Ukrainian citizens are sentenced to prison for corresponding with their relatives in Russia, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda, which has misrepresented the content of Ukrainian media reports about Russian military collaborators, identified by the authorities.
Propaganda: Ukrainians are afraid to talk to their relatives in Russia, lest they are sent to prison
NEWS: “This woman is crying as she has heard her sentence: 10 years for publishing an image criticizing Bandera and for corresponding with her sister in Russia. It is an event in the Ukrainian city of Cherkassy. Her name is Tatiana Drobot.
An image mocking the Nazis’ march in Kyiv, with the portrait of Bandera, was published by her in March on the Odnoklassniki network. These images are not prohibited by Ukrainian law […].
Unfortunately, correspondence with her sister in Russia was found in her phone. After half a year of investigations and inquiries, the sentence was read to her: 10 years in prison for actions leading to the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. […]
This is how yet another public revenge of the Nazis on the common people occurred. She became the victim of the fascist group, which wants to frighten others.
She is a woman from a Ukrainian province who became known by chance. There are thousands of such cases in the neighboring country! Only the Russian soldier can stop this repressive Ukrainian hell. There are no other solutions – pray and wait for their coming.”
NARRATIVE: Ukrainians are sentenced to prison for talking to their relatives in Russia
Reality: Ukrainians who passed information to the Russian military on the deployment of critical and military infrastructure in Ukraine are being prosecuted
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: Pro-Kremlin propaganda has misrepresented a series of stories in the Ukrainian media about a woman being sentenced to 10 years in prison for sending photos of critical infrastructure and military targets to people in Russia with the message that "they" should be bombed. She helped the Russian military in locating these targets, while discrediting the Ukrainian military on social media in the Russian Federation, where she had been registered for several years. On the same networks, the woman argued that Ukraine's borders must be renegotiated with Russia. In the context of the martial law in Ukraine, the woman's actions were categorized as treason leading to the violation of territorial integrity by the Russian army.
According to local media, the woman pleaded guilty. In connection with this fact, the court reduced the original sentence from 15 to 10 years in prison. During the court hearing, the woman stated that her actions were driven by emotions, nostalgia and various past memories.
Russian media omitted this information, claiming that the woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison for keeping in touch with her relatives in Russia. Also, according to Russian propaganda, the woman shared critical messages about the 20th-century Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, infuriating the "fascist group" in Kyiv.
The court hearings were called by the Russian press "the Nazis’ public revenge” and "Ukrainian repressive hell", without correctly recalling the context of the event. It is worth noting that since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there have been several cases of prosecution of Ukrainian citizens for collaboration with the occupation forces or the Russian secret services.
Russia seeks new justifications for carrying on its "special military operation"
PURPOSE: The purpose of this false narrative is to find new justifications for the continuation of the "special military operation". According to Russian propaganda, the "repressive hell" in Ukraine can only be stopped by the Russian soldier. It is worth mentioning that the information appeared in the Ukrainian press in the fall of 2022, being developed in the form of a propaganda narrative only in July 2023.
Against this background, Veridica has debunked a series of false narratives about the war in Ukraine. The Russian state media has written that Russia’s peace plan rallies growing support from the EU, while the UN has accused Ukraine of torturing civilians. According to the Russian press, moral principles prevent Russia from ending the war.
