetoric as greatly exaggerating the influence of far-right groups within Ukraine; there is no widespread support for the ideology in the government, military, or electorate.[25] Ukraine's rejection of the adoption of Russia-initiated General Assembly resolutions on combating the glorification of Nazism, including General Assembly Resolution A/C.3/76/L.57/Rev.1 on Combating Glorification of Nazism, Neo-Nazism and other Practices that Contribute to Fueling Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, was seen by Russian authorities as presenting Ukraine as a pro-Nazi state, with the only other state rejecting the adoption of the resolution being the US.[26][27] The Deputy US Representative for ECOSOC describes such resolutions as "thinly veiled attempts to legitimize Russian disinformation campaigns denigrating neighboring nations and promoting the distorted Soviet narrative of much of contemporary European history, using the cynical guise of halting Nazi glorification".[28]
An article in Dissent noted that "despite their neo-Stalinist paraphernalia, many of the Russian-speaking nationalists Russia supports in the Donbass are just as right-wing as their counterparts from the Azov Battalion" and treats the finding of Neo-Nazis in Ukraine as a "possible justification" to have been "profoundly mistaken".[29] Writing for NBC News, Alan Ripp finds that "Ukraine has a genuine Nazi problem — both past and present" but also finds labeling of its enemies as Nazis to be "a common political ploy in Russia" and that Putin was unlikely motivated by the history of Nazism in Ukraine when he launched the invasion.[30]
Claims of Ukrainian and NATO aggression
Spokesmen of Russian state media, the breakaway Donetsk People Republic, or Vladimir Putin have made unsubstantiated claims of aggression by NATO or Ukraine against Russian citizens, including assassination,[1] sabotage,[2] genocide,[31] and the development of bio-weapons[32] including birds carrying fatal diseases.[33]
Assassination attempts
According to Bellingcat, a supposed bombing of a "separatist police chief" by a "Ukrainian spy", broadcast on Russian state television, showed visual evidence of the bombing of an old "green army vehicle". The old car's registration plate was that of the separatist police chief, but the same licence plate was also seen on a different, new SUV.[1][2][3]
On 18 February 2022, the Luhansk People's Republic showed video appearing to show the removal of a car full of explosives that had been prepared for blowing up a train full of women and children evacuating to Russia. The video's metadata showed that it had been recorded on 12 June 2019.[2]
Sabotage attempts
The breakaway Donetsk People's Republic released a video on 18 February 2022 that claimed to show Poles trying to blow up a chlorine tank. The video was distributed further by Russian media. The video's metadata showed that it was created on 8 February 2022, and included a mix of different pieces of audio or video, including a 2010 YouTube video from a military firing range in Finland.[2][3]
Ukrainian intelligence attributed responsibility for the video to the Russian intelligence service GRU.[3]
Genocide in Donbas
Further information: Humanitarian situation during the war in Donbas
In mid February 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that Ukraine was carrying out genocide in Donbas.[31] Putin's claims were dismissed by the international community,[34] and Russian claims of genocide have been widely rejected as baseless.[35][36][3] The European Commission has also rejected the allegations as "Russian disinformation".[37] The US embassy in Ukraine called the Russian genocide claim a "reprehensible falsehood".[38] Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said that Moscow was making such claims as an excuse for invading Ukraine.[39]
Biological weapons labs
Main article: Ukraine biolabs conspiracy theory
In March 2022, Russia made unsubstantiated allegations that Ukraine was developing biological weapons in a network of labs, linked to the US.[32] Additionally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and Chinese state media amplified Russian claims.[40][41][42] QAnon promoters were also echoing the disinformation.[43][44][45] BBC Reality Check found no evidence supporting the claims.[46] The United Nations also refuted the claim.[44][47] Russian biologists in and outside of Russia have debunked the claims, stating that the allegations are "transparently false".[48]
According to researcher Adam Rawnsley, the Kremlin has a history of discrediting ordinary biology labs in former Soviet republics, having previously spread conspiracy theories about Georgia and Kazakhstan similar to the accusations deployed against Ukraine.[49][50]
Birds as bio-weapons
The Russian Ministry of Defense had previously made unsubstantiated accusations that the United States was manufacturing bio-weapons in Ukraine. The Ministry followed up with another conspiracy theory, which claims that the U.S. is training birds in Ukraine to spread disease and death among Russian citizens, according to a statement given by Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman of the Ministry to Russian state-controlled media. Specific details were given about diseases involved, including the name of a specific strain of flu with 50% mortality, as well as Newcastle disease. Media reports included maps, documents, and photos of birds with American military insignia, and also claimed that live, infected birds had been captured in eastern Ukraine.[33][51][52]
The claims were laughed off by U.S. State Department spokesman, who called them "outright lies", "total nonsense", "absurd", "laughable" and "propaganda." Director of the CIA William Burns told the U.S. Senate that Russia was using such claims in order to prepare the terrain for a biological or chemical attack by Russian forces against Ukraine, which they would then blame on the United States and Ukraine.[33][51]
Weapons of mass destruction
On 6 March 2022, Russian media agencies TASS, RIA and Interfax made unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine is making a nuclear dirty bomb.[53] The statement at the 2022 Munich Security Conference by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy about the failure of the Budapest Memorandum[54] were interpreted by Russian media as a threat that Ukraine might reconsider its nuclear status.
