On July 2, Russian media (such as topwar.ru, Pravda.ru) and Ukrainian media (ain.ua, apostrophe.com.ua, korrespondent.net) falsely reported that the European IP-address registry recognized the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and its link to Russia. Russian state television channel RT also posted the information on its site.
But it’s false. In response to an inquiry by StopFake, the managing director of the European Regional Internet Register (or RIPE NCC, the organization referred to in the RT piece above), Axel Pawlik, denied that his organization recognized DPR independence:
“The organization RIPE NCC has no authority to confirm or deny a jurisdiction of the state over any territories. We are a neutral association which tries to facilitate work to network operators in the region and we don’t want to refuse the services for political reasons. In this case we requested and received documents that allowed to confirm an existence of the legal entity and to identify the citizen who signed the standard agreement on rendering services with us. Members of our association can specify necessary contact details that let you contact them with the purpose of the solution of executive matters.”
