Likely true
Thursday 8 June 2023
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“From the scientific point of view, it's unlikely that the virus is not circulating in Turkmenistan.”
Independent reports dispute Turkmenistan’s official statistics. The country reported zero cases to the World Health Organization while allegedly keeping a secret count. -
"[T]he new variant of coronavirus is more dangerous for children and young people. In the past two days, we have recorded deaths among infants under a year old with extensive lung damage.”
Experts confirm the U.K. variant B.1.1.7 is more dangerous; however, more study is needed to verify risks for children. -
“…[T]he system of thousands of satellites being deployed [by SpaceX] will interfere with the work of astronomers, said astrophysicist Nikolai Samus, a research fellow at the Institute of astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences ... According to data provided by him, 30-40% of astronomical images will be corrupted by the sunlight reflected by Elon Musk’s satellites.”
Out of about 5,554 satellites orbiting the Earth, fewer than 300 belong to SpaceX. But there is concern about obscuring the night sky once all 12,000 planned Starlink satellites are in orbit. -
“You know, it happens that we work at a computer, press a key, once - and something is deleted. But the amount of data that was transferred by the Russian side to WADA representatives in January cannot be changed with one random click ... it cannot be said that there was a voltage drop, lightning struck and something was erased there. Such an explanation will not work for sure. We need more convincing and acceptable arguments if we want to avoid the worst.”
WADA did not reveal the data its investigators retrieved from the Moscow lab, but the bits of information from the agency’s public reports suggest there were only 47 uncompromised cases while hundreds are said to have “inconsistencies.” -
“It’s an absolute lie [that Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has died],” said a representative of the embassy. “We refute these reports.”
Following reports that Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov had died, Turkmen embassy officials called the claim an “absolute lie.” And while most signs point towards Berdimuhamedov being alive, in closed societies like Turkmenistan, rumors of the president’s demise are difficult to verify. -
“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.”
Looking at all of Russia’s main trading partners, only one has seen the share of trade dramatically increase over the past decade. -
“Worse of all, the idea of organizing racial rallies to cause the U.S.A. to collapse is not an isolated case of an acute psychotic break-down of some mentally ill staffer. In the same letter, Prigozhin’s staffers are bragging about their participation in the wars in eastern Ukraine, in Syria. They are also building plans to ‘assist in training national security forces’ in such countries as Qatar, Sudan, CAR, Chad, Madagascar, as well as ‘implementation of joint projects with Congo, South Sudan, Ethiopia.’ And that, as we know, are not just plans but reality.”
The U.S. Justice Department indictment and the data on Russian advertisements on Facebook released to the U.S. Congress allege that Yevgeny Prigozhin and companies controlled by him have been conspiring to defraud the U.S., including by aggravating social divisions. -
A Dutch lawyer working at the Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Estonia has noted that the April 14 airstrikes against Syria by the US, UK and France are in violation of international law.
While Western leaders say air strikes were "justified, legitimate and proportionate," and necessary to alleviate overwhelming human suffering, several experts contend this is not considered a justification under international law for military action against another country. -
"I am certain we won't be denied the World Cup.”
Source: State-run TASS news agency, March 3, 2017Russia's state-sponsored doping scandal plus questions about how the country was awarded the 2018 World Cup have prompted questions about whether the premier soccer event could be switched to another country. But with stadiums in place and tickets being sold that is highly unlikely at this point. -
“Despite the fact that Coursera is an American company, they’ve persuaded the U.S. government to lift the prohibition for teaching in Crimea.”
Likely TrueU.S. provides for some exemptions for sanctions imposed on Russia after annexing Crimea.While U.S. Treasury Department officials declined comment, American virtual learning company Coursera confirmed it does have U.S. permission for online lessons on their platform to be accessible in Crimea. -
"The Russian Federation has destroyed 95 percent of its chemical warfare agents. This amounts to more than 37,950 (metric) tons in real terms."
The Soviet Union had the world's largest chemical warfare infrastructure, according to experts, and Russia inherited most of it. The statement by Colonel-General Valery Kapashin, who oversees the storage and destruction of Russia's chemical weapons, was "essentially true," according to a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. -
“There is no reason to suspect Russia of violating UN Security Council resolution 2231…. Neither supply nor transfer or sale of military aircraft to Iran took place.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Russia’s use of an air base in Iran to launch bombing raids in Syria doesn’t violate a UN Security Council resolution that bars the supply, sale, or transfer of combat aircraft “for the use in or benefit of Iran.” Independent experts say Lavrov is right – as long as Russia only uses the base, and doesn’t transfer any military capability or skill.