Claimed success of Russian efforts
Flight and surrender of Ukrainian President
The Russian state media agency TASS claimed that Zelenskyy fled Kyiv following the invasion and also that he had surrendered. Zelenskyy used social media to post statements, videos and photos to counter the Russian disinformation.[55][56]
Other claims
False flag fakes
In March 2022, videos were discovered purporting to show Ukrainian-produced disinformation about missile strikes inside Ukraine which were then "debunked" as some other event outside Ukraine. However, this may be the first case of a disinformation false-flag operation,[57] as the original, supposedly "Ukraine-produced" disinformation was never disseminated by anyone, and was in fact preventive disinformation created specifically in order to be debunked and cause confusion and mitigate the impact on the Russian public of real footage of Russian strikes within Ukraine that may get past Russian-controlled media. According to Patrick Warren, head of Clemson's Media Forensics Hub, "It's like Russians actually pretending to be Ukrainians spreading disinformation. ... The reason that it's so effective is because you don't actually have to convince someone that it's true. It's sufficient to make people uncertain as to what they should trust."[57]
News masquerading as CNN
During the crisis, a number of fabricated CNN headlines and stories went viral on social media.[58] Misinformation spread on social media included a faked image of CNN reporting that Steven Seagal had been seen alongside the Russian military,[58] false tweets claiming that a CNN journalist had been killed in Ukraine,[58][59] a CNN lower third that was digitally altered to include a claim that Putin had issued a statement warning India not to interfere in the conflict,[58][60] and another that was altered to claim that Putin planned to delay the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine until "Biden delivers weapons to Ukraine for Russia to capture",[61] as well as a fabricated CNN tweet supposedly reporting on a figure referred to as "the Kharkiv Kid finder" alongside an image that actually portrayed YouTuber Vaush, who was not in Kharkiv at the time.[62][63]
en.wikipedia.org
Reactions
The United States Department of State and the European External Action Service of the European Union (EU) published guides aiming to respond to Russian disinformation.[6] Twitter paused all ad campaigns in Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to curb misinformation spread by ads.[70]
Although the 1993 Russian Constitution has an article expressly prohibiting censorship,[71] the Russian censorship apparatus Roskomnadzor ordered the country's media to only employ information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks, accusing a number of independent media outlets of spreading "unreliable socially significant untrue information" about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by the Russian army and civilian deaths.[72][73]
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, released dual editions of his newspaper in both Russian and Ukrainian and said that his newspaper would defy the Russian media watchdog's rules that they only report official government information about the war, trusting reporting only from their own newsroom.[74] Muratov said that "Everything that's not propaganda is being eliminated."[75] Roskomnadzor launched an investigation against the Novaya Gazeta, Echo of Moscow, inoSMI, MediaZona, New Times, Dozhd (TV Rain), and other independent Russian media outlets for publishing "inaccurate information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army".[76] On 1 March 2022, the Russian government blocked access to Dozhd, as well as Echo of Moscow, in response to their coverage of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. The channel closed, with its general director announcing they would be "temporarily halting its operations", on 3 March 2022.[77]
On 4 March 2022, President Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, leading to some media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine or shutting their media outlet.[78][79][75]
On 5 April 2022, Russia's opposition politician Alexei Navalny said the "monstrosity of lies" in the Russian state media "is unimaginable. And, unfortunately, so is its persuasiveness for those who have no access to alternative information."[80] He tweeted that "warmongers" among Russian state media personalities "should be treated as war criminals. From the editors-in-chief to the talk show hosts to the news editors, [they] should be sanctioned now and tried someday."[81]
Numerous themes of disinformation either originated in Russia or favoring the Russian point of view have been reported.
