Fact Check
Thursday 4 April 2024
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![Sergey Naryshkin]()
Sergey Naryshkin
Director, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service
"The FSB had received certain information from US intelligence services that, unfortunately, such [an attack] was possible. But, as our Russian counterparts have said, that information was very vague and it did not allow us to identify those behind the deadly crime."
Read more...The U.S. warned Russia that Crocus City Hall was a potential target of a terror attack weeks in advance, officials say. -
![Rajendra Singh, RS, X influencer]()
Rajendra Singh, RS, X influencer
“Pakistani Punjab police mercilessly beating an Afghan man, accusing him of theft.”
Read more...There is no evidence the video shows Punjabi police officers. Reliable news outlets reported the police officers in the video were from Peshawar. The reports do not mention the nationality of the alleged criminal. -
![RIA Novosti]()
RIA Novosti
Russian state news agency
"Peskov, commenting on the U.N. report on the torture of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine, said that this is not news to Moscow, all crimes of the Kyiv regime are documented."
Read more...RIA Novosti distorted the U.N. report on the human rights situation in Ukraine, covering only alleged violations by Kyiv while omitting the bulk of the report, which focused on violations by Moscow. -
![Alex_Oloyede2]()
Alex_Oloyede2
Blue-checked X user
“BREAKING: Possible Sea Confrontation between Russia and NATO…”
Read more...Verified X user pushes 2021 photo of Russian military parade, and alarmist claim, to mislead followers about routine Russian naval exercises in the Red Sea. -
![Sputnik News Agency]()
Sputnik News Agency
“On March 24, 1999, Western nations started bombing the city of Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, under the far-fetched pretext of ‘protecting’ Kosovars.”
Read more...While the roots of the Kosovo ar are complicated, and atrocities were committed by both sides, the evidence shows forced displacement and the targeted killing of Kosovo Albanians preceded the 1999 NATO intervention. -
![Lin Jian]()
Lin Jian
China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson
“The Ordinance strikes a balance between safeguarding national security and ensuring rights, freedoms and economic growth…It does not at all undermine the high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong…The US itself has an airtight national security system, with a large number of laws and unparalleled extraterritoriality. However, it keeps pointing fingers at Hong Kong’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. This is sheer political manipulation and hypocritical double standards.”
Read more...Lin Jian’s remarks incorrectly draw a parallel between Article 23 and the U.S. legal system. Careful examination of Hong Kong’s new ordinance reveals that it is starkly different from U.S. principles and in effect undermines Hong Kong’s special status and autonomy. -
![Simplice Sarandji,]()
Simplice Sarandji,
President, Central African National Assembly
“Thanks to Russian security support, ‘Peace returns to the Central African Republic.”
Read more...Hostilities in Central African Republic (CAR) are ongoing, with some 10,000 children fighting in armed conflicts among various rebel groups. Russia’s involvement with CAR’s leadership is replete with corruption, misappropriation of natural resources, mass violence and human rights abuses. -
![Maria Zakharova]()
Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
“The oh-so 'peaceful' Iceland is thus trying to keep up with its senior allies in sponsoring Ukrainian Nazis.”
Read more...Iceland, a nation with no military, is helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression, not “sponsoring Ukrainian Nazis.” -
![Leonid Sevastyanov]()
Leonid Sevastyanov
Head of the World Union of Old Believers
“The pope congratulates Vladimir Putin on his election as president of the Russian Federation. Pope Francis sees the Vatican as an international platform that could replace some of the U.N. functions."
Source: RIA NovostiRead more...The Vatican told Polygraph.info that Pope Francis did not congratulate Putin on his reelection. RIA Novosti later retracted the report. -
![X influencer]()
X influencer
“BREAKING: We ordered the border forces of 3 provinces to attack Pakistan. Currently our operation is going on. We have captured 9 Pakistani posts & torched them. Significant damage to Pak Army brigade hq in our retaliation, says Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid.”
Read more...Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid made no such statement, and Afghanistan did not invade Pakistan. -
![Anita Among]()
Anita Among
Ugandan Parliament Speaker.
“I am among the first speakers to be banned from traveling to the Western countries because I do not believe in homosexuality,” she said.
Source: Uganda Parliament , March 12, 2024Read more...The U.S. and U.K. imposed travel ban on Ugandan officials involved in violating human rights and undermining democracy. Ugandan rights activists also accuse Among of gross corruption. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
Russian President
"People are dying in U.S. prisons too, aren’t they?"
Source: TASS, March 17, 2024Read more...The issue is not that people die while incarcerated, but why Navalny and so many other Kremlin critics end up in prison or dead.
