Russia Envoy to UN Addresses Fake Information in Social Media About Russia's Spec Op in Ukraine

Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, on Sunday, spoke about the tremendous spread of disinformation and "fake news" regarding Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, including claims of "bombardment" of civilian facilities.

"Today we witness an information war on Russia in social media. Since there are no proofs that Russian military destroy civilian infrastructure, Ukrainian strikes and occasional hits are presented as such, as well as photo and video footage from Donbas that again depict crimes committed by Ukrainian nationalists," the diplomat said.

"Besides," he added, "in social media one can easily find tutorials that teach how to shoot fakes that should defile our special operation. All in all, there are 1.2 million such fakes in Ukrainian social media."

The envoy also reiterated evidence of Kiev using civilians as human shields, which is a violation of international humanitarian law that has been so far ignored by Western politicians and received no coverage in foreign media, despite being witnessed by ordinary Ukrainians, in tactics similar to "that of [Daesh*] terrorists". He added that "all responsibility for possible consequences rests with the Maidan regime."

Nebenzia also pointed to the alarming situation with the uncontrolled distribution of weapons by radicals and authorities to anyone willing to obtain them, including criminals, with looters already acquiring them. There are videos on social media alleging that people have already been shot due to this situation, though their authenticity cannot be confirmed, and the Ukrainian authorities remain silent on the issue.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Ukrainian army has been placing artillery in residential areas, a technique it acquired from the US military & intelligence, in order to trigger return fire on innocent people: “These methods are actively used by terrorists supervised by the CIA in the Middle East and other countries."

What's more, the Russian MoD said on Sunday that the Ukrainian forces used phosphorus munition outside Kiev — this kind of weapons is prohibited by the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons as inhumane.

While EU states claimed on Sunday they would prefer negotiations to resolve the Ukraine crisis, several members of the bloc have announced more arms deliveries for the country, with Germany alone pledging to provide 1,000 anti-tank guns and 500 Stinger missiles.

No Words of Sympathy for People of Donbas

Russia's envoy also slammed the hypocrisy of Western governments. According to him, he crisis unfolding now did not start with the Russian operation, but 8 years ago, as the residents of Donbas have been exposed to continual aggression from Kiev, and "today you found no words of sympathy for the people of Donbas."

"It is the houses in Donbas that were destroyed by nationalists and Ukraine’s armed forces that Western media most often brazenly present as consequences of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine."

To date, Kiev has repeatedly violated the Minsk accords by shelling Donbas with weapons prohibited by those agreements, which also envisaged granting special status to Donbas after holding elections there (no steps in this direction have been initiated by Kiev).

Russia announced the beginning of a special military operation in Ukraine on Thursday morning, with the goal of defending the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics from what President Putin has called a "genocide" of the Russian-speaking population, targeted by Kiev since the right-wing nationalist government seized power in a coup-d'etat. The latter was hailed by Western powers as an "installation of democracy." The Russian Foreign Ministry said the operation aims at bringing the puppet regime in Kiev to justice for the crimes it has committed.

*A terrorist group banned in Russia and many other states