Fact Checks
Wednesday 3 July 2024
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![RIA Novosti]()
RIA Novosti
Russian state news agency
“Zelenskyy's wife bought one of the most expensive supercars in the world, media learned.”
Read more...Russian propagandists used a tactic called disinformation laundering enforced with generative AI technology to fabricate fake news that seems believable. Bugatti told Polygraph.info that Olena Zelenska is not their customer, and she did not purchase a supercar. -
![Nasser Kanaani]()
Nasser Kanaani
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson
“The genuine and direct role of the people in determining their political destiny in the Islamic Republic of Iran is an obvious principle and has always been proven in practice.”
Read more...Authorities severely curtail civil liberties necessary for free elections, while power ultimately lies in the supreme leader’s hands. -
![Global Times]()
Global Times
Chinese state-sponsored media
“Tibetan culture and religious activities are protected and respected.”
Read more...The U.S. Resolve Tibet Act accuses China of “suppressing the ability of the Tibetan people to preserve their religion,” a claim supported by U.N. experts, Human Rights groups and media reports. -
![Mikhail Zvinchuk]()
Mikhail Zvinchuk
Russian military blogger
“…for the Congolese leadership the fact of seizure of North Kivu mines in favor of the US by Rwandan proxy forces represented by the M23 group has long been no secret. In this way, the U.S. authorities keep an acceptable price for the resource, preventing the country from becoming a regional leader."
Read more...The U.S. and U.N. condemned Rwanda and sanctioned the M23 rebels it backs for committing widespread human rights abuses. The 2010 Dodd-Frank law bans U.S. companies from funding armed groups or human rights abusers by buying minerals from them. -
![Vladimir Putin]()
Vladimir Putin
Russian president
“As you know, in February and March 2022 our troops approached Kiev. … but there was no political decision to storm the city with three million people ...”
Read more...In his “peace plan,” the Russian president repeated all the false excuses he used to start the war in Ukraine -
![Vassily Nebenzia]()
Vassily Nebenzia
Russian ambassador to the United Nations
"The only logical conclusion that we made as a result is that the Zelenskyy regime is incapable of negotiations."
Read more...Kyiv was willing to negotiate peace but could not accept the terms giving Moscow a veto over allies defending Ukraine if Russia invaded again. -
![Iran Spectator]()
Iran Spectator
Blue-checked X account
“Hezbollah has just hit Israeli city Haifa with Missiles … For the first time ever, Hezbollah has unleashed chaos by striking Haifa's port — the beating heart of Israel's economy Israel is starting to fall …”
Read more...The picture shows a Turkish ship with smoke, likely after a fire started in its engine room, not from a Hezbollah rocket. -
![Emmerson Mnangagwa]()
Emmerson Mnangagwa
Zimbabwean President
‘’…because of the sanctions we are more focused on our domestic resources to grow our economy and modernize our economy and we are doing better in the entire region in our economic growth year by year because of sanctions. Those countries without sanctions in our region are not doing better as we are doing."
Read more...The World Bank and other international bodies rank the Zimbabwean economy among the lowest in the region. The country has one of the highest extreme poverty rates and fails to pay on its more than $14 billion in external debts. -
![Maria Zakharova]()
Maria Zakharova
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson
"We have to say that the European elections took place under conditions of severe restrictions, lack of fair competition, cleansing of the information field from alternative sources of information and rampant anti-Russian campaign.”
Read more...With a robust field of candidates representing a spectrum of political ideologies and a highly diverse media environment across 27 states, European Parliament elections were genuinely competitive and fair. -
![Ali Khamenei]()
Ali Khamenei
Iran's Supreme Leader
"President Raisi treated people who had harmed him with dignity. His response to people who had even insulted him was never harsh, ugly, or bad-tempered."
Read more...Throughout decades of his serving among Iran's ruling clique, late President Ebrahim Raisi engaged in mass human rights violations, earning the nickname the "butcher of Tehran." -
![Oryem Okello]()
Oryem Okello
Ugandan Foreign Affairs Minister.
“The sanctions are unjust. They are punitive. They are bullish because they know that we cannot do anything against it. And it’s just deliberate to punish the speaker for her role and leadership to fight LBGTQ and homosexuality in Uganda.”
Read more...The U.S. imposed another round of sanctions on top Ugandan officials, including Speaker of Parliament Anita Among for their alleged involvement in corruption. The U.S. and U.K. also sanctioned a serving minister and two former ministers for misuse of resources in the poorest Karamoja region. -
![Ilya Tsukanov]()
Ilya Tsukanov
Moscow-based correspondent for Sputnik Globe
“What Western Media Isn’t Telling You About North Korea’s Trash Balloon Campaign.”
Read more...Sputnik rehashes North Korean talking points reported in Western media, while missing the regime insecurity that’s driving Pyongyang’s trash balloon campaign.
