Russian propagandists have once again fabricated a BBC story about the non-existent Bellingcat investigation.
Russian sources are spreading the alleged clip of British BBC News journalists about the «new Bellingcat investigation». The video reports that NATO is putting pressure on Ukraine due to the «weak results» of the new mobilization law, in particular, those imposing restrictions on the provision of diplomatic services to Ukrainian conscripts living abroad. NATO seemed to expect that as a result of the implementation of the new norms, many more Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 would return to their homeland and join the ranks of the Armed Forces. Because of this, NATO is allegedly even considering breaking off cooperation with Ukraine. The clip even includes a quote attributed to the French Chief of the General Staff, Pierre Schill, who accuses Zelensky of inaction and relying on NATO forces instead of mobilizing the resources of his own country.
As a reminder, since April 23, the Foreign Affairs Ministry has temporarily stopped providing consular services to certain categories of men of draft age who are abroad, unless they register for military service or update their data.
However, neither BBC News nor Bellingcat produced and published stories on such NATO reactions to mobilization laws in Ukraine. This is proven by a search on the websites of both media using the key words «diplomatic services», «mobilization», etc. The mentioned quote by Pierre Schill also isn’t found anywhere online. On the contrary, on March 19, Le Monde published Schill’s column in which he declared the readiness of the French army for self-defense against the background of numerous military conflicts. Although Shill did not specify which military conflict he was talking about, the media are convinced that he was referring to Ukraine.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that Russian propagandists have used this format to create fake news: a video stylized as a BBC News story referring to the non-existent Bellingcat investigation. Recently, we have already refuted similar fakes in the articles: Fake: Yermak Payed TIME for a Spot in the 2024 Most Influential List — Bellingcat, Fake: Zaluzhny Bribed to Abandone Political Ambitions — BBC and Fake: Ukraine Spent $1.2 billion on Fake Production in 2023 – BBC.