Claims of altruistic Russian motivations
Russia has claimed that their motivations are to "liberate" Ukraine,[14] and to remove Nazis from power.[15]
Liberation of Ukraine
A few weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, Putin's former adviser and Kremlin insider Sergei Markov said it would not be a "war against Ukraine, but to liberate Ukraine" from the pro-Western government that took power in 2014, adding that "a military operation now would prevent a wider war in future."[14] On 1 March 2022, Markov claimed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was a "war between Russia and (the) United States puppet who now occupy Ukraine. It's liberation of Ukraine and it's a proxy war of United States against Russia. We believe there's no independent Ukrainian government and this government is wholly under the control of the United States security community."[16] Markov later admitted that the war in Ukraine was more difficult "than had been expected. It was expected that 30 to 50 percent of the Ukrainian Armed Forces would switch over to Russia's side. No one is switching over."[17]
On 24 February 2022, Russian Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, who is part of Putin's inner circle, said that "the purpose" of the Russian invasion of Ukraine was "to protect people living in Ukraine".[18]
Removing neo-Nazis from power
Putin has repeatedly described Ukraine, which has a Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as being governed by neo-Nazis.[19][20] Putin has said he wants denazification of Ukraine.[15] Zelenskyy has stated that his grandfather served in the Soviet army fighting against the Nazis;[21] three of his family members died in the Holocaust.[22]
While Ukraine has a far-right fringe, including the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and Right Sector,[23][24] analysts[who?] have described Putin's rhetoric as greatly exaggerating the influence of far-right groups within Ukraine; there is no widespread support for the ideology in the government, military, or electorate.[25] Ukraine's rejection of the adoption of Russia-initiated General Assembly resolutions on combating the glorification of Nazism, including General Assembly Resolution A/C.3/76/L.57/Rev.1 on Combating Glorification of Nazism, Neo-Nazism and other Practices that Contribute to Fueling Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, was seen by Russian authorities as presenting Ukraine as a pro-Nazi state, with the only other state rejecting the adoption of the resolution being the US.[26][27] The Deputy US Representative for ECOSOC describes such resolutions as "thinly veiled attempts to legitimize Russian disinformation campaigns denigrating neighboring nations and promoting the distorted Soviet narrative of much of contemporary European history, using the cynical guise of halting Nazi glorification".[28]
An article in Dissent noted that "despite their neo-Stalinist paraphernalia, many of the Russian-speaking nationalists Russia supports in the Donbass are just as right-wing as their counterparts from the Azov Battalion" and treats the finding of Neo-Nazis in Ukraine as a "possible justification" to have been "profoundly mistaken".[29] Writing for NBC News, Alan Ripp finds that "Ukraine has a genuine Nazi problem — both past and present" but also finds labeling of its enemies as Nazis to be "a common political ploy in Russia" and that Putin was unlikely motivated by the history of Nazism in Ukraine when he launched the invasion.[30]
Claims of Ukrainian and NATO aggression
Spokesmen of Russian state media, the breakaway Donetsk People Republic, or Vladimir Putin have made unsubstantiated claims of aggression by NATO or Ukraine against Russian citizens, including assassination,[1] sabotage,[2] genocide,[31] and the development of bio-weapons[32] including birds carrying fatal diseases.[33]
Assassination attempts
According to Bellingcat, a supposed bombing of a "separatist police chief" by a "Ukrainian spy", broadcast on Russian state television, showed visual evidence of the bombing of an old "green army vehicle". The old car's registration plate was that of the separatist police chief, but the same licence plate was also seen on a different, new SUV.[1][2][3]
