Top 10 most embarrassing moments of Russian disinformation in 2021

Article from EU vs Disinfo

The web of lies created by pro-Kremlin media outlets is often intricate. However, sometimes blunders are made. We've collected 10 examples from 2021 where pro-Kremlin sources were caught in the act of producing absurd, inappropriate, and especially shameful disinformation.

Russia's full confession of guilt

After years of denial from the Kremlin, which did not stop EUvsDisinfo from uncovering and gathering evidence of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, we now have unprecedented evidence of Russia's military presence in eastern Ukraine (see here), from the Russian state itself. .

In a criminal corruption case against a local food supply company, the Kirovsky District Court in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don (see here) accidentally revealed information about a food supply for the Russian military stationed in the self-proclaimed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine. The supplier was responsible for a two-week shipment of 1,300 tons of food (see here) for Russian troops in Donbas. An employee from the company was found guilty of brokering a bribe of 990,000 Russian Rubles (see here) (13,400 USD) against a senior Russian military officer and was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

After Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov called the ruling's reference to the Russian military a "mistake," the document disappeared from the court's website. An archived copy (see here) is available online.

2.Heroes and villains

During an interview with a Belarusian parliamentarian at the Polish-Belarusian border, who addressed the dire situation of people stranded there and Belarus' humanitarian response, uniformed, masked and armed guards, who were essentially holding the migrants captive (see here), are seen standing behind him. Pro-Kremlin media and Belarusian state-controlled television use the images to portray Poland and the EU as inhumane and aggressive, in contrast to Belarus, which is presented as a humanitarian actor. These pieces of disinformation distract from the fact that Alexander Lukashenko is systematically exploiting human beings (see here) for his political purposes, taking advantage of the horrific images of human suffering.

3. The Sexuality of Jesus Christ

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov used his 4,000-word article on Russia’s foreign policy, principles, visions and ambitions as a values-based attack on the Western education system. The minister claimed that: “In a number of Western countries, students are taught in school that Jesus Christ was bisexual,” which quickly caught on (see here) and was deconstructed by reporters. Independent Russian journalists tracked Lavrov's words to a viral TikTok video (see here). A child in Australia argues in a video that Jesus is 'bi and non-binary' because he loves everyone and he is a man and wears a dress. Not a very credible source to include in a state document, we would argue and recommend that the Russian Ministry in question double-check the facts of its sources.