Top Factchecks and Disinformation News
Voters in the United States choosing members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on November 6, the 2018 Midterm Election. The full House is up for election, while one third of the Senate is up every two years. Polygraph.info will display the breakdown of Republicans and Democrats in Congress as the final election results are tabulated.
Latest Statements
-
![Maria Zakharova]()
Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson
"After the murder of [former DNR leader] Alexander Zakharchenko under the conditions of a possible vacuum of power, there was a real risk of the total destabilization of the situation in southeastern Ukraine…. The holding of elections made it possible to avoid such a scenario.”
Read more...Backing the false narrative that the recent elections in the Russian-occupied, self-proclaimed “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics” were fair, Maria Zakharova claimed that the roundly criticized vote can help avoid the very instability Russia’s military intervention has fomented. -
![Sergei Lavrov]()
Sergei Lavrov
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs
“A Spanish fighter recently accidentally fired an air-to-air missile in Estonia. Thank God, it didn’t kill anyone. What if it fell on our soil rather than in Estonia? After all, it was very close."
Read more...The AMRAAM air-to-air missile has a self-destruct feature and remnants were estimated to be located roughly 22 miles north of Tartu, Estonia. It is unlikely that the missile could have landed in Russian territory, which is sparsely populated in the border area. -
![Sergei Lavrov]()
Sergei Lavrov
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs
“The Russian side stressed the unacceptability of the practice of making public unsubstantiated accusations, which runs counter to the norms of international dialogue.”
Read more...The Austrian military officer accused of spying for Russia confessed, and even Russian state media reported this. -
![RIA Novosti, November 12, 2018]()
RIA Novosti, November 12, 2018
Russian state news agency
"According to observers, the elections were democratic and open."
Read more...Like in the Crimea and the previous elections in occupied Donbas, Russia used a team of unqualified, some of them openly pro-Russian election observers. Some of them reside or have resided in the occupied territories in the Donbas and actively worked in pro-Russian disinformation efforts. -
![Vladimir Zhirinovsky]()
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Leader, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
"...in 1612 the word Ukraine was not heard anywhere.”
Read more...A Russian nationalist firebrand who once called Ukraine an “artificial state” has taken to Russian state TV to once again question the authenticity of Russia's neighbor, repeating a narrative meant to deny the existence of an independent Ukrainian people or language. -
![RIA Novosti, November 6, 2018]()
RIA Novosti, November 6, 2018
Russian state-owned news agency
“...there are also inscriptions in Russian with errors (‘ddiplomatic history’, ‘new era’ (incorrect Russian grammar) and 'Helpinki summit')."
Read more...The Helsinki commemorative coin contains two major spelling mistakes and one grammar mistake. Yet the White House Gift Shop shows no inclination to withdraw the coin. -
![Russian UK Embassy Twitter Account]()
Russian UK Embassy Twitter Account
Official social media account
“Don’t you think this is political paranoia?”
Read more...The claim about informants is based on interviews with some politically important Russian expats in Britain. Neither the report that is cited, nor the newspaper shown in the tweet, are making the claim that half of Russians in Britain are informants. -
![RT]()
RT
“Another familiar voice declaring a triumph over the Russian president in the midterms is William Browder, a US-born British investor shark, who reimagined himself as a brave human rights crusader after being accused of financial crimes in Russia. Browder celebrated a victory in a ‘proxy war in Orange County’, because ‘Putin minion’ Dana Rohrabacher failed in his reelection bid there. It’s really convenient when you can declare, with impunity, that people you disagree with are minions.”
Read more...A tweet following the U.S. Midterm Election, from a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, incited a response from RT, which played loose with the facts in its misguided point. -
![Sergey Lavrov]()
Sergey Lavrov
Foreign Minister, Russia
“I will not guess how the results of these elections will affect the future of our relations… We firmly know that the internal political perturbations in the United States directly affect Washington's relations with Moscow, and our relations, our contacts, our partnership on global security issues that many countries of the world are waiting for, have become hostage to these internal political squabbles in America.”
Read more...The Russian foreign minister is correct that domestic political turmoil affects the U.S. administration’s foreign policy. However, U.S. political divisions are not the main reason for deteriorating relations between Washington and Moscow. Russia’s own actions damaged relations more. -
![Russian Ministry of Defense]()
Russian Ministry of Defense
"On November 5, 2018, at about 10am on-duty airspace control aircraft spotted an unidentified air threat over the neutral waters of the Black Sea, which was approaching the airspace of the Russian Federation. An Su-27 fighter jet took off from the nearest airfield of the on-duty air defense unit. It approached the aircraft at a safe distance and identified it as an EP-3E Aries signals reconnaissance version of the US Navy. The fighter crew reported identification of the U.S. signals reconnaissance aircraft and escorted it away from the airspace of the Russian Federation in compliance with all security and safety requirements."
Read more...Russia’s Defense Ministry claims its intercept of U.S. aircraft was by the books, but the video footage shows a far riskier encounter, and the U.S. Navy claims its aircraft shook from the close encounter.
