Fake#5. Head of Ukraine's military intelligence to physically liquidate 3 mln Crimea citizens

Fake date 24.05.2023

Expecting a Ukrainian counteroffensive, pro-Russian war propaganda continues to mount tension in the media. According to propaganda, the Ukrainian authorities are going to physically liquidate three million disloyal residents of the territories returned under Ukrainian control. It was claimed on the air of the program "Objective" of the Belarusian state TV channel ONT, and it followed another sabotage on the railway in Crimea on May 18.

As proof, on May 24, state media showed an excerpt from an interview with the head of Ukraine's military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov. Here are the cites:

Journalist: Where in Crimea will you go after the victory?

Budanov: To Sevastopol. Definitely, to Sevastopol. This is my hometown. I was born in Kyiv. I spend my childhood there.

Journalist: Three million not very loyal people will return...

Budanov: They are not just disloyal, but people with a modified psyche already.

Journalist: And what to do with them?

Budanov: It's very simple. Bringing to justice. And, in our opinion, such just responsibility for certain individuals for the acts they have committed can only be physical liquidation.

The Telegram channel ZhS Premium published the same video four days earlier.

In fact, it turned out that this video is a montage of various excerpts from an interview with Kyrylo Budanov on the YouTube channel “World Inside Out”.

The words about physical liquidation the Ukrainian head of intelligence said about those, who were responsible for the massacres and rapes of civilians in Bucha.

Here's how it was said in the original: 

Journalist: We already know some of the faces of the people who committed horrors in Bucha, you also made them public.

Budanov: The Book of Executioners, yes, it is updated.

Journalist: Even on the GUR website, there is a section called "Enemies". 

What are the future plans?

Budanov: It's very simple. Bringing to justice. And, in our opinion, such just responsibility for certain individuals for the acts they have committed can only be physical liquidation.

Next here is the real context of the message about three million disloyal people:

Journalist: In addition to the fact that three million not very loyal people will return ...

Budanov: They are not loyal, but people with a modified psyche. 

This is not an ideology, but a mentality.

Journalist: And what to do with them?

Budanov: Re-education of those who are able.

Journalist: With a stick or a carrot?

Budanov: With both a stick and a carrot. One doesn't work without the other.

Consequently, the head of Ukraine's military intelligence did not say anything about the physical liquidation of Crimea citizens.

An additional discrepancy is the of Crimea citizens. It's less than three million people. According to the latest census, the population is 1.9 million.

Fake#4. Belarus has only 5,200 HIV-infected residents

Fake date 22.05.2023

Belarus has 5,200 HIV-infected residents. Such data was reported by the state-run TV and Radio Company "Gomel" in an air dedicated to the World Remembrance Day of AIDS Victims, annually held on the third Sunday of May.

Here is what exactly was reported: 

“Since 2023, almost 500 people have been infected with AIDS in Belarus. 27% of them are residents of the Gomel region, and this is the highest data in the country. Compared to last year's corresponding period, the number of patients remained at the same level. And in the Gomel region, it even decreased by 1%. Thus, now 5,200 residents of Belarus are infected with HIV.” 

In fact, Belarus has almost five times more residents infected with HIV. The Ministry of Health provides such data in a report dated May 16, 2023: 

“In the Republic of Belarus, more than 24 thousand people live with a diagnosis of HIV infection. About 2,000 new cases of HIV infection are registered in the country every year.”

The figure of 5,000 cited by Gomel TV is the number of HIV-infected people living in the Gomel region alone almost 10 years ago.

It is not clear why this has now been announced for the whole of Belarus. Perhaps the incidence rate — 5.2 people per 100 thousand population — was incorrectly calculated.

Fake#3. Zelensky made a satanic gift to Pope Francis 

Fake date 19.05.2023

Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Vatican and met with Pope Francis on May 13.

Then the President of Ukraine presented the pontiff with a satanic icon, TV channel Zvezda claimed on air on May 19. 

“A very unpleasant story happened during this visit. Zelensky gave him such an icon, such a homemade, remake. This is a variant of the icon of the Mother of God, but instead of Jesus, there is a black spot on it,” said host Olga Belova.

“This is not just an icon. This is the so-called Hodegetria, the hellish icon. They are Satanists, and this is a recognized fact. When Satanists want to harm Christians, bring trouble or offend, they gave these hellish icons, where the image of Christ was either black or they painted devils on it. It’s all for a reason,” continued another host Mikhail Shakhnazarov.

And here is the Vatican News comment about the gifts of the President of Ukraine:

“The presents Zelensky gave were significant. A work of art crafted from a bulletproof plate and a painting entitled “Loss-58” on the killing of children during conflict. "58" means the fifty-eighth day since the beginning of the Russian invasion, which at that time led to the death of 243 children.”

