1/5 After the 🇷🇺Russian missile strike on 🇺🇦Kyiv this morning (a civilian building has been hit, injuring a little girl and killing her father), I have already seen three different Russian propaganda messages.
They may serve as a reminder of how the Russian propaganda works. ⬇️
2/5 The messages are:
1. The building was empty, there was no one inside. 2. The 🇺🇦Ukrainian air defence is to blame for shooting down a missile near the building. 3. It's all "fake", just like the "White helmets" stuff in 🇸🇾Syria was fake.
There probably are (or will be) more.
3/5 The 🇷🇺Russian propaganda machine doesn't care if those messages are mutually exclusive, easily disprovable or downright absurd.
The point is to flood you with multiple "alternate" versions of events. The more the better. They want to make you doubt: "It's not so clear".
4/5 That's exactly what 🇷🇺Russians are doing every single time they commit war crimes. After the downing of #MH17 in 2014 Russian officials and state media kept producing more and more versions of the event. It was the same with 🇸🇾Syria. It was the same after #BuchaMassacre.
5/5 They know some versions won't stick at all. They know they'll contradict themselves. They know they'll be caught lying.
But if they manage to make enough people think "Well, who knows what really happened and who's to blame" - they'll succeed. That's their goal.
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1/4 In his 1919 memoir, the leader of the Ukrainian State (1918) Pavlo Skoropadsky mentions Russian "spiteful" oppression on Ukrainians quite often. In one instance, he points his finger directly at the representatives of the Russian culture.
[Quote below] ⤵️
2/4 "It would seem that the [Russian] cultural classes should refrain from that, but in reality it isn't so. On the contrary, those cultural classes are themselves the most intolerant to any kind of Ukrainianness," he writes.
Further on, he writes... ⤵️
3/4 "[Russians] must understand that there is no going back to the old ways, that no matter how mistaken Ukrainian politics may be, Ukraine will not perish and will again and again claim that which is being refused to it."
That, again, was written more than a century ago. ⤵️
1/6 It's a long-standing tradition in the West to equate USSR to Russia. It's incorrect: it was an involuntary union of nations ruled by Russia, not simply Russia.
This common mistake often leads to critical misunderstandings and very much helps Russian propaganda⤵️
2/6 I.e. the Westerners often read the Russian claim "NATO promised Gorbatchev not to expand eastward" as "NATO promised 🇷🇺 not to expand eastward".
In reality, if the story is true at all, the promise would've been made to a country with borders that ceased to exist in 1991⤵️
3/6 There it's clear how the mistake helps 🇷🇺 narratives.
Another clear case - the WW2. "This whole titanic struggle, which some are so apt to dismiss as "the Russian glory" has, in all truth and in many costly ways, been first of all a Ukrainian war", E. Snow wrote in Jan 45.⤵️
1/7 My last thread has revealed there are still people trying to spread the Soviet propaganda myth about Symon Petliura, the leader of the Ukrainian People's Republic of 1919-1920, being an "antisemite" and the "organizer of anti-Jewish pogroms".
Let's turn to facts and docs ⬇️
2/7 There were indeed massive anti-Jewish pogroms in Ukraine at the time and Petliura's army did participate in them. A multitude of social reasons caused it, but not a single one of them may excuse the atrocities.
But did Petliura himself condone it? Quite the opposite. ⬇️
3/7 In June 1919, Petliura ordered for the provocateurs inciting the anti-Jewish pogroms to be executed. There were also other orders like this. ⬇️
1/5 In 1920, when virtually all of Ukraine had already fallen to Bolshevik Russia, the leader of the Ukrainian People's Republic Symon Petliura has joined forces with Poland.
By "fighting the historical enemy", he said, 🇺🇦&🇵🇱 "will correct the mistakes of our past." ⬇️
2/5 In April 1920, Poles and Ukrainians launched their Kyiv offensive. In May, they retook the capital of Ukrainian People's Republic, taking about 20 000 (!) Red Army troops prisoner.
On May 9th, a victory parade has been held on Khreshchatyk. ⬇️
3/5 The victory hasn't held. In June, Russians launched a counteroffensive. The allied Polish and Ukrainian forces had to gradually retreat all the way back to Warsaw. But together they've managed to hold the capital of Poland in what is known as "the Miracle on the Vistula". ⬇️
1/4 If you need proof that 🇷🇺Russian withdrawal from the grain deal has nothing to do with 🇺🇦Ukrainian drone strikes in Sevastopol, remember: Russia repeatedly indicated its intention to withdraw.⤵️
2/4 In September, 🇷🇺Putin has at least twice complained about how 🇺🇦Ukrainian grain only went to the rich countries and not to the poor ones (which was a blatant lie).
"Russia has been grossly duped!" he said on Sep 7th, adding that Ukrainian grain export should be restricted.⤵️
3/4 Just the day before, 🇷🇺Russian 🇺🇳UN Rep. Nebenzya pointed out: "The deal was brokered for 4 months, so it expires in November".
He also added that Russia was unhappy with its results and didn't rule out that it wouldn't be prolonged.⤵️
2/4 "Documents obtained by CNN show that LAST MONTH Musk’s SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon saying it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service as it has.", according to @CNN. edition.cnn.com/2022/10/13/pol…
3/4 @MelnykAndrij's "recommedation" to @elonmusk came on Oct 3rd, after Musk's pro-🇷🇺Russian "peace plan" for 🇺🇦Ukraine.