Verdicts
Tuesday 21 May 2019
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![Dmitry Lekukh]()
Dmitry Lekukh
Political commentator
“Actually, these are already not restrictions at all: this is a direct and unequivocal declaration of economic war against the entire European subcontinent.”
Read more...New sanctions bill will not amount to a trade war with Europe, as it only targets the handful of world companies that have the know-how to operate pipe-laying vessels. Only the Swiss Allseas and the Italian Saipem will be directly affected. -
![Ramzan Kadyrov]()
Ramzan Kadyrov
Head of Chechen Republic
“Most likely [Ukrainian President Zelenskiy’s] inaugural speech was edited overseas, otherwise the president wouldn’t be making belligerent statements on the very first day, threatening to seize the territory of a neighboring state.”
Read more...Chechen head Ramzan Kadyrov attacked the new Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, claiming he threatened “to seize the territory of a neighboring state.” But while Zelenskiy prioritized regaining Ukraine’s “lost territories” in his inaugural speech, he did not suggest using force to do so. -
![Vladimir Kovalenko]()
Vladimir Kovalenko
Elise Journal Author
“Poroshenko is preparing for a 3rd round of presidential elections in Ukraine.”
Read more...A Ukrainian website recently posted a story claiming that outgoing Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was willing to risk civil war by engineering a questionable legal pretext for a third round of voting. The only problem – the inauguration date has already been set. -
![RIA Novosti]()
RIA Novosti
State news agency
“Russia has gained control over the Ukrainian economy, an expert said.”
Read more...The headline is misleading: the quoted expert actually said Russia will gain leverage over the Ukrainian economy in the area of oil, coal, and oil products, although even this is doubtful, as Ukraine has alternatives. Poland recently overtook Russia as Ukraine's largest single trading partner. -
![Ivan Danilov]()
Ivan Danilov
RIA Novosti columnist
“Despite Aslund's (and many of his colleagues') rock-solid belief that there must be the mythical ‘Putin’s billions’ in the West, American (and not only American) intelligence agencies, which have full access to all financial transactions in the U.S., UK, the European Union and offshore jurisdictions in the Western world, could not find anything."
Read more...A Russian state media columnist attacked efforts to determine President Vladimir Putin’s “mythical” wealth, claiming that Western intelligence agencies have been unable to dig up the dirt despite their access to offshore flows. We find an abundance of evidence that is already available publicly. -
![Nikolai Petrov]()
Nikolai Petrov
TV Zvezda Host
“Here, by the way, is the perfect, freshest example of such fanning of a hybrid war. It is a recent report by the RAND Corporation -- financed, by the way, by the U.S. Defense [Department] – regarding so-called hybrid Russian aggression in the Baltic states. The report is, in essence, war propaganda and frightening the population about the inevitability of Russian intervention in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.”
Read more...The RAND report was not intended for mass distribution, not aimed at the Baltic population, and does not say Russian intervention is inevitable. -
![Nord Stream 2 AG's Press Service]()
Nord Stream 2 AG's Press Service
“If the [Nord Stream 2] gas pipeline is built by the end of 2019 and put into operation in 2020, European families gain access to a lower cost gas source and save €8 billion per year. This will happen due to the fact that prices will decrease by 13 percent.”
Read more...Russian claims that Nord Stream 2 will reduce prices of natural gas in Europe by 8 billion euro a year are false. The pipeline will only divert gas from Ukraine, and not bring in new Russian gas. Moreover, LNG imports have brought prices down by 30 percent compared to a year ago. -
![Sergei Lavrov]()
Sergei Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister
"I understand that some countries would like to forget as soon as possible about the role that they played in the years of prior to World War II. However, I deem those attempts to accuse us of militarizing public opinion as offensive."
Read more...Many countries distort or omit inconvenient facts from their pre-World War II history, but Russia has all but eliminated the most difficult discussions from its state education system. One man was even fined for posting factual information. -
![Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]()
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
President of Turkey
"We have been the single NATO member country that fought with Daesh in the Syrian field, man-to-man. And we were the only NATO country that devastated this terrorist organization."
Read more...The United States and several other NATO member countries have fought Islamic State on the ground or supported anti-IS operations. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have contributed the most to the defeat of IS. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
President, Russia
“Look, they cheated, and the damage for us both economically and financially, and indeed reputational, is very serious.”
Read more...Vladimir Putin’s assessment of the financial and reputational damage is correct: the contamination cost Russia and its European clients billions of dollars. However, the investigation is ongoing and Putin’s claim that the contamination was the result of fraud is, at this point, groundless. -
![Vasyl Volha]()
Vasyl Volha
Leader, Ukrainian Political Party 'Union of Leftists'
“All of the NATO countries are doubling their budgets starting this year.”
Read more...Former Ukrainian lamaker Vasyl Volha appeared on Russian TV warning that NATO exercises in Estonia are an act of aggression against Russia. Volha claimed that every NATO member state is doubling its defense budget starting from this year. But while NATO military spending is up, it has not doubled. -
![Margarita Simonyan]()
Margarita Simonyan
Chief Editor, Rossiya Segodnya, RT
“We're showing a rally in support of Maduro in Caracas. Reuters is showing a green boulevard. Q.E.D.”
Read more...The photograph on Simonyan's Telegram channel, which she called a “green boulevard” was an image from Paris. Reuters fed to its affiliates hours of live coverage of French street protests, which turned violent.
