DISINFO: The attack on Russian Il-76 was an assassination by Ukrainian Nazis supported by the US
SUMMARY
The attack on the Russian Il-76 was a deliberate assassination, as the prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine had already been agreed upon. The fact that the United States supports and encourages neo-Nazi ideology in Ukraine only encourages the Kyiv clique to continue terror and escalate violence, bringing the world closer to a global catastrophe.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the downing of the Russian aircraft Il-76 and about alleged Nazism in Ukraine, both related to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The claim regarding the downing of the Russian plane is made without evidence. As of 06 February 2024, the investigation into the causes of the crash was ongoing. What is known is that the aircraft crashed northeast of Belgorod city, apparently killing everyone on board. It remains unknown how many passengers it was carrying and how many of them were Ukrainian POWs, if any. The investigation into the causes of the crash is also under way.
The Russian Ministry of Defence quickly blamed Ukraine for the downing of the plane, claiming that Ukrainian prisoners of war were on board.
Associating Nazism to the democratically elected executive powers in Ukraine is a way of attempting to justify the invasion of Ukraine as a “denazification” operation.
The myth of “Nazi Ukraine” has been used widely, in association with “western Russophobia”, by Putin and pro-Kremlin outlets since Russia attacked Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine appeared during the Euromaidan popular protests in late 2013 - early 2014, falsely presented in pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets as a coup. The Kremlin has been using this myth since then to discredit Ukraine's shift towards Euro-Atlantic policy.
Finally, Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically-elected president and parliament. Ukraine's sovereignty has been violated only as a result of continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since 2014, culminating with a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February 2022.
See related cases claiming that The British are behind the IL-76 plane crash aiming to kill Russia’s top negotiators, that Kyiv downed Russian Il-76 knowing it carried Ukrainian POWs, that Kyiv regime glorifies Nazism and uses terror against everyone and that The West will lie about the crash of IL-76, just as it lies about flight MH17.