The Director of the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, is the main source of Russian propaganda. She is one of the highest-ranking officials from the Russian Foreign Ministry, and state propaganda is the main type of propaganda in Russia. This underscores the central role Zakharova plays in shaping and presenting Russia’s narratives to the world.
This week’s disinformation includes: Ukraine’s kill-list, the ‘failure’ of Ukraine’s ‘stupid’ counter-offensive, no peace can be achieved without Russia, the de-russification of Ukraine’s minority languages.
Ukraine’s Kill-list
“Another act of terrorism from the ‘Kyiv regime’s’ leadership, Vadym Skibitskyi, Deputy Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, told German media about the so-called kill-list, which includes not only Russian politicians and servicemen, but also Russian patriots, journalists, and bloggers.”
“He told how the liquidation of the enemy propagandists is justified by the conditions of the war.
He specifically mentions plans for a terrorist attack on Crimea’s critical infrastructure. A desire to target peaceful citizens, journalists, and activists.”
“Remember how they didn’t deny or confirm Daria Dugin’s or Vladlen Tatarsky’s assassination and the attempt on Prilepin, but they commented on it with these smirks and hints that perhaps it could have been them. But now, it’s all clear. It’s there printed in words – they plan to continue and implement such operations”
Zakharova expresses astonishment at the supposed support these actions receive from what she names the ‘tolerant Western society,’ which she believes now associates itself with terrorists. Zakharova asserts that the West is de facto supporting the murder of Russian citizens based on their political, ideological, or civilian attributes, by supporting the Ukrainian government in its self-defense against Russia. She asks how a German publication could cooperate with such people.
“What I am quoting was printed in a German publication. Therefore, the West is de facto not, as they claim, supporting the Kyiv regime, but supporting the murder of Russian citizens. The murder of all those they define as not sharing the same political, ideological, or civilian attributes.”
She then goes on to misrepresent a comment from a video featuring US Senator Graham, where she distorts his words, claiming he calls to “murder more Russians.” This is not true, his words were in fact “The best money we have ever spent” with regards to defending Ukraine’s freedom and democracy.
Zakharova compares the ‘Kyiv regime’ to terrorist organizations and criticizes the democratic West and German media for remaining silent on these alleged calls for terrorism.
She suggests that German media should interview other terrorist organizations, citing groups like ISIL and Al-Qaeda, which have carried out attacks in Germany in the past 20 years. This comparison is misleading and unfounded.
Comment:
Although Ukraine’s intelligence structures are said to have a “kill-list,” those who end up on the list are those associated with Russia’s military and political regime, which is currently at war with Ukraine. It is similar to the covert operations of Israel’s Mossad, and is intended for those specific individuals who directly carry out operations that result in the deaths of Ukrainians and AFU personnel. Moreover, Ukraine’s goals are vastly different from those of terrorist organizations such as ISIL. Ukraine intends to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity against an aggressor state.
Furthermore, documented cases have shown Russian forces engaging in brutal tactics used by terrorist organizations such as beheading and castrations and a purposeful aim of destroying cultural heritage sites. Therefore, Zakharova is, once again, using the well-versed Russian propagandistic tactic of ‘mirroring’. She portrays Ukraine as evil, yet it is Russian committing the aforementioned atrocities.
The Kyiv regime’s lethal and stupid counter-attack
“The number of people killed by AFU is already in the tens of thousands, but the pentagon speaker claims that this figure was taken into account in the bill.”
Zakharova misleads by saying that the extermination of both Ukrainians and Russians is part of an underlying American agenda. They claim that the ‘failed attempts’ by the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) have not yielded any significant success.
“Yet the Pentagon continues to supply Ukraine with weapons, effectively turning its people into cannon fodder,” she misleads.
Zakharova claims how the recent military packages provided by the United States, Australia, and Europe are in fact escalating the war and will lead to the deaths of many individuals, including innocent civilians.
Comment:
However, in response to comments about Ukraine’s counter offensive, Zelensky admits that it is taking longer than expected, but it is not a Hollywood film, as many believe. “What’s at stake are people’s lives,” he says. Also, NATO’s general secretary warns that this offensive will be bloody and difficult because Russia has had time to build defenses on Ukrainian territory. But Ukraine is waging a ‘correct’ counter-offensive and is gaining ground.
Finally, during a phone call with his American counterpart, Zaluzhnyi describes how Ukraine has taken the strategic initiative, however “the enemy is putting up strong resistance, but suffering heavy losses.” As a result, claims of thousands of deaths on the Ukrainian side are unfounded, and there is little evidence to back up this claim. Instead, the number of daily deaths for the Russian regime is once again on the rise. Therefore, Zakharova’s claim of a failed counter-offensive has no credibility.
No peace without Russia
“The Western countries are trying to convince other nations that negotiations without Russia are achievable and that it will help resolve the conflict,” Zakharova states.
“It’s insane logic; on one hand, they blame us, Russia, and Russians for the war, but when it comes to peacekeeping, they only mention the Kyiv regime,” she says.
Zakharova claims genuine peace cannot be achieved through regular discussions involving countries with no direct involvement in the war, just as the West has shown multiple times in history. She tells how this is especially true while “The West continues to pump Ukraine with weapons.”
Comment:
Needless to say, weapons continue to be supplied to Kyiv for self-defense and retaking territories occupied by Russia. The ‘pumping’ of Kyiv with weapons will, therefore, not stop until Russia withdraws its military from Ukrainian borders – which Russia is able to do at any point.
And even then, with Ukraine’s ambitions to join NATO and being the ‘gates to Europe,’ Kyiv is unlikely to ever stop receiving weapons from the West. This being a direct result of Russia’s unprovoked bloodshed of a sovereign nation.
Minority languages in Ukraine
Zakharova tells how Russia believes the discriminatory treatment of minority languages, particularly the Russian language, by the ‘Kyiv regime’ has become increasingly evident over the past year. She raises concerns about the open disregard for the Russian language and the systematic discrimination it faces.
“It is no longer just discrimination; it is a coordinated Western effort carried out by the ‘Kyiv regime’ to eradicate Russian language and culture.”
She describes how the West and experts are blind to the ‘russophobia’ component of Ukraine’s new national minority law.
“It (the eu commision) de facto gives the green light to aggressive de-russification of Ukraine and a forced and humiliating assimilation of those it affects by using the term “transition period.”
“The commission must know that the ‘Kyiv regime’s’ leaders speak Russian among themselves. They cannot not know this; if they do not know this, they are not experts. They just want to destroy everything we’ve had in common for years.”
Comment:
The alleged “russophobia” component of Ukraine’s national minority law is unfounded. After all, Ukraine is currently fighting a war with Russia, which with one of its justifications for starting the war was to ‘protect the Russian speaking world’. Russia has long been using the Russian language as a lever of propaganda to incite problems in Ukraine.
However, The fact that leaders within the ‘Kyiv regime’ speak Russian among themselves does not invalidate the existence of language policies or the experiences of minority language speakers.
The Law of Ukraine on the Principles of State Language Policy governs minority languages in Ukraine. This law, passed in 2019, makes Ukrainian the sole official state language in Ukraine. Under this law, Ukrainian language is required for all official communications and public services, including government institutions, education, and the media, but in no way forbids Russian in everyday life.
