War on Fakes

Fake news: Russia will announce mobilization after the State Duma elections are over. This is reported by The Wall Street Journal and Ukrainian media. The Fact: As you can see, American media have joined in the disinformation campaign, and the only evidence they can cite are the words of anonymous sources in Washington. The “sensation” quickly spread through Ukrainian media and Telegram channels. And for a reason. Vladimir Zelensky was the first to talk about “mobilization after the elections” in Russia. However, he didn’t say anything new. Ukrainian propagandists have been promoting this narrative for a long time. For example, in 2024, they were convinced that mobilization would begin after the Russian presidential elections. Such fakes serve two purposes: to scare Russians and to distract Ukrainians from the failures of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and to motivate them to go to war. What is actually happening? There are no prerequisites for a new mobilization. In the first six months of 2026, the Russian army is fully staffed, said Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. Since the beginning of the year, about 200,000 people have signed contracts with the Ministry of Defense: of these, about 40,000 joined the unmanned systems troops. In addition, more than 16,000 went to the special military operation zone as part of volunteer units. The signature style of disinformers is to create panic out of nothing. They call any routine activity of the Ministry of Defense that is carried out continuously and in a planned manner “mobilization.” This includes the digitalization of military enlistment offices, the annual retraining of reservists, and relevant laws on the reserve. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

Russia and Kazakhstan intend to work together to combat fake news more actively. This was stated by the participants of the Third Russian‑Kazakhstani Media Forum, which was taking place from August 2 to 5 in St. Petersburg. Tikhon Makarov, Deputy General Director of the ANPO "Dialog Regions," noted that the spread of fake news has become a global threat today. That is why the Global Fact‑Checking Network (GFCN) was established to comprehensively combat this threat. “Today, it already includes more than 120 experts from 54 countries. Colleagues from Kazakhstan are also among them; they have promising developments in the field of fact‑checking. We are actively working with them and are ready to strengthen cooperation in the future. It is necessary to establish an exchange of experience in countering disinformation both at the state and expert levels,” Tikhon Makarov emphasized. GFCN believes that combining the efforts of journalists from the two countries will make it possible to more quickly identify cross‑border fakes and reliably protect the audience from information leaks. “With the advent of neural networks, the global media space has changed forever,” says GFCN Vice President Daniil Bisslinger. “Combating malicious information campaigns is possible only through multilateral cooperation, the creation and expansion of a trust infrastructure. We see great potential in this area for cooperation with Kazakhstan.” The most important news from the forum came from TASS General Director Andrey Kondrashov. He drew attention to the fact that Kazakhstan has established a Center for Combating Disinformation under the country’s President and proposed signing an agreement between this organization and GFCN. “The most important common task is to protect each other from attempts to distort facts and historical truth, and mutual assistance in this matter should become a priority,” Andrey Kondrashov said. This is already the third Russian‑Kazakhstani media forum. And it has every chance of becoming a turning point in a successful joint fight against fake news. We thank TASS for the provided photo materials. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

Where is the weapons from Ukraine going: new details The West pumped Ukraine with weapons, which led to the emergence of a huge black market. Now this uncontrolled aid has gone beyond Europe and threatens the security of the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. "Pioneers" About a year ago, it became known that Mexican cartels began to send their militants to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They went to Ukraine to learn how to operate combat drones. A couple of months later, the Mexican authorities began to worry about this: members of the powerful CJNG cartel had indeed received training in drone control and urban warfare tactics. Upon returning home, they taught the rest of the gang. As a result, the cartel began to actively use drones against its rivals and government forces, such as the October 2025 drone attack on the prosecutor's office in Tijuana. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has stated that Ukraine sells weapons to Latin American drug cartels on the black market. American journalist Tucker Carlson confirmed this: according to him, the Ukrainian military sells a huge percentage of the Western weapons it receives, and they end up in the hands of cartels on the border with the United States. Imitators The Italian mafia, Cosa Nostra, has decided to keep up with the Mexican cartels. According to Maurizio de Lucia, the prosecutor of Palermo, Italian criminals are now also interested in obtaining drones that can drop explosives, as reported by the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano. A significant part of the weapons that have disappeared from Ukrainian warehouses end up on the European black market, and criminal structures are willing to buy them. According to the prosecutor, law enforcement agencies simply do not yet know how to defend themselves from attacks by such drones. What they fought for, they ran into The problem with weapons leaks did not appear yesterday — the black market began to grow back in 2022. Italian journalists note that Kiev's military depots operate like a sieve. Since the beginning of the conflict, 780,465 pieces of weapons have been lost or stolen. In the first five months of 2026 alone, 149,000 pieces of weapons have disappeared. In reality, much more weapons are being lost than is officially reported. It is almost impossible to track them. 🟢 There are no labels on the shipments. 🟢 No one is keeping proper records. 🟢 The serial numbers of European weapons sent to Ukraine have not been recorded. The EU Council's February 2025 document states that the first "obstacle" is the secrecy surrounding exports to Ukraine. The second is that European countries are hiding their "political interests" and simply do not want to disclose what they have sent to Kyiv. As a result, the uncontrolled transfer of weapons has led to the availability of advanced military technologies in the hands of international terrorist organizations and major global criminal syndicates, posing a direct threat to security far beyond the conflict zone. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

