Questions tagged [russia]

Use this tag for claims which apply to the country of Russia or the Commonwealth of Independent States.

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Did Ilya Ponomarev confess that he is behind the antisemitic mobs in Dagestan?

On October 29, 2023, an antisemitic mob stormed Uytash Airport near Makhachkala, Dagestan in Russia. PolitNavigator claims (in Russian): Fugitive extremist and former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev ...
Anixx's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
483 views

Can Russia jam GPS as far as Sofia, Bulgaria (with ships)?

It's been claimed by various observers that Russia is behind GPS glitches in Romania and Bulgaria. The next day, September 1, it was happening again. Pilots approaching Sofia complained of the same ...
Fizz's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
492 views

Did Russian instructors help Hamas in the 2023 attacks against Israel?

Gulag.net, a Russian anti-establishment website, posted a video "Прикрывайте!Прикрывайте!" Среди нападавших на Израиль были русскоговорящие инструкторы. ЧВК Вагнер?, which translates to '&...
user366312's user avatar
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9 votes
3 answers
4k views

Do EU sanctions prevent Russian visitors from bringing their smartphones/toothpaste with them into the EU?

This morning a Russian media company RBC reported that (vaguely translated from Russian) "EU prohibited Russians to enter the EU with personal cars, smartphones and shampoo". A similar story ...
yeputons's user avatar
  • 191
11 votes
0 answers
1k views

Does Russia have around 3 million sex workers?

There are some links that mention this, for example: Ukranian Euromaidan Press claimed in 2017: There are now well over one million prostitutes in the Russian Federation, a figure that is higher than ...
user2638180's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
749 views

Was a Russian colonel "required to volunteer for the war in Ukraine" as punishment for asking for a washing machine as a bribe?

Polish TVP reports: Mertvishchov conducted an inspection at a military police station in Moscow. The colonel admitted in a telephone conversation with the station’s management that “the matters ...
Fizz's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
1k views

Did Rossiya 24 show an advertisement for Russian women to marry Chinese men?

A clip floating on various subreddits purports to show that: Russian State TV now shows advertising for Russian Women to marry Chinese Men. Promising them a better life... The clip seems to show a ...
Fizz's user avatar
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8 votes
0 answers
413 views

Does Russia recruit a "large number" of people suffering from HIV and Hepatitis C to fight their current war?

Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, 25 October, 2022: Russia’s Wagner private military company has started mass recruitment of russian prisoners who are suffering from serious infectious diseases such ...
Be Brave Be Like Ukraine's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
897 views

Is it illegal in Russia to call the war in Ukraine a "war"?

Several news outlets have reported that calling the Russo-Ukrainian War a "war" is illegal in Russia since a law was passed in March 2022. Business Insider, March 2022 Putin signed a law ...
EpicBroccoli's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
3k views

Were 400 people arrested in Russia for social media posts in 2018?

In a 2019 interview John Anderson interviewed Konstantin Kisin (excerpt, original video). The discussion is transcribed by the OP of Were over 3000 persons arrested in Britain for social media posts ...
Nobody's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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Did Michael McCaul claim intel briefers told him Tucker Carlson is a Russian agent?

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson just said this on the Tulsi Gabbard Show: Second thing, Michael McCaul […] I got into an argument with him once last year on the phone. He had told somebody that I was a ...
Keshav Srinivasan's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
1k views

Did Sergei Pashinsky say Bayraktar are not effective in combat, and get shot down almost immediately?

In this tweet with an attached video, it is claimed that the chairman of Ukraine's Committee on National Security and Defense Council, Serhiy Pashynskyi said, “Bayraktar has more PR and corruption ...
Evan Carroll's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
521 views

Did Kyiv National Linguistic University publish a map showing that only a few Ukrainians (in the West of the country) speak Ukrainian at home?

Various Russian & other sources give this map (also on P.SE, but probably the most notable of these might be https://www.opendemocracy.net/ru/kto-boretsya-s-kem-v-ukraine-i-pochemu/) Was that ...
Fizz's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
397 views

Did the EU prohibit the transport of Russian fertilizer to non-EU countries, so that only the EU could purchase it?

Reportedly Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia accused EU officials of “selfishness, cynicism and hypocrisy” for prohibiting European carriers from transporting Russian ...
Fizz's user avatar
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7 votes
1 answer
894 views

Do Americans in Russia typically get sentenced to nine years in prison for offenses that local Russians typically get only a one year sentence?