On 18 February 2022, the Luhansk People's Republic showed video appearing to show the removal of a car full of explosives that had been prepared for blowing up a train full of women and children evacuating to Russia. The video's metadata showed that it had been recorded on 12 June 2019.[2]
Sabotage attempts
The breakaway Donetsk People's Republic released a video on 18 February 2022 that claimed to show Poles trying to blow up a chlorine tank. The video was distributed further by Russian media. The video's metadata showed that it was created on 8 February 2022, and included a mix of different pieces of audio or video, including a 2010 YouTube video from a military firing range in Finland.[2][3]
Ukrainian intelligence attributed responsibility for the video to the Russian intelligence service GRU.[3]
Genocide in Donbas
Further information: Humanitarian situation during the war in Donbas
In mid February 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed that Ukraine was carrying out genocide in Donbas.[31] Putin's claims were dismissed by the international community,[34] and Russian claims of genocide have been widely rejected as baseless.[35][36][3] The European Commission has also rejected the allegations as "Russian disinformation".[37] The US embassy in Ukraine called the Russian genocide claim a "reprehensible falsehood".[38] Ned Price, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said that Moscow was making such claims as an excuse for invading Ukraine.[39]
Biological weapons labs
Main article: Ukraine biolabs conspiracy theory
In March 2022, Russia made unsubstantiated allegations that Ukraine was developing biological weapons in a network of labs, linked to the US.[32] Additionally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and Chinese state media amplified Russian claims.[40][41][42] QAnon promoters were also echoing the disinformation.[43][44][45] BBC Reality Check found no evidence supporting the claims.[46] The United Nations also refuted the claim.[44][47] Russian biologists in and outside of Russia have debunked the claims, stating that the allegations are "transparently false".[48]
According to researcher Adam Rawnsley, the Kremlin has a history of discrediting ordinary biology labs in former Soviet republics, having previously spread conspiracy theories about Georgia and Kazakhstan similar to the accusations deployed against Ukraine.[49][50]
Birds as bio-weapons
The Russian Ministry of Defense had previously made unsubstantiated accusations that the United States was manufacturing bio-weapons in Ukraine. The Ministry followed up with another conspiracy theory, which claims that the U.S. is training birds in Ukraine to spread disease and death among Russian citizens, according to a statement given by Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman of the Ministry to Russian state-controlled media. Specific details were given about diseases involved, including the name of a specific strain of flu with 50% mortality, as well as Newcastle disease. Media reports included maps, documents, and photos of birds with American military insignia, and also claimed that live, infected birds had been captured in eastern Ukraine.[33][51][52]
The claims were laughed off by U.S. State Department spokesman, who called them "outright lies", "total nonsense", "absurd", "laughable" and "propaganda." Director of the CIA William Burns told the U.S. Senate that Russia was using such claims in order to prepare the terrain for a biological or chemical attack by Russian forces against Ukraine, which they would then blame on the United States and Ukraine.[33][51]
Weapons of mass destruction
On 6 March 2022, Russian media agencies TASS, RIA and Interfax made unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine is making a nuclear dirty bomb.[53] The statement at the 2022 Munich Security Conference by Ukrainian President Zelenskyy about the failure of the Budapest Memorandum[54] were interpreted by Russian media as a threat that Ukraine might reconsider its nuclear status.
