Ukraine
Tuesday 17 July 2018
-
Russian Embassy in the United Kingdom
“Americans always said they had no troops in Ukraine.”
Read more...There are no U.S. troops engaged in combat in Ukraine and the deployment of military personnel in Ukraine for training purposes was publicly announced in advance. -
Steven Seagal
Actor, musician, martial artist
“I am sure that President Putin … is trying to create a situation in which the balance of powers is more stable, and a little more logical and predictable” [as quoted in Russian].
Read more...With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea in 2014, along with numerous Russian snap military drills and violations of the airspace of neighboring countries, Putin has made the balance of power less stable and far less predictable. -
Tatiana Moskalkova
Russian Commissioner for Human Rights
“I received an official response from the leadership of the FSIN (Russia’s correctional service) that since she (Denisova) is a citizen of another state, and he (Sentsov) is a citizen of Russia, she cannot yet be allowed in.”
Read more...Oleh Sentsov is a citizen of Ukraine, not Russia, and the Russian prison authorities themselves have said so. The Russian human rights commissioner denied Ukraine access to Senstov based on the false claim. -
Russian Defense Ministry
“Not a single anti-aircraft missile system of the armed forces has ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border.”
Read more...The International Joint Investigation Team discovered and published detailed evidence proving that the “Buk” missile system used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board, belonged to and was deployed by Russia. -
Alexander Karpushin
Russian Ambassador to Albania
“[T]he main objectives of Russia here are the building of economic cooperation with mutual benefits and the maintenance of sustainable cultural and humanitarian ties with the Balkan peoples. All this certainly applies to Albania. Any other speculation about Russia's ‘aggressive plans’ or ‘expansionist appetites’ is nothing more than part of a major Western strategy to portray Russia as an imaginary enemy of NATO and the EU.”
Read more...Russia has annexed foreign territory, is involved in several regional conflicts, and has reportedly been meddling in sovereign countries’ domestic politics, including in the Balkans. Moscow has repeatedly said it sees NATO as an enemy and a threat to Russia’s national interests. -
Vasyl Hrytsak
Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
“We understand that Russia could definitely be behind this (I cannot say 100%). The Russians are always trying to play with international issues.”
Read more...The SBU chief claimed a deadly attack on a Roma camp may have been organized by Russia, noting that the organization responsible uses the Russian social network VK. However, other Ukrainian local far-right groups responsible for earlier attacks also have pages on VK, and these groups have not been accused of being agents of Russia. -
Nikita Mikhalkov
Russian film director, TV host
"A veteran of the anti-Russian direction at CNN, Jill Dougherty said: “Much insane news from Ukraine. It’s good news that Babchenko is alive, but it’s a huge blow to Ukraine's reputation; after all, nobody is going to trust their words anymore."
Read more...The mistranslation of the quote could only have been intentional, which means that Russian TV used the American journalist’s words as part of its propaganda war against Ukraine. -
Sergei Ilyin
Radio Sputnik
"Some of the people, supposedly repressed for political reasons, whose release Washington is calling for, have been convicted of grave crimes such as terrorism and murder. Their guilt has been completely and exhaustively proven."
Read more...The three men named in the article have been convicted based on extremely dubious evidence, hence the accusation that their incarceration is politically motivated. -
Semyon Slepakov
Russian TV Comedy host and singer
“Russia is ready to host the World Cup. The stadiums are open. The cops are polyglots. That is a quick recap of many years of work.We're not going to lose face in front of the planet. It’s not for nothing we terrified [the planet] with a missile. In general, all is well. But there is only one “but”: Our team, frankly, is sh-t.”
Read more...The International Federation of Football Association, the world soccer authority better known as FIFA, ranked Russia’s national team #70 and labeled it a “worst mover.” -
Vladimir Putin
President of the Russian Federation
“Our mass media is free. People are free to speak out and make a name for themselves as representatives of many political movements do.”
Read more...Russia’s political system ranked is “authoritarian,” the country’s World Freedom score is consistent with “Not free” by Freedom House, based on lacking political rights, civil liberties and press freedom. -
TASS
Russian State News Agency
TASS HEADLINE: Austrian chancellor calls Russia superpower, stresses its role for peace.(Later in the article): Russia plays a big role in Syria and in the east of Ukraine, according to Sebastian Kurz.
Read more...Kurz is right when he says Russia plays a big role in Ukraine and Syria, but not as the peacemaker the TASS portrays. The article is brief, doesn’t mention Kurz’s emphasis on the Minsk agreement, and omits the Austrian government’s continued support of EU sanctions on Russia, following Putin’s Ukraine adventures. -
Dmitry Peskov
Russian Presidential Press Secretary
"But speaking seriously, then of course, there are no such foundations in Russia, and any allegations of Russia's possible involvement in this false flag operation are nothing more than innuendo, and they do not correspond to reality.”
Read more...Boris German told authorities a well-connected Russian ordered him to kill dissidents and the journalist Arkady Babchenko. His allusion to a likely non-existent pro-Putin organization involves evidence that is, at best, opaque at this time.