Top Factchecks and Disinformation News
Latest Statements
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![RIA Novosti]()
RIA Novosti
Russian state news agency
“Relations between Moscow and Kyiv deteriorated after the coup in Ukraine, the return of the Crimea to Russia, and the beginning of the conflict in the Donbas.”
Read more...Moscow bears responsibility for the breakdown of relations with Ukraine. It invaded and annexed Crimea and invaded the Donbas. -
![Shohrat Zakir]()
Shohrat Zakir
Chairman of the Government of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region
“Xinjiang has launched a vocational education and training program according to the law. Its purpose is to get rid of the environment and soil that breeds terrorism and religious extremism and stop violent terrorist activities from happening … In daily life, vocational institutions and schools strictly implement the spirit of laws and regulations, including the Constitution and religious affairs regulations, and respect and protect the customs and habits of various ethnic groups and their beliefs in diet and daily life.”
Read more...Claims of a “colorful life,” replete with respect for culture and religion and fully-equipped dormitories with a raft of amenities, run counter to eyewitness testimony about life in China’s internment camps for Uighur Muslims. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
“In terms of volume, the Chinese economy has already become larger than the U.S. economy.”
Read more...While it is true that China has seen its healthiest year-on-year GDP growth, the country still has the second largest economy in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
“There is an old joke... Maybe some don’t know it, it will be interesting. It goes like this. Question: ‘How do you relax?’ Answer: ‘I don’t get tense.” The same goes for tensions in international affairs. We don’t create tensions for anybody; we don’t create any problems.”
Read more...Vladimir Putin’s description of Russia’s foreign policy is the opposite of its actual role on the world stage: Moscow stands accused of multiple violations of international regulations and treaties, including ones it has signed. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
“We are accused of something, and ‘with a high degree of probability,’ as they say; we did this or that, intervened here, did something there. At the same time, no one considers it necessary to provide any evidence.”
Read more...Plenty of evidence has been provided to show Russia’s culpability in various international incidents, scandals and wars. -
![Sergei Lavrov]()
Sergei Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister
“It’s no secret to anyone, Western journalists write openly that Bellingcat is connected to special services, they leak information through it to have some effect on public opinion.”
Read more...Russian sources are promoting a narrative that the open source investigative reporting organization is connected to Western intelligence. Russia has not produced any evidence to connect Bellingcat to British or other intelligence agencies. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
"Crimea is ours… And why ours? Not because we came and grabbed something… What is democracy? A government of the people. And how is a government of the people validated? Through referendums, elections and so on. People in Crimea turned out for a referendum and voted… to be independent and, as a next step,… to be a part of the Russian Federation… We proceed from the will of the people living in this territory.”
Read more...Putin once against tries to rewrite the history of Crimea’s annexation. Russian soldiers invaded in 2014, and a referendum was staged under the force of Russian occupation. -
![Alexei Miller]()
Alexei Miller
Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors, CEO Gazprom, Russia
“Miller emphasized that Gazprom is discussing with China an increase in [gas] deliveries via the Power of Siberia [pipeline] using only its own capacities. ‘We can ourselves can [do it]. This is Gazprom’s production capacity,” he said… ‘In the future, after [we succeed in supplying] the 30 billion [cubic meters a year], we can talk about an increase, but at this moment we are talking about 30 billion cubic meters’.”
Read more...The construction of the Power of Siberia pipeline is in its final phase, but Gazprom will not be ready to deliver the promised volume by the set deadline because two oil and gas condensate fields needed for this have not yet been developed. -
![Sputnik]()
Sputnik
Russian state-owned media outlet
“Sputnik has obtained amateur footage of the suspected movement of US military convoys along Czech and Slovak roads, with the quiet transfers receiving no coverage from local or foreign media.”
Read more...The Czech Republic and Slovakia are both NATO states. There is little reason to expect any coverage about the movement of a small military convoy through NATO member states, and driving in broad daylight dispels the idea that NATO was trying to hide something about this transfer. -
![Dmitry Peskov]()
Dmitry Peskov
Press Secretary for the President of Russia
"US President [Donald Trump] did not come up with any direct accusations [against Putin in an interview with CBS News]," he noted. "Moreover, there can be no substantiated accusations against the Russian president."
Read more...Despite Putin’s press secretary’s claim to the contrary, a “direct” accusation from the U.S. president has no bearing on the facts. In any case, President Trump earlier joined Britain, France and Germany in concluding Russia was responsible for the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury.
