The war initiated by Russia more than a year ago took away thousands of lives, displaced millions of people, shook global economy and re-opened divisions from Cold War times, including fear from nuclear war. The claims that Putin was rectifying some kind of injustice in Ukraine where he started the denazification operation, saving people from genocide and children from organ-trafficking, and that Ukraine was suffering from a coup carried out by Soros and the CIA are not true and their purpose is to justify Russian military invasion only

We are fact-checking a post on Facebook which conveys part of a statement given by the Russian President Vladimir Putin – which is extremely manipulative and untrue – reviewing the situation in Ukraine with numerous unsubstantiated claims, including conspiracy theories.

02.04.2023
Putin
Ukraine was taken over by the Nazis in 2014 by means of a coup, which we now know that it was carried out by George Soros/CIA who openly boasted about it… Nazis infiltrated Ukraine shamelessly displaying their symbolism.
Mike: great injustice was rectified. The people there have been saved from massacres – head-chopping, children trafficking, organs… In a building, they are killing random people, sticking a knife into their heads. All those who do not support Putin are either ill-informed or traitors, devoted to Satan.

The first part of the post is quoting a fragment of Putin’s statement where he claims that in 2014 Ukraine was taken over by the Nazis by a coup carried out by George Soros/CIA, after which the Nazis infiltrated Ukraine.

Obviously, Putin is referring here to Euromaidan. The demonstrations initiated in Kyiv in November 2013 – called “Maidan” or “Euromaidan” – were the result of the fustration of the Ukrainian people provoked by the rule of the former President, Viktor Yanukovych (who was the President of Ukraine from February 2010 to February 2014, after which he fled to Russia, the country he cooperated closely with while he was chief of state). The demands of the protesters included Constitutional reforms, greater role of Parliament, establishing a government of national unity, ending corruption, early Presidential Elections and ending violence.

The waves of protests, civil disobedience, rebellions and armed clashes started in the evening of 21st November 2013 when the Ukrainian people embarked upon spontaneous protests in the capital city Kyiv. The previous day – 21st November 2013 – the Ukrainian Government suspended the preparations for signing the Association Agreement and the Free Trade Agreement with the European Union.

Ukraine’s government modified its approach toward Russia after the latter illegally annexed Crimea, which is part of Ukraine, through a non-recognised referendum, announced on 27th February 2014 and held on gunpoint on 16th March 2014. The UN described it as not valid and stated that it could not serve as the basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. In its turn, EU continues to strongly condemn this violation of international law and has responded by imposing restrictive measures against the Russian Federation, reported EUvsDisinfo regarding the recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Euromaidan in Ukraine in 2014, stressing that:

There was no coup, nor a Western orchestrated protest in Ukraine.

The post also mentions some kind of massacres, head-choppers, Nazis.

It is not true that repression and genocide of the Russian minority was taking place in Ukraine as claimed by the post and Truthmeter has already covered this topic.

In order to justify its attack on Ukraine, Russia is constantly repeating that the “genocide” of Russians in Ukraine carried out by Ukrainian radicals must stop. Two days after the Russian attack on Ukraine, the Russian Ambassador in North Macedonia, Sergey Bazdnikin, uses the same terms used by Putin in a column published in the newspaper “Nova Makedonija”, for example “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine.

The term “genocide” is defined in the UN Genocide Convention from 1948 as “a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part”. Even OSCE missions that regularly conduct investigations in the separatist areas with the consent of Moscow, have not noted grounds for claiming genocide.

According to UN, from 2021 in the conflicts in Eastern Ukraine, approximately 3,000 civilians have lost their lives up to date. According to OSCE report, most of the civilian casualties were killed in artilery attacks.

The use of the term “denazification” related to Ukraine is completely wrong, assesses the political scientist Andreas Umland from the Stockholm Centre for Easte-European Studies (SCEEUS). He points out that the current President of Ukraine is a Jew who defeated a non-Jew candidate in the last elections.

Umland notes that Ukraine has right-wing extremist forces that are apparently weak compared to those in the other European countries.

In the last elections, the extreme right-wing United Front won only 2,15 percent of the votes, stressed Umland.