Claimed success of Russian efforts
Flight and surrender of Ukrainian President
The Russian state media agency TASS claimed that Zelenskyy fled Kyiv following the invasion and also that he had surrendered. Zelenskyy used social media to post statements, videos and photos to counter the Russian disinformation.[55][56]
Other claims
False flag fakes
In March 2022, videos were discovered purporting to show Ukrainian-produced disinformation about missile strikes inside Ukraine which were then "debunked" as some other event outside Ukraine. However, this may be the first case of a disinformation false-flag operation,[57] as the original, supposedly "Ukraine-produced" disinformation was never disseminated by anyone, and was in fact preventive disinformation created specifically in order to be debunked and cause confusion and mitigate the impact on the Russian public of real footage of Russian strikes within Ukraine that may get past Russian-controlled media. According to Patrick Warren, head of Clemson's Media Forensics Hub, "It's like Russians actually pretending to be Ukrainians spreading disinformation. ... The reason that it's so effective is because you don't actually have to convince someone that it's true. It's sufficient to make people uncertain as to what they should trust."[57]
News masquerading as CNN
During the crisis, a number of fabricated CNN headlines and stories went viral on social media.[58] Misinformation spread on social media included a faked image of CNN reporting that Steven Seagal had been seen alongside the Russian military,[58] false tweets claiming that a CNN journalist had been killed in Ukraine,[58][59] a CNN lower third that was digitally altered to include a claim that Putin had issued a statement warning India not to interfere in the conflict,[58][60] and another that was altered to claim that Putin planned to delay the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine until "Biden delivers weapons to Ukraine for Russia to capture",[61] as well as a fabricated CNN tweet supposedly reporting on a figure referred to as "the Kharkiv Kid finder" alongside an image that actually portrayed YouTuber Vaush, who was not in Kharkiv at the time.[62][63]
Disinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Reactions
The United States Department of State and the European External Action Service of the European Union (EU) published guides aiming to respond to Russian disinformation.[6] Twitter paused all ad campaigns in Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to curb misinformation spread by ads.[70]
Although the 1993 Russian Constitution has an article expressly prohibiting censorship,[71] the Russian censorship apparatus Roskomnadzor ordered the country's media to only employ information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks, accusing a number of independent media outlets of spreading "unreliable socially significant untrue information" about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by the Russian army and civilian deaths.[72][73]
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, released dual editions of his newspaper in both Russian and Ukrainian and said that his newspaper would defy the Russian media watchdog's rules that they only report official government information about the war, trusting reporting only from their own newsroom.[74] Muratov said that "Everything that's not propaganda is being eliminated."[75] Roskomnadzor launched an investigation against the Novaya Gazeta, Echo of Moscow, inoSMI, MediaZona, New Times, Dozhd (TV Rain), and other independent Russian media outlets for publishing "inaccurate information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army".[76] On 1 March 2022, the Russian government blocked access to Dozhd, as well as Echo of Moscow, in response to their coverage of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. The channel closed, with its general director announcing they would be "temporarily halting its operations", on 3 March 2022.[77]
On 4 March 2022, President Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, leading to some media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine or shutting their media outlet.[78][79][75]
On 5 April 2022, Russia's opposition politician Alexei Navalny said the "monstrosity of lies" in the Russian state media "is unimaginable. And, unfortunately, so is its persuasiveness for those who have no access to alternative information."[80] He tweeted that "warmongers" among Russian state media personalities "should be treated as war criminals. From the editors-in-chief to the talk show hosts to the news editors, [they] should be sanctioned now and tried someday."[81]
Abductions and torture
See also: Siege of Sloviansk § Hostages and abductions, and Iryna Dovhan
Since the start of the war, many people were taken hostage or abducted by insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. Apart from ordinary citizens taken as forced labour by the insurgents,[41] these include journalists, city officials, local politicians, and members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). A particularly large number of hostages were taken by Vyacheslav Ponomarev in Sloviansk, though these were later freed when government forces recaptured the city. Ponomarev later complained in Russian media that while they were fighting in Slavyansk, other militia groups were busy with theft of humanitarian help and property of civilians in Donetsk.[42]
