As major news sources publish alarming updates on the Ukraine crisis, Moscow denies the trouble is being “orchestrated” from the Kremlin; Ukraine is threatening to launch a full-scale military operation in Eastern Ukraine; an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council has been called — by Moscow — for tonight in New York and the US ambassador to the UN says the attacks this weekend bear the “tell-tale signs of Moscow’s involvement.” But, again, the Kremlin denies involvement in events in eastern Ukraine.
Today, under the quote
the State Department released a fact sheet titled “Russian Fiction the Sequel: 10 More False Claims About Ukraine.”
The release accuses Moscow of continuing to “spin a false and dangerous narrative to justify its illegal actions in Ukraine” and the Russian “propaganda machine” of continuing to “promote hate speech and incite violence by creating a false threat in Ukraine that does not exist.”
State then lists the “10 more false claims Russia is using to justify intervention in Ukraine, with the facts that these assertions ignore or distort.”
The 10 Russian false claims are:
1. Russian agents are not active in Ukraine.
2. Pro-Russia demonstrations are comprised exclusively of Ukrainian citizens acting of their own volition, like the Maidan movement in Kyiv.
3. Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine enjoy broad popular support.
4. The situation in eastern Ukraine risks spiraling into civil war.
5. Ukrainians in Donetsk rejected the illegitimate authorities in Kyiv and established the independent “People’s Republic of Donetsk.”
6. Russia ordered a “partial drawdown” of troops from the Ukrainian border.
7. Ethnic Russians in Ukraine are under threat.
8. Ukraine’s new government is led by radical nationalists and fascists.
9. Ethnic minorities face persecution in Ukraine from the “fascist” government in Kyiv.
10. Russia is not using energy and trade as weapons against Ukraine.
Since the use of natural gas as a weapon has been mentioned here several times, the “facts,” as presented by State, are as follows:
Following Russia’s illegal annexation and occupation of Crimea, Russia raised the price Ukraine pays for natural gas by 80 percent in the past two weeks. In addition, it is seeking more than $11 billion in back payments following its abrogation of the 2010 Kharkiv accords. Russia’s moves threaten to increase severely the economic pain faced by Ukrainian citizens and businesses. Additionally, Russia continues to restrict Ukrainian exports to Russia, which constitute a significant portion of Ukraine’s export economy.
For the “facts” on the other nine Moscow claims, please go here.
Please also read “Evidence of Russian Support for Destabilization of Ukraine” here
Joe Gandelman posted yesterday an excellent piece, “Putin Takeover, the Sequel?”
While fact-checking Putin’s claims may be a fine exercise to once again expose Moscow’s lies and shenanigans, the next sequel — what the “West” will concretely do to stop Moscow’s ambitions and aggression, if anything — may also be the conclusion on a very dangerous chapter in U.S. – Russian relations. Let’s hope it ends well as well as possible.
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