By EUvsDisinfo
Lavrov and pro-Kremlin propagandists continue their macabre dance on the graves of innocents, revealing once again the true, cruel nature of Putin’s regime.
The more monstrous the crime, the less appetite the Kremlin and its henchmen show for remorse. Instead, they continue their macabre dance on the graves of those whom the Russian war machine has killed in cold blood.
In his latest iteration of Bucha massacre denials, despite all the evidence, such as this recent heartbreaking Babel investigation, Lavrov continued uttering the lies, deceit, and denials that we have come far too familiar with – as evidenced by 167 cases in our database on Bucha alone.
While the Kremlin continues its heartless disinformation campaign about its past atrocities, it simultaneously exploits current events to further its agenda, as was well-exemplified by their coverage of the attempted assassination of former US President Donald J. Trump.
298 lost souls
Yesterday marked the solemn 10-year commemoration of the MH17 tragedy, when a BUK 9M83 surface-to-air missile belonging to Russian armed forces was launched from temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine, downing the civilian aircraft and killing all 298 civilians, including 80 children, on board.
In the case of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, as with later atrocities like those in Bucha and the recent strike on Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, the Kremlin and Russian authorities have strictly followed their cynical playbook, where one lie follows another. First comes denial, then deceit and muddying the waters, claims that the tragedy never took place, or that it was staged, followed by finger pointing and attempts to find scapegoats elsewhere.
Depending on the crime committed, on rare occasions, the Kremlin’s cycle of lies ends with a cynical admission: ‘Yes, we are doing it.’ In these cases, we are yet to hear the voice of truth from the Kremlin.
All the things that were not
An attempted assassination of former US President Donald J. Trump at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on 13 July has dominated the news during the past week. The incident left two people dead – including the shooter, Thomas Crooks – and two wounded, while injuring former President Trump. It also has left many looking for answers – everyone except, that is, the Kremlin propaganda machinery that is busy feeding people lies and conspiracy theories.
According to pro-Kremlin outlets, including EU-sanctioned RT and Pravda in Poland and France, the assassination attempt was orchestrated because ‘the Deep State and the globalists wanted to keep Biden in power’. These conspiratorial narratives were actively spread in numerous languages beyond Russian, including German, French, Spanish, and Polish, ensuring a wide geographical reach for the disinformation. In addition to websites, pro-Kremlin Telegram channels also took part in spreading the lies.
Besides pushing fringe conspiracy theories, the Kremlin information manipulation ecosystem wasted no time in trying to add a Ukraine angle to the toxic mix. Fringe outlets went head-on making connections – ‘Trump had announced his intentions to end the conflict in Ukraine by holding talks with Putin’, or suggesting more directly that Ukraine would have benefited had the assassination been successful. Sanctioned mouthpieces like Lenta and RIA joined in, pumping out speculation over the reasons behind the assassination attempt, insinuating links to the war in Ukraine.
Spinning tragedy for gain
We are witnessing yet another blatant example of the Kremlin trying to opportunistically spin a tragic incident with potential global ramifications to support their agenda.
By co-opting fringe conspiracy theories and offering them a global platform, the Kremlin attempts to build credibility and a larger following in circles consuming these theories, hoping that their talking points will in turn take a stronger hold in these communities.
Moreover, the Kremlin’s attempts to smear Ukraine by affiliating it with the assassination attempt is an old trick from the Kremlin playbook aimed at eroding popular and political support for Ukraine from the US and other allied countries.
Also blinking on EUvsDisinfo’s disinformation radar this week:
- Pro-Kremlin outlets are once again spreading false narratives, this time claiming that Romania is waiting for the weakening of Russia to annex Moldova. This disinformation paints Romania as a country with imperialist ambitions towards Moldova, with plans to annex it. The reality? Romania was the first nation to recognise Moldova’s independence back in August 1991 and has since maintained collaborative and supportive relations with the republic. Such baseless claims are nothing but attempts to poison the good relationship between Moldova and Romania by stirring up unfounded fears of annexation. We have been tracking and exposing pro-Kremlin disinformation targeting Moldova and the Kremlin’s attempts to destabilise the republic for years now. This is just the latest chapter in that on-going campaign.
- One of the Kremlin’s mouthpieces and a notorious disinformation outlet, Sputnik, is at it again churning out fresh manipulations. In Sputnik’s wild imagination, Kyiv is preparing to send sabotage groups to Belarus. As usual, they do not have any evidence to back up their fear-mongering rhetoric desperately trying to portray Ukraine as the aggressor. Outside of Sputnik’s make-believe, there’s a reality where Ukraine does not have any territorial claims to Belarus and maintains a purely defensive posture aimed at deterring future Russian attacks from Belarusian soil. These smear pieces are nothing but a blatant attempt to prop up one of the Kremlin’s favourite myths, Ukraine as the aggressor, while simultaneously trying to justify the unjustifiable – Russia’s ongoing imperial conquest targeting Ukraine.
- In another Sputnik disinformation narrative, fuelling the ‘proxy war’ in Ukraine apparently only depletes the West’s own stocks of air defence systems. It is yet another example of pro-Kremlin manipulators falsely labelling Russia’s war against Ukraine a ‘proxy war’. They are also trying to sell a deceptive idea that support for Ukraine is not only futile but actually weakens its backers. To be clear, this latest example of disinformation-spewing can be seen as a panicked response to several NATO countries reaffirming their commitment to bolster Ukraine’s air defences.
By EUvsDisinfo
