Berlin (29/1 – 66.67). The Federal Government protects freedom of expression and emphasises the outstanding importance of independent media and fact checks by civil society. However, the Federal Government takes a firm stance against the deliberate dissemination of false information.
Below are examples of disinformation which the Russian government is continually spreading via various platforms, including in Germany, in connection with its war of aggression against Ukraine. The Federal Government provides the facts to confront this disinformation.
The usual claims are debunked by the German government. The range from the incredible to the laughable. Here the top five examples:
Claim: Germany ran its own military-biological programme in Ukraine and was involved in research on biological weapons.
- Fact: Germany has never carried out research on biological weapons in Ukraine, neither by itself nor together with Ukrainian bodies. This is straight out of the textbook of the Russian intelligence services, the GRU and the FSB.
Claim: Ukraine is governed by a neo-Nazi regime.
- Fact: The democratically elected Ukrainian government, whose president is of Jewish origin, does not support any neo-Nazi ideology. The claim is plain laughable.
Claim: Ukraine is committing genocide against the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine.
- Fact: Ukraine is not committing genocide on its own people. Numerous reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine, which are published regularly by the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, and reports by the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine set up by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have refuted this accusation. On the contrary, the Russian president is misusing a term that is clearly defined in the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Claim: Russia is not committing any war crimes. The Bucha massacre was staged by Ukrainian forces.
- Fact: There is extensive evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, especially against civilians in Bucha. Independent media outlets have documented numerous cases of rape and torture by Russian troops as well as arbitrary and targeted killings of civilians in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
- Fact: War crimes committed by Russian invaders such as the 234th Air Assault Regiment led by Lt. Col. Artyom Gorodilov in Bucha, and the repeated video recorded extrajudicial execution of unarmed Ukrainian prisoners.
Claim: Western governments have imposed sanctions on Russia because of their Russophobia, and Russians are experiencing systematic discrimination in the West.The sanctions imposed on Russia are merely a reaction to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This war is a blatant breach of international law. The overwhelming majority of people in Germany can distinguish between the views and actions of the Russian government.