Insurgents in Donetsk raided the city's International Committee of the Red Cross office at 19:00 on 9 May 2014, and captured large stocks of medical supplies.[43][44] They detained between seven and nine Red Cross workers.[43][45] Those taken prisoner were accused of espionage, and held in the occupied Donetsk RSA building. They were later released on 10 May. One of the prisoners was found to have been severely beaten.[45][46][47] The OSCE mission in Ukraine lost contact with four of its monitors in Donetsk Oblast on 26 May, and another four in Luhansk Oblast on 29 May.[48] Both groups were held for a month, until being freed on 27 and 28 June respectively.[49]
In early July 2014, Amnesty International published evidence of beatings, torture, and abduction of activists, protesters and journalists by insurgents in the Donbas region since the start of the unrest in April.[50] It said that "while most abductions appear to have a 'political' motivation there is clear evidence that abduction and torture is being used by armed groups to exert fear and control over local populations". The report also said that some people had been abducted for ransom. The report summarized its finding by stating that "the bulk of the abductions are being perpetrated by armed separatists, with the victims often subjected to stomach-turning beatings and torture. There is also evidence of a smaller number of abuses by pro-Kyiv forces."[50]
A report by the United Nations OHCHR that was released on 28 July said that insurgent groups continued "to abduct, detain, torture and execute people kept as hostages in order to intimidate and to exercise their power over the population in raw and brutal ways".[19] The report documents that at least 812 people have been abducted by the insurgents since mid-April, and said that these include "local politicians, public officials and employees of the local coal mining industry", and that "the majority are ordinary citizens, including teachers, journalists, members of the clergy and students".[19]
Shells hit residential building in Luhansk, 7 August 2014
In early August, Amnesty International voiced concerned about actions of Radical Party leader and member of the Verkhovna Rada Oleh Lyashko.[51] Lyashko is the leader of a pro-government paramilitary that participated in the war in Donbas. According to the Amnesty International report, Lyashko conducted a "continuing campaign of violence, intimidation and abduction against individuals". As an example of this "campaign", the report cited the abduction of DPR defence minister Igor Kakidzyanov. The abduction was recorded by Lyashko's forces. In the video, Kakidzyanov was seen being abducted, and later, after having been captured, "dressed only in his underwear with two bleeding cuts to his body".[51]
In mid August, there were reports that members of the pro-government Aidar Battalion paramilitary had taken hostages and demanded ransom for their release.[52] In one incident, a man from Polovynkyne in Luhansk Oblast was accused of "separatism" by members of the battalion, and taken hostage. The paramilitaries said that they would kill him unless his wife paid 10,000 US dollars in ransom.[52] She did this, and the man was released. OSCE monitors said that "the man's head was heavily swollen, bloody, and bruised" and he had "bruises and smaller wounds on his arms and legs". Another man was taken captive by members of Aidar Battalion in Shchastia on 13 August. Also accused of "separatism", his current whereabouts are unknown.[52]
A statement released on 22 August 2014 by Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Antanas Linkevičius said that the Lithuanian honorary consul in Luhansk, Mykola Zelenec, was abducted by pro-Russian insurgents and killed.[53] Linkevičius defined the abductors as 'terrorists'.[53] A report released on the same day by Human Rights Watch criticised government forces for "the serial arrests of Russian journalists in Ukraine" and "the actions of extremists like parliamentarian Oleh Lyashko, who has repeatedly abducted and abused people accused of involvement with the insurgency".[54] Another report released in late August by Human Rights Watch said that separatist forces were "arbitrarily detaining civilians and subjecting them to torture, degrading treatment, and forced labour", and that the insurgents "detained civilians for use as hostages".[55] Izolyatsia prison in Donetsk is a notorious site of illegal detention and torture.
A report by the OHCHR that was released on 2 March 2015 said that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies had engaged in a "pattern of enforced disappearances, secret detention and ill-treatment" of people suspected of "separatism" and "terrorism".[22] In addition, the report noted that DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko said that his forces detained up to five "Ukrainian subversives" each day. It was estimated that about 632 people were under illegal detention by separatist forces on 11 December 2014.[22]
On 2 June 2017, the freelance journalist Stanislav Aseyev was abducted. The de facto DNR government initially denied knowing his whereabouts. On 16 July, an agent of the DNR's "Ministry of State Security" confirmed that Aseyev was in their custody and that he was suspected of "espionage". Independent media is not allowed to report from the "DNR"-controlled territory.[56] Aseyev was released as part of an exchange of prisoners in 2019 after more than two years in Izolyatsia.