A military organization with right-wing background that was active in the beginning of the conflict in Donbas was criticised. According to Umland, however, that group has been integrated within the current units of the National Guard. The conclusion of the experts is that right-wing extremist groups are insignificant in Ukraine.

As a reminder, Ukraine banned the promotion of Nazism in 2015.

Concerning the claim in the post that trafficking children for organs was ongoing in Ukraine, no such evidence has been offered making it part of a well-known conspiracy theory.

It is not the first time that opponents of the West are spreading such imaginary stories about the Western countries – abusing children while the alleged heroes like Putin or Trump are saving them. Such stories were devised and are still devised about the former US President, Trump, presenting him as apparently the savior of thousands of children.Truthmeter has written about these conspiracy theories. Obviously, they are used to glorify the personality and work of Putin, without looking the facts straight in the eyes.

The facts point out that no evidence of Putin saving children from “organ-trafficking” exists, as claimed by the post we are fact-checking. This is absurd, bearing in mind the fact that children of Kremlin functionaires are studying and living in Western countries. Truthmeter has already written about this.

In addition, it is a fact that The Hague has issued a warrant for the arrest of Putin for war crimes committed in Ukraine. The statement of the International Criminal Court calls upon reasonable grounds for accusing Putin and his assistant, the Children’s Rights Commissioner, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, for committing: war crime, illegal deportation of population and illegal displacement of population from occupied territories in Ukraine, detrimental to children.

Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of Russia has been sanctioned by most of the Western countries for her alleged role in kidnapping children.

Lvova-Belova’s efforts specifically include the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, the so-called “patriotic education” of Ukrainian children, legislative changes to expedite the provision of Russian Federation citizenship to Ukrainian children and the deliberate removal of Ukrainian children by Russian forces, announced the US Treasury last September, as reported by the CNN.

Finally, the post claims that ”all those who do not support Putin are either ill-informed or traitors, devoted to Satan“. The aim of this narrative is obvious – to justify Russian invasion in Ukraine through manipulation.

More than a year ago Russia performed a military invasion in Ukraine and a large number of soldiers and civilians were killed every day. 24th February 2022, Russia launched missile attacks on locations throughout entire Ukraine, including the capital city Kyiv. Russian ground forces penetrated Ukrainian territory. The President of Ukraina, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, responded by declaring martial law, discontinuing diplomatic relations with Russia and general mobilization. This invasion is the greatest military attack in Europe ever since the Second World War and is subject to a widespread international condemnation as well as imposed sanctions against Russia.

Ukraine did not attack Russia, but Russia attacked Ukraine. Subsequently, Ukraine is entitled to defend itself, while the allies are providing military and financial assistance for Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid for civilians and displaced persons.

In addition, the European Union (EU) established the Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) – a new tribunal specialised for investigations and processing Russian crimes committed during the aggression in Ukraine.

Its main aim, as announced by the European Commission, is to strengthen investigations of crime related to the aggression by providing key evidence and facilitating the case-building process at an early stage.

Claiming that ”all who do not support Putin are devoted to Satan” is also not logical. Who and how decides what is Satan?

Such “Satan”-narratives are coming from the Russian side in an attempt to justify the crime committed on someone else’s territory, as well as the thousands of casualties killed on both sides, the orphaned children and the millions of displaced persons.

Last November the former Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, said that Moscow was fighting a sacred war against Satan and warned that Russia was capable of sending its enemies to hell. The message sent upon the occasion of celebrating Russian Unity Day, 4th November, Medvedev, currently the Deputy-President of the Security Council of Russia, said that the task of the fatherland was:

To stop the supreme ruler of hell, whatever name used – Satan, Lucifer or Iblis.

The war initiated by Russia more than a year ago took away thousands of lives, displaced millions of people, shook global economy and re-opened the divisions of Cold War times such as fear from nuclear war. Claiming that Putin is rectifying some kind of injustice in Ukraine, that started a denazification operation or saving people from genocide and children from organ-trafficking, as well as claiming that Ukraine suffered some kind of coup carried out by Soros and the CIA are not true and their purpose is to justify Russian military aggression. Therefore, we assess the entire post as untrue.

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