WAR PROPAGANDA: Zaporizhzhia has established contact with at least 15 countries, including EU members

The Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia has established international contacts with at least 15 states, including EU members, writes the Russian state press, citing a separatist leader from Ukraine. In reality, EU states do not recognize Russia's occupation bodies in Ukraine as legitimate bodies of power, and personal sanctions have been introduced against Russian collaborators in Zaporizhzhia.

NEWS: “The Zaporozhye region is starting to establish international contacts, said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the Zaporizhzhia regional administration.

“We started to establish international contacts. We have been receiving requests from members of the parliaments of Germany, Spain, France, Greece, at least 15 countries who worry about us and support us”, Rogov is quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

He said that these contacts will not be publicly disclosed to avoid the political persecution of those people in their countries.

“No matter how much the hegemons of the Western world, the United States and Great Britain, try to push everyone into a deadlock and deprive every one of their own opinion, the truth is coming out stronger by the day”, Rogov said.

Earlier, Sputnik radio reported that a decree had been signed in Zaporizhzhia on the establishment of a commission that would organize a referendum”.

NARRATIVE: Zaporizhzhia has established contacts with at least 15 countries, including EU members.

WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: In reality, there are no contacts or international relations between the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions and the Western states. The international community condemned the annexation of Crimea in 2014, has not recognized the self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine, and has no plans to change its position with regard to other territories occupied by Russia part of the large-scale invasion launched on February 24.

The EU has repeatedly called on Russia to cease its military actions on the territory of Ukraine , to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders, and the EU member states have done the same. At the level of foreign ministers and state leaders, 7 packages of sanctions against Russia have been discussed and introduced  in response to the unprovoked military actions in Ukraine. Therefore, the persons responsible for the foreign policies of the European states have criticized Russia, initiated the deepening of sanctions, requested the immediate withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine, and there can be no question of international contacts with the separatist or occupation administrations.

In fact, the Zaporizhzhia region, partially occupied by Russian forces, is coordinated by the Regional State Administration, which is a legitimate body of the Kyiv power.  Vladimir Rogov, referred to by the Russian media as a “member of the main council of the administration of the Zaporizhzhia region” is a representative of the Russian bodies in the occupied part of the region. Rogov fled to Russia in 2014 after speaking out against Euromaidan, supporting the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbass, and in 2022 he was brought by Russia as Moscow’s representative in Zaporizhzhia. He’s been prosecuted for collaborating with Russia.

On July 20, the EU introduced sanctions against Vladimir Rogov  for supporting or carrying out “actions that undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine, the stability or security of Ukraine”, the document reads. Rogov's inclusion in the sanctions lists, coordinated by all EU member states, is by no means an act of establishing “international contacts” with him.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Veridica has debunked a series of false narratives regarding the situation in the Zaporizhzhia region. In April, the Russian press wrote that the  inhabitants of the city of Zaporizhzhia were asking to be annexed to the People’s Republic of Donetsk.  In May, Vladimir Rogov, quoted by Russian state press agencies, said that Ukraine was preparing to cede the city of Zaporizhzhia,  and in June the Russian press wrote that volunteers in Zaporizhzhia were joining a battalion that would defend the region  from the aggression of the Ukrainian army .

On July 20 this year, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow was expanding its “special operation” in Ukraine to the southern regions: Kherson, Zaporozhzhia and others. In this context, the false narrative aims to justify the military actions in Ukraine and to prepare the public opinion in the former Soviet states for the expansion of the war to other Ukrainian regions.