en.wikipedia.org
See also: Siege of Sloviansk § Hostages and abductions, and Iryna Dovhan
Since the start of the war, many people were taken hostage or abducted by insurgents affiliated with the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. Apart from ordinary citizens taken as forced labour by the insurgents,[41] these include journalists, city officials, local politicians, and members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). A particularly large number of hostages were taken by Vyacheslav Ponomarev in Sloviansk, though these were later freed when government forces recaptured the city. Ponomarev later complained in Russian media that while they were fighting in Slavyansk, other militia groups were busy with theft of humanitarian help and property of civilians in Donetsk.[42]
Insurgents in Donetsk raided the city's International Committee of the Red Cross office at 19:00 on 9 May 2014, and captured large stocks of medical supplies.[43][44] They detained between seven and nine Red Cross workers.[43][45] Those taken prisoner were accused of espionage, and held in the occupied Donetsk RSA building. They were later released on 10 May. One of the prisoners was found to have been severely beaten.[45][46][47] The OSCE mission in Ukraine lost contact with four of its monitors in Donetsk Oblast on 26 May, and another four in Luhansk Oblast on 29 May.[48] Both groups were held for a month, until being freed on 27 and 28 June respectively.[49]
In early July 2014, Amnesty International published evidence of beatings, torture, and abduction of activists, protesters and journalists by insurgents in the Donbas region since the start of the unrest in April.[50] It said that "while most abductions appear to have a 'political' motivation there is clear evidence that abduction and torture is being used by armed groups to exert fear and control over local populations". The report also said that some people had been abducted for ransom. The report summarized its finding by stating that "the bulk of the abductions are being perpetrated by armed separatists, with the victims often subjected to stomach-turning beatings and torture. There is also evidence of a smaller number of abuses by pro-Kyiv forces."[50]
A report by the United Nations OHCHR that was released on 28 July said that insurgent groups continued "to abduct, detain, torture and execute people kept as hostages in order to intimidate and to exercise their power over the population in raw and brutal ways".[19] The report documents that at least 812 people have been abducted by the insurgents since mid-April, and said that these include "local politicians, public officials and employees of the local coal mining industry", and that "the majority are ordinary citizens, including teachers, journalists, members of the clergy and students".[19]
Shells hit residential building in Luhansk, 7 August 2014
In early August, Amnesty International voiced concerned about actions of Radical Party leader and member of the Verkhovna Rada Oleh Lyashko.[51] Lyashko is the leader of a pro-government paramilitary that participated in the war in Donbas. According to the Amnesty International report, Lyashko conducted a "continuing campaign of violence, intimidation and abduction against individuals". As an example of this "campaign", the report cited the abduction of DPR defence minister Igor Kakidzyanov. The abduction was recorded by Lyashko's forces. In the video, Kakidzyanov was seen being abducted, and later, after having been captured, "dressed only in his underwear with two bleeding cuts to his body".[51]
In mid August, there were reports that members of the pro-government Aidar Battalion paramilitary had taken hostages and demanded ransom for their release.[52] In one incident, a man from Polovynkyne in Luhansk Oblast was accused of "separatism" by members of the battalion, and taken hostage. The paramilitaries said that they would kill him unless his wife paid 10,000 US dollars in ransom.[52] She did this, and the man was released. OSCE monitors said that "the man's head was heavily swollen, bloody, and bruised" and he had "bruises and smaller wounds on his arms and legs". Another man was taken captive by members of Aidar Battalion in Shchastia on 13 August. Also accused of "separatism", his current whereabouts are unknown.[52]
A statement released on 22 August 2014 by Lithuanian foreign minister Linas Antanas Linkevičius said that the Lithuanian honorary consul in Luhansk, Mykola Zelenec, was abducted by pro-Russian insurgents and killed.[53] Linkevičius defined the abductors as 'terrorists'.[53] A report released on the same day by Human Rights Watch criticised government forces for "the serial arrests of Russian journalists in Ukraine" and "the actions of extremists like parliamentarian Oleh Lyashko, who has repeatedly abducted and abused people accused of involvement with the insurgency".[54] Another report released in late August by Human Rights Watch said that separatist forces were "arbitrarily detaining civilians and subjecting them to torture, degrading treatment, and forced labour", and that the insurgents "detained civilians for use as hostages".[55] Izolyatsia prison in Donetsk is a notorious site of illegal detention and torture.
