- reality check team
- BBC News
President Vladimir Putin addressed the nation for nearly two hours.
President Vladimir Putin gave a speech to the nation for nearly two hours.
He made a series of claims about the war in Ukraine and was very critical of the West.
Some of the claims in the speech were investigated for authenticity.
‘New Nazi regime in Ukraine since 2014’
President Putin has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims about a “neo-Nazi regime” in Ukraine to justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In Ukraine’s last general election of 2019, support for far-right candidates stood at 2%, much lower than in many other European countries.
Also, President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and several members of his family died in the Holocaust.
However, it is true that far-right groups have existed in Ukraine. Most notable is the ‘Azov Regiment’, in which some members have expressed support for the Nazi ideology.
The Azov Regiment was formed to resist pro-Russian separatists. Russian-backed separatists occupied eastern Ukraine in 2014 but were later absorbed into the Ukrainian armed forces.
‘One of the brigades of the Ukrainian Army … received the name Edelweiss, like Hitler’s division’
Also, President Putin compared the Ukrainian Army with the Nazi 1st Mountain Division. The 1st Mountain Division has an edelweiss flower on its insignia and has committed war crimes in World War II.
On February 14 (local time), President Zelensky awarded the 10th Mountain Assault Brigade the honorary title of Edelweiss.
The next day, Russia’s foreign ministry tweeted that it was “evidence” of the existence of Nazis in Ukraine.
However, the edelweiss flower, which grows in the Alpine region, has also been used as a symbol by other mountain troops in Europe. The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, the Swiss Army General, and the Polish 21st Rifle Brigade also use the edelweiss as their symbol.
Even Russia had a special unit called Edelweiss. The 17th Special Detachment of the Russian National Guard (Losgvardiya) received the name Edelweiss in 2011 and was renamed Avant-Garde in 2016.
‘Also remembers the Kiiu regime’s attempts to acquire nuclear weapons. They spoke openly.’
There is no evidence that Ukraine has attempted to acquire nuclear weapons, and Putin, who has made the same claim in the past, has provided no evidence.
Ukraine had nuclear weapons when it was part of the former Soviet Union, but after signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1994, Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons and was guaranteed security.
Andriy Melnik, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany in 2021, said Ukraine may have to reconsider its denuclearization status if it cannot join NATO.
In 2022, Zelensky said that even though Ukraine had “given up” its nuclear capabilities, “security was not guaranteed”.
However, the Ukrainian government has not expressed its intention to acquire nuclear weapons, and the military strategy document released in 2021 did not mention nuclear weapons.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a United Nations nuclear watchdog, said it had not identified any signs of “diversion of nuclear material held for other purposes” in Ukraine.
“In 2022, GDP declined by only 2.1%. Recall that they predicted that the Russian economy would collapse in February or March’
It is true that the Russian economy is doing better than expected.
According to Russia’s National Statistical Office, GDP fell by 2.1%, on par with the 2.2% decline estimated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest report.
Even so, it still sits at the bottom of the list of IMF reports, but it was also confirmed that it was better than expected.
The IMF explained that Russia’s trading partners are being reorganized around non-participating countries.
For example, when Western countries restricted and imposed sanctions on Russian oil purchases, India and China became the largest importers.
In July 2022, the IMF predicted that Russia’s GDP would contract by 6% in 2022.