Thus, there were two gifts: an icon and a painting. The black spot in the place of Jesus is drawn on the picture, not on the icon. The black silhouette of a child in the lap of the Mother of God symbolizes the children who died in the first months of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Fake#2. Ukrainians bought all the iodine in pharmacies 

Fake date 19.05.2023

On May, 19 Prime Minister of Belarus, Roman Golovchenko visited the Belarusian nuclear power plant. In his presence, the power of the Second power unit was increased to 50%.

On the same day, state-run TV presenter Alyona Rodovskaya claimed on the air that Belarusians can sleep peacefully and not be afraid of radiation, while Ukrainians bought up all the iodine in pharmacies:

«And of course, when the highest official, Roman Golovchenko, comes to the nuclear power plant and controls everything, this means that people, you can be calm. What can't be said…

Today I read the news. In Ukraine, there is a radioactive cloud formed after the destruction of a warehouse with uranium ammunition for tanks by Russian missiles in Khmelnytskyi.

And according to the media, it gradually moves to the West. Four days ago, iodine ran out in the pharmacies of that Ukrainian city, and yesterday in Poland they began to measure the background level. They got scared,” the host Alyona Rodovskaya in particular said.

The BIC team already covered the fake news about the radioactive cloud approaching Europe. 

The military propaganda media broadcast it in the context of the supply of Ukraine with missile DU- shells, and also in the context of Russia's heavy losses from  British Storm Shadow missiles. 

In fact, in the Khmelnytskyi region, the fluctuation of air radiation dose rates doesn't exceed the average in recent months.

But probably the locals believed these reports and really bought out the iodine. We called Khmelnytsky pharmacies to find out if it was true.

Here is what they told us in pharmacy No. 31:

— Do you have any medicine containing iodine?

—  What dosage is needed?

— For an adult man prophylaxis.

— "Jodomarin", "Yosen", what else is there with iodine... Potassium iodide, "Formak" company, "Selenorm", but no, there is selenium, not that, not that. "Iodofon" with folic acid.

—  And is it all available?

—  Yes.

Next, here is an answer given by a pharmacist from the Podorozhnik Pharmacy at 7 Khotovitsky Street:

— There are "Iodomarin", "Iodine-Normyl", and "Iodine-active" maybe. 

Here is what we  replied in the pharmacy "Sources of Health" on Zarechanskaya, 16:

— Do you have something with iodine?

— And for what? Tell me for internal or external use?

— Internal.

— If for the internal, then "Iodomarin" maybe, "Iodine-active" maybe.

It seems that there is no iodine deficiency in Khmelnytskyi, as well as a radioactive cloud.

Fake#1. International experts predict economic growth in Russia and recession in the leading EU countries

Fake date 24.05.2023

The heads of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia visited the Eurasian Economic Forum in Moscow last week, on May 24-25.

The Russian economy is on the rise, while in Europe the figures are falling, Vladimir Putin claimed at the forum meeting.

“The figures speak for themselves about the so-called downward trend of development. Today there are still quite enough powerful centers of the world economy. 

Well, the numbers speak for themselves. Despite the large-scale crisis phenomena in the global economy and trade, considerable geopolitical risks, and uncertainties, the total GDP of the Eurasian Union states for 2022 decreased by only 1.6%.

And some foreign experts predicted a completely different scenario, a collapse scenario.

Nothing like this is happening, never happened, and clearly won't happen again. Let me remind you that both our experts and international experts predict the growth of Russia's GDP.

At first, they talked about 0.7%. Let me remind you that in the leading economies of the European Union experts show a minus for the current year,” Putin said. 

According to Putin, international experts predict that the Russian economy will show growth in 2023, while the leading EU countries, on the contrary, will go into recession.

This does not correspond to reality. According to the World Bank’s prediction, Russia is waiting for a reduction in GDP by 0.2%. Zero growth is expected in the euro area. For the US, a growth of 0.5% is predicted.

The IMF predictions are more optimistic. For Russia — an increase of 0.7%, for the eurozone — 0.8%, for the USA — 1.6%.

That is, both Russia and the Eurozone are predicted to have approximately the same growth in 2023. At the same time, in 2022, the eurozone economy grew by 3.5%, while Russia's GDP fell by more than 2%. 

Among the leading EU economies, in 2023, only Germany predicted a decline in GDP by 0.1% by the IMF. Growth is expected in France and Italy.

At the same time, Germany, with a population 1.7 times smaller than Russia, has an economy at least twice as large. If the growth rate of the Russian economy continues, as well as the rate of decline of the German economy, they will even out in about 40 years.

Putin also understated the decline of the Russian economy, voicing the overall figure for the Eurasian Union. Russia looks more profitable thanks to the growth of the economies of Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. 

The worst-case scenario for the EAEU was predicted not by foreign experts, but by local ones. According to predictions of both the Eurasian Economic Commission and  the Eurasian Development Bank, the total GDP of the European Economic Union countries was to be reduced by 6%, and Russia’s GDP — by 7.5%.