A report by the OHCHR that was released on 2 March 2015 said that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies had engaged in a "pattern of enforced disappearances, secret detention and ill-treatment" of people suspected of "separatism" and "terrorism".[22] In addition, the report noted that DPR leader Alexander Zakharchenko said that his forces detained up to five "Ukrainian subversives" each day. It was estimated that about 632 people were under illegal detention by separatist forces on 11 December 2014.[22]
On 2 June 2017, the freelance journalist Stanislav Aseyev was abducted. The de facto DNR government initially denied knowing his whereabouts. On 16 July, an agent of the DNR's "Ministry of State Security" confirmed that Aseyev was in their custody and that he was suspected of "espionage". Independent media is not allowed to report from the "DNR"-controlled territory.[56] Aseyev was released as part of an exchange of prisoners in 2019 after more than two years in Izolyatsia.
Humanitarian situation during the war in Donbas - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Yeah I suppose you would think that, since to you the Western media is the source of all that is good and true. Russia is not "alturistic" nor can the Kremlin allow Russians to be attacked in Ukraine. How does Canada and any western country act when dual citizens come to grief in Iran or some other place? . Russia has interests, many of them legitimate like any nation. So it will act in its interests just like any nation. If powerful nations do not give fair hearing to each others interests then it will be war. and that is not in the interests of most regular people.
How we get their? The answer is simple: Western leaders are greedy cowards. Instead of imposing real sanctions when Putin annexed Crimea in 2014, they let it slide. Instead imposing a no-fly zone or getting troops in Ukraine before the war started (I guess, they had a reliable intelligence that the war is a highly probable, so, they had time) they prefer to stay on the side. They are afraid of Putin and they value their own GDP growth more then people's life. Because they are greedy cowards, Putin can do what he does with little consequences for himself.
Aren't they just Russian speaking Ukrainians the way that french speaking Canadians live in Quebec?
Of the Russians say that…. But how does attacking schools and hospitals in Kiev liberate Russians supposedly being attacked in eastern Ukraine. It’s was a bullshit excuse from the beginning.
stop siding with the enemy.
There is always collateral damage in war. It happens in every war.
Many of them have Russian passports. If Canada attacked Quebec when they separated instead of dealing with it through negotiations and referendum, you think France would be silent?
They are not afraid of Putin, they don't want the war to stop. Why can't you understand that.
Whenever a leader keeps shifting his rationale for why he's doing what he's doing it tells you none of his reasons are the real reasons. GWB back in USA gave 3 or 4 reasons why tax cuts for rich were needed (first was "these people pay the most and economy doing well, then, we have a surplus (thanks Bill clinton), then, as economy hit recession "to stimulate the economy ").
Putin still pissed about breakup of soviet union. Hates that Ukraine is turning to the west. (Threw out his boy in 2014).
All his rationale about nazis etc bs. A vibrant democracy next door is the real threat. Putin wants to destroy/divide the west.
Putin still pissed about breakup of soviet union. Hates that Ukraine is turning to the west. (Threw out his boy in 2014).
All his rationale about nazis etc bs. A vibrant democracy next door is the real threat. Putin wants to destroy/divide the west.
Putin poison his opponents. end of story dude. Have you ever seen that in western civilization? He is a maniac despot just like Hitler was.
Not deliberate killing of civilians and bombing of hospitals. Those are what are referred to as "war crimes", not "collateral damage".
My ex regular from about 10 years ago comes from a ethnically and linguistically Russian family in Ukraine. Her family are fighting for Ukraine. Why?
1. They now identify as Ukrainian and their country is being attacked.
2. As corrupt and fucked up as Ukraine is, it's still far less repressive and awful that Russia is. THAT'S their reason for fighting.
Of course, France would be silent. France has no business in Canadian internal affairs and they damn well know it.
Is that why they are being taken by force into Russia?
Ukraine says Moscow is forcibly moving civilians to Russia
Ukraine is accusing Russia of forcibly relocating hundreds of thousands of residents to Russia from devastated Ukrainian cities so they can be used as "hostages" to pressure Kyiv to give up. The claims could not be independently verified.
www.pbs.org
Collateral damage is when something close to a target inadvertently gets hit/damaged. Kyiv is nowhere close to eastern Ukraine which is hundreds of miles away. In no way can it be considered collateral damage. Nothing happened accidentally.
Your lame excuse is total BS. Your dwindling reputation on TERB is the collateral damage from your constant lying.