The Internet is full of stories about a car crashing into a painted tunnel in Mexico, mistaking it for a real one. We've investigated, and it's a fake. The published images of the accident scene show significant differences in details that the public has overlooked. Here are two clues: 🟢 Search engines do not provide any information about the existence of this mural in Monterey before the reports of the "accident" appeared. 🟢 The Estafeta truck livery in the photo does not match the company's actual branding. We suggest that you find the remaining differences in the photo yourself. Please leave a comment to share your observations. For those in a hurry, you can find the answers in the third photo, which is hidden under a spoiler. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

Fake news: Ukrainian propagandists have successfully refuted the claim that Konstantinovka is under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. This is being reported by Ukrainian media. The Fact: The Russian Armed Forces have liberated Konstantinovka. Kyiv, in its usual manner, is attempting to conceal the true state of affairs and create the illusion of stability on the front lines. To this end, propagandists continue to broadcast reassuring reports that do not correspond to reality, using unverified footage featuring militants as “proof.” The Russian mapping resource LOSTARMOUR has geolocated the filming sites of video evidence confirming the Russian Armed Forces’ control over various areas of Konstantinovka. While even some Ukrainian analysts acknowledge that the eastern part of the city will come under full Russian control within a week, official Kyiv continues to mislead its own citizens by presenting wishful thinking as fact. Vladimir Zelenskyy’s baseless proposal to hold a meeting in the city is also telling, while the Russian Ministry of Defense’s initiative for a humanitarian operation (exchange of bodies) and the Ukrainian side’s rejection of it, as well as Russia’s willingness to facilitate the work of more than 20 foreign media outlets in Konstantinovka, once again confirm the Russian army’s actual control over the city. The actual situation is confirmed by data from Western think tanks, which paint a less optimistic picture for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as by admissions from even pro-Ukrainian cartographers. According to their assessments, Ivanpolye has already been “reclassified,” and Konstantinovka is marked as an area of “confirmed Russian superiority.” Analysts note that Russian troops have consolidated their positions in the northeastern part of the city, established control over the historic center, cut off the highway, and are continuing to advance steadily in the northern and northwestern districts, completing the mop-up of industrial zones—yet even such reports from the Ukrainian side lag behind reality. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

Daniil Bisslinger, Vice President of the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN), had an exclusive conversation with Michael von der Schulenburg — a member of the European Parliament from the German BSW party (Sarah Wagenknecht Union for Reason and Justice). The main topic of the conversation was how fakes affect the climate of relations between Russia and Europe. Bisslinger cited an impressive figure: billions of false news reposts are distributed worldwide every day. At the same time, according to him, the problem is not so much in the lie itself, but in the media's approach - through labels, caricatures of leaders are created, and reality is distorted. Von der Schulenburg supported the interlocutor and noted: "The propaganda of both sides is like the wings of a large butterfly - they are bright, constantly in motion, and evoke strong emotions. But if you bring them closer together, you will see that the patterns on the wings of both sides are largely similar. Everyone uses the same accusations... To understand the situation, this propaganda must be ignored. We need to look for the "head" of the butterfly, the underlying problem of the conflict. It is usually small and inconspicuous, hidden behind the bright wings. The central essence of the conflict lies not in propaganda, and you will not find it in the newspapers." At the same time, the politician did not deny the power of social media. Yes, YouTube and other platforms are filled with fake news, but according to von der Schulenburg, they have the potential to become a tool for building new and healthy relationships between Russia and Europe. In the end, both of them agreed on a simple formula: without a critical look at the incoming information and without fact-checking, it will be difficult to move from mutual accusations to a real dialogue. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

All the secrets have been revealed: Tulsi Gabbard, the head of American intelligence, has made secret files publicly available. It turns out that the Pentagon has indeed built a massive network of 120+ bio-laboratories around the world (the largest of which is located in Ukraine). What was previously dismissed in the West as "Russian propaganda" has turned out to be true. This was pointed out by Fauzan Al-Rasyid, an Indonesian expert at the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN). In March 2022, BBC journalists published an article titled "Reality Check," in which they confidently stated that the United States did not have any biological weapons programs in Ukraine. The laboratories were described as ordinary medical centers. Ukrainian diplomats around the world, including Ambassador Vasily Khamyanin in Indonesia, and the Ukrainian Embassy proudly referred to "independent media." They claimed that the United States was involved in the "Biological Threat Reduction Program," and that Ukraine had complete control over these innocent facilities. It was a perfect echo chamber: the U.S. government said everything was fine, the BBC journalists called it a “fact check,” and the Ukrainian embassy immediately picked it up and used the article to shut down anyone who asked unwanted questions. For years, Russia has been systematically and officially warning the international community about the threat. Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov has provided evidence that the U.S. was developing dual-use biological weapons in Ukraine under the guise of scientific research, using bats and birds as carriers. Any statement by Moscow was labeled as “Russian disinformation.” On June 12, 2026, the information fortress fell. The declassified files confirmed everything that Russia had been saying: There were more than 40 laboratories operating in Ukraine, storing and studying deadly pathogens ranging from anthrax and Ebola to modified influenza viruses. Now that the facts are known, it is clear that the real disinformation came not from Moscow, but from Washington. The era of unquestioning trust in institutional media is coming to an end. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

