False
Wednesday 20 February 2019
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![Svobodnaya Pressa]()
Svobodnaya Pressa
Russian News Outlet
“USA Air Forces: ‘Thanks very much to the Russians for taking Crimea”
Read more...None of the U.S. Air Forces’ commanders or representatives, including General Tod Wolters, ever said the words cited in the Russian media outlet. -
![Dmitry Medvedev]()
Dmitry Medvedev
Russian Prime Minister
“The latest wave of anti-Russian sanctions is related not to our relations with the Americans but to the domestic problems in the United States.”
Read more...Russia's PM claims a tougher version of anti-Russian sanctions proposed last year is a “domestic” U.S. affair, unrelated to bilateral ties. But while efforts to pass sanctions in the U.S. have hit domestic hurdles, the sanctions themselves were drafted in reaction to Moscow’s international acts. -
![RIA Novosti]()
RIA Novosti
Russian state-owned media outlet
“‘Not Odessa, but Kotsyubeyev!’ Why does Kyiv erase the real names of cities”
Read more...While Ukraine’s “decommunization” law is not without controversy, countries have the right to rename cities and other geographical features as they wish. Nothing in the law requires new city names to be based on historical titles. -
![Yuri Trutnev]()
Yuri Trutnev
Deputy Prime Minister, Russia
“In my view, they’ve taken control of all sales markets. If scientists believe that this doesn’t cause damage, then why, actually, should the Americans sell these killer whales to the Chinese market, and why not Russia?”
Read more...In the United States, orcas and belugas are protected from commercial and sports hunting under multiple laws and regulations. Capturing and exporting the whales is illegal in the U.S. -
![Rossiya 1]()
Rossiya 1
State-owned Russian television channel
“Manufactured Crisis! Venezuelan ‘Refugees’ in Columbia Come for Day-Long Shopping Trips!”
Read more...An aid convoy blocked and tens of thousands of Venezuelans crossing the border every day to get food and medicine, a Rossiya 1 correspondent at the Colombian border town of Cucuta reports a “Manufactured Crisis” – saying that people are taking “shopping trips.” But the facts show otherwise. -
![Vyacheslav Volodin]()
Vyacheslav Volodin
Speaker of the State Duma
“A bill of [the] Verkhovna Rada that restricts the rights of observers at the elections of the President of Ukraine violates the international law.”
Read more...While Ukraine's banning of Russian citizens from entering the country to take part in the OSCE election monitoring mission is "without precedent," it does not violate international law, and there will still be OSCE observers. Only two members of the team were Russian citizens. -
![Alexander Brod]()
Alexander Brod
Member of the Presidential Human Rights Council
“These [Freedom House] reports are politically motivated and are used as an additional element of pressure on the country … they made a bogeyman out of Russia and constantly throw in negative information.”
Read more...Russian officials label reports by independent watchdog groups as politically motivated. But Freedom House’s report finds a steady decline in freedom around the world over the last 13 years, and raises the alarm particularly about threats to democracy in the United States. -
![Maria Zakharova]()
Maria Zakharova
Spokesperson, Russian Foreign Ministry
"We are seeing a massive campaign on Russian information resources in Germany. It is being conducted with the German state’s participation, and a campaign is being staged to suppress the voice of the Russian and Russian language media."
Read more...The German press’s criticism of Russia Today (RT) Deutsch and Sputnik is not a staged campaign but the reaction of independent journalists against Kremlin’s use of media means for propaganda purposes and disinformation. Similar concerns arise in France and Britain. -
![WikiLeaks]()
WikiLeaks
“U.S. largest audience TV host, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow (Democratic party aligned) this evening: Russia will freeze you and your family to death.”
Read more...WikiLeaks mischaracterized the MSNBC host and RIA Novosti enhanced the misinformation. Both relayed only part of the program, ignoring actual U.S. government warnings cited in the program. Maddow’s concerns about a potential Russian threat were not baseless. -
![Yevgeny Prigozhin]()
Yevgeny Prigozhin
Russian businessman
“At the Defense Ministry, which I have no connection with, I cannot negotiate the financing/supply of a private military contractor that doesn't exist.”
Read more...“Putin’s chef” denies both the existence of the Wagner Group and his role in bankrolling the mercenary band, which has served everywhere from Ukraine to Syria. But Prigozhin’s claims do not stand up to scrutiny. -
![Alexander Ionov]()
Alexander Ionov
Vice chairman, Security Committee, State Duma
“Maria Butina is a human rights activist, for me Maria Butina is a public figure, a student of the American University, and the most relevant is that she is a person who did not work (collaborate) with the Russian state bodies.”
Read more...Alexander Ionov, vice chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Security Committee, has come out in support of “human rights” activist Maria Butina. He told VOA she never “worked” with Russian state bodies. But the long trail of evidence and links resulting in Butina’s U.S. guilty plea shows otherwise. -
![RIA Novosti]()
RIA Novosti
Russian state news agency
“(The Wall Street Journal) noted that the head of the government (Hungary’s Orban) has been receiving orders (from the U.S.) to counter Chinese cyber espionage and support Ukraine as a counter to Russia.”
Read more...RIA Novosti “quoted” a Wall Street Journal article, attributing to it wording that was not in the original piece. The U.S. cannot “order” foreign governments to follow certain policies, although the Hungarian leader objected to "pressure" from the U.S.
