The underside of the infox, the chronicle
Missile fire in Kramatorsk, Moscow's false accusations
Audio 04:01
Ukrainian soldiers stand next to a Tochka-U missile fragment, after a Russian bombardment at Kramatorsk station, Friday, April 8, 2022. AP - Andriy Andriyenko
By: Sophie Malibeaux |
Gregory Genevrier Follow
5 mins
It's called an accusatory inversion, and it becomes systematic.
Each time Russian soldiers are suspected of a massacre or abuses in Ukraine, Moscow turns the accusation against the Ukrainians, found guilty of murdering their own people.
After Boucha, this is again the case in Kramatorsk where 52 civilians lost their lives following the bombardment of the station.
This time again, the Russian version does not hold and gives pride of place to infox on the networks.
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Friday, April 8, around 10:30 a.m., two Tochka-U type missiles
hit the Kramatorsk station
, in the Donbass, where many civilians had gathered fleeing the region.
The first images of the women and children killed that day spark outrage around the world.
The French Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves le Drian, spoke of an act constituting a “
crime against humanity
”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced him as "
unlimited evil
".
A few hours after the bombardment, Russia, pointed out, denies being at the origin of this strike.
At 2:20 p.m., the Investigative Commission of the Russian Federation
issued a categorical statement
claiming that "
Ukrainian armed forces are behind this strike
".
Moscow speaks of a “
new provocation
”.
"
The aim of the strike orchestrated by the Kiev regime on the Kramatorsk railway station was to prevent the departure of the population of the city in order to be able to use it as a human shield
", reacted the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The argument is mainly based on the fact that these Tochka-U missiles would not be used by the Russian army, but only by the Ukrainians.
The Russians have many Tochka-Us
In fact, the Russians also have this type of Tochka-U missiles.
During joint exercises with Belarus in 2022, dubbed "
determination of the union
", the Russian Ministry of Defense does not hide it.
His television channel,
Zvezda
, aired February 15
footage showing Tochka-U missile fire
.
A video posted on Tik Tok on March 31, 2022 also shows a convoy of Russian vehicles, recognizable by the "V" marking, which are
Tochka-U missile launchers
.
Open source research, notably carried out by the Bellingcat collective, confirms this.
Russia says it no longer operates the the type of missile that struck #Kramatorsk railway station last week, killing dozens.
But open source evidence suggests otherwise.
New from @Michael1Sheldonhttps://t.co/EKBDau3LrM
— Bellingcat (@bellingcat) April 14, 2022
Pro-Russian propagandists also claim that the serial number visible on a wreckage of one of the missiles launched at Kramatorsk would prove that it belonged to the Ukrainian army.
However, this number alone does not make it possible to establish this observation, say the Bellingcat experts.
Compromising publications
Immediately after the attack, pro-Russian Telegram accounts claimed responsibility for the bombing.
They then declare, with video support, that the strike killed several Ukrainian soldiers.
Information shared by some Russian journalists.
But when the first images come up from the field and they realize that the victims are in fact civilians, they decide to retract.
Some then suppress their publication, while others change their discourse and switch to the official Moscow narrative.
Kremlin affiliated media first proudly reported the #Kramatorsk massacre, claiming their missile hit an ammunition train that arrived yesterday evening.
After the appearance of civilian casualties, they started blaming Ukraine.
Same story as with #MH17 in 2014.#PutinAtWar pic.twitter.com/D3yMZSshbJ
— Julian Roepcke🇺🇦 (@JulianRoepcke) April 8, 2022
Another damning element, on Thursday April 7 on Telegram, the day before the bombardment, a pro-Russian channel advises, without justification, to those who leave Kramatorsk, not to leave by train.
The next day, only a quarter of an hour before the attack, the same source repeated its warning: “
Once again, I want to repeat myself.
Avoid evacuation by train
,” he says.
This pro-Russian account advised its members not to evacuate Kramatorsk by train the day before and the day of the bombing.
© Screenshots Telegram/ Montage RFI
In addition, the Russian Ministry of Defense admitted that its army had carried out strikes on April 8 on “
armaments and other military equipment at the stations of Pokrovsk, Sloviansk and Barvinkove
”.
All these stations are in the vicinity of Kramatorsk, including that of Sloviansk only about ten kilometers away.
The Russian narrative spreads
On social networks, it is today fake news that is used to propagate the version imposed by the Kremlin.
Evidenced by this
false report attributed to the
BBC
which claims that Ukraine is behind the attack
on Kramatorsk.
Broadcast on Wednesday April 13, it was notably picked up live by the Russian state television channel
Rossiya 24
.
#Russian propagandists faked a video and overlaid it with @BBCNews-style credits to blame #Ukraine for the rocket attacks on civilians in #Kramatorsk.
Now this video is being actively rebroadcast by pro-Kremlin propagandists.
There is no such video on the official BBC website.
pic.twitter.com/R8cdKubC8O
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) April 13, 2022
In reality, the
BBC
neither produced nor broadcast this report.
The format, the logo, the text, everything is manipulated to deceive the public.
The
BBC
quickly took action to have the video, which went viral on the networks, taken down.
We are aware of a fake video with BBC News branding suggesting Ukraine was responsible for last week's missile attack on Kramatorsk train station.
The BBC is taking action to have the video removed.
We urge people not to share it and to check stories on the BBC News website.
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) April 13, 2022
Even withdrawn from circulation, this fake
BBC
-branded video leaves traces.
Many Internet users refer to it to affirm Ukraine's guilt.
In France, this story is widely shared by the far right pro-Putin, like the former adviser to Marine Le Pen, Aymeric Chauprade, who hopes that the Ukrainians “
will answer for these war crimes
”.
It's the art of reversing the accusations and making the victims look like the executioners.
© RFI
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