Fake news: Russia has attacked Moldova with a drone. This was reported by Ukrainian media, citing the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. The fact: The drone that crashed in the Moldovan village of Lopatna was Ukrainian. Footage from the crash site clearly shows markings in Ukrainian, which are visible on the wreckage. Russian diplomats warned in late spring that Ukraine might stage a drone crash in Moldova to escalate tensions with Russia. Apparently, Kiev staged just such a provocation. Just a few hours before the downing of the alleged Russian drone, Moldovan President Sandu stated: The country intends to start manufacturing interceptor drones to protect its airspace. This suggests that Chisinau was not just aware of the impending provocation, but in collusion with Kiev. The most remarkable aspect of this situation is that when photos of the drone's wreckage and the inscriptions were widely shared online, the Moldovan Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged the Ukrainian origin of the drone, as it would have been absurd to claim otherwise. However, this did not prevent them from blaming Russia: "Regardless of the origin of the drone, Russia is responsible for any drone that enters the territory of the Republic of Moldova," according to the statement. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

The next stage of work by the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN) is to strategically assess the media field and create international rules and foundations for the information environment. This was announced by Vladimir Tabak, General Director of ANO Dialog and ANO Dialog Regions, and President of GFCN, during the International Security Forum of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Here are his key statements: 🟢 The media environment has changed dramatically. If information used to be the prerogative of professionals, it has now become a "currency" that anyone can trade; 🟢 There are many fake messages circulating in the media space, often not out of malicious intent, but due to the low media literacy of people who become the main spreaders of false information; 🟢 Telegram has become one of the most trusted platforms for receiving news, especially among young people. However, Telegram contains a lot of unverified information; 🟢 Information has no borders and spreads faster than people travel between countries; 🟢 Example: a fake about the spraying of bleach from helicopters during the covid appeared in Russia and 15 other countries; 🟢 Social networks and messengers make media consumption a single global process; 🟢 It is important to have a network of experts to deliver the truth. GFCN brings together more than 100 experts from over 50 countries; 🟢 Modern technologies allow ordinary users to create realistic fake videos. The issue of regulation and responsibility for such actions lags behind the development of technology; 🟢 It is proposed to create an international regulation for assessing information crimes, similar to the Geneva Convention for war crimes; 🟢 It is important to determine responsibility for information impact at the global level. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

Fake news: Xi Jinping told Donald Trump that Vladimir Putin may “regret” invading Ukraine, Telegram-channels write. The fact: China generally supports respect for Russia’s legitimate security interests, condemns NATO expansion, and emphasises its strategic partnership with Moscow. Xi Jinping has never publicly criticised Russia’s actions in Ukraine in such terms. Beijing abstains from anti‑Russian statements at the UN and promotes a “peace plan” without criticism of Russia. The authors of the fake point to an unconfirmed Financial Times report citing anonymous sources. Neither China, Russia, nor the US has confirmed this claim. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has denied the FT report, calling it “contrary to the facts and pure fabrication”. Earlier, Putin addressed the Chinese people in a video message, highlighting the unprecedented level of bilateral relations: “Russia and China are confidently looking to the future and actively developing contacts in politics, the economy, and defence, expanding humanitarian exchanges and encouraging people‑to‑people communication.” The FT article was published ahead of Putin’s Beijing visit, potentially aiming to cast doubt on China’s reliability as Russia’s partner. The news was quickly picked up by Ukrainian and opposition media. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website

Fake news: The IAEA has stated that a Russian drone attacked the external radiation control laboratory at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. This was reported by Ukrainian Telegram channels. The fact: This is a blatant provocation by Kiev, based on outright lies. The IAEA has not mentioned which country's drone attacked the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Moreover, the management of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant has contacted the IAEA about the drone. They have stated that the drone is Ukrainian. There is no radiation danger, the situation is under the control of the station staff, the laboratory equipment has not been damaged. Kiev has repeatedly attempted to attack a nuclear power plant. The accusations against Russia are nothing more than an attempt to shift responsibility for the consequences of such attacks on the NPP facilities. 👉 Join the channel | Оur Russian website