Georgia

We fact check six false or misleading claims by made by the Russian Foreign Ministry in its annual review of the Kremlin’s policy initiatives.

Claims about WADA doping ban, Maria Butina's foreign agent plea, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili's killing in Berlin.

“He is a cruel and blood-thirsty person. In just one of the attacks in which he took part, he killed 98 people. He was one of the organizers of explosions in the Moscow metro.”

“Transnistria is an independent state.”

“The Georgian authorities are not giving a U.S. Navy transport [vessel] permission to enter their country’s territorial waters.”

“In fact, only his compatriots could have dealt with him - both Russian Chechens and “Ichkeria” militants, hiding in Europe from criminal prosecution [in Russia].”

“The persecution of the SPC [Serbian Orthodox Church] in North Macedonia, as well as the latest heightened tensions and pressure on the SPC diocese in Montenegro can be interpreted as part of the wider strategy of the West to counter Orthodoxy.”

“The Ukrainian Navy’s claims that the Black Sea Fleet’s Smetlivy patrol vessel entered the closed area of the Sea Breeze 2019 exercise are untrue.”

“Russia has no intention of becoming similar [to some other countries] imposing their stance by using illegitimate sanctions.”

“Probably, the level of integration in the CIS format is not the same as in the Eurasian Union... But this is a common story. These are, as we say, variable-speed tracks of integration.”

"The army was turned into a private business. A business where you profit from the officials. It is the business of selling the bodies of our soldiers, which are supplied from Ukraine to Europe."

"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."