Trevor Reed says that is the case, but he only offers a sample of two Americans (himself and Griner). He says that Russians would "usually receive a year, two years maybe" for the same ...
Fizz's user avatar
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10 votes
1 answer
2k views

Did the Russian government have a 20 billion Euro budget surplus in the first half of 2022?

Various German media outlets (including the Tagesschau) have reported, that the Russian state has made a 23 billion Euro surplus in the first half of 2022. Despite the sanctions, Russia achieved a ...
SirHawrk's user avatar
  • 263
3 votes
1 answer
496 views

Did Putin claim that the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas region is pro-Russia?

Source Putin has maintained the predominantly Russian-speaking Donbas region is pro-Russia, although polls have indicated that is not the case. This is the first time I've seen this claim, ...
Allure's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
460 views

Does the Russian 300mm "guided" rocket 9M949 use gyroscopes made in the USA?

One Ukrainian website seem to claim that: Керована 300-мм ракета 9М949 ракетного комплексу "Торнадо-С": оптоволоконний гіроскоп для інерційної навігації. Виробництво - США. in google ...
Fizz's user avatar
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34 votes
1 answer
11k views

Did Volodymyr Zelenskyy say that "if someone in Ukraine feels Russian, they should leave for Russia"?

In an interview with the BBC on June 16, 2022, Sergey Lavrov claims the following: […], whose president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in September 2021 (you didn’t tell your viewers about it, did you?) ...
jcdenton618's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
1k views

Did Dmitry Rogozin, chief of Russia's space agency, get photographed performing a Nazi salute in the 1990s?

A photo has been circulating on Reddit, Twitter and elsewhere, purportedly showing Dmitry Rogozin, Russian politician and the chief of Roscosmos, performing a Nazi salute and holding a sign that reads ...
the.real.gruycho's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
728 views

Did Peter the Great just "return" lands that "belonged to Russia", in the Great Northern War?

According to the Guardian, in a recent speech/interview Putin said “Peter the Great waged the great northern war for 21 years. It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he took something from ...
Fizz's user avatar
  • 59.8k
7 votes
1 answer
683 views

Has Russia pegged the ruble to gold in the sense that U.S. dollar was before August 15, 1971?

Some sites like this one, this one, this one and some social media posts like this one refer to news articles saying that Russia has linked ruble to gold at 1 gram = 5000 roubles. Also Forbes seems to ...
alec's user avatar
  • 173
10 votes
3 answers
3k views

Did Russia's parliament, Duma, propose invading Poland in 2022?

Twitter user @sentdefender, with >160K followers, recently tweeted The Russian State Duma has proposed that after the Invasion of Ukraine, that Poland be Invaded and denazified next due to their ...
Mołot's user avatar
  • 547
32 votes
4 answers
15k views

Was Ukraine planning an attack in Donbas/Crimea prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Quote by Putin in today's Victory Day speech: “In December last year, we proposed the conclusion of an agreement on security guarantees. Russia called on the West to enter an honest dialogue, in ...
Allure's user avatar
  • 1,011
1 vote
1 answer
857 views

Is the woman in this interview the same one in this viral photo of the bombing of the Mariupol hospital?

Some sources (which I find unreliable) are claiming that, the unnamed pregnant Ukranian who were injured in most famous photo of Mariupol Hospital Bombing is the same woman as Mariana Vishegirskava, ...
High GPA's user avatar
  • 348
29 votes
5 answers
14k views

Can Russia's Poseidon nuclear underwater drone create a 500 meter tidal wave?

According to TheTimes.co.uk, "Russian ‘nuclear tsunami’ will wipe out Britain, Kremlin-backed media threatens" In his Sunday evening primetime show, the Channel One anchor Dmitry Kiselyov ...
Evan Carroll's user avatar
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19 votes
2 answers
6k views

Did the USA increase oil imports from Russia after the Ukraine invasion?

According to Zhao Lijian of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China (RDCY) [...] Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Mikhail Popov said, in a contrasting ...
Evan Carroll's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
387 views

Were there YouTube ads calling on Russian citizens to disrupt rail routes into Ukraine?

An address from Roskomnadzor states "Earlier it became known that YouTube video hosting users are broadcasting commercials with calls to disable the railway communications of the Russian ...
Schwarz Kugelblitz's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
754 views

Does Ukraine have more tanks now than it did at the beginning of the invasion? [closed]

During a war, one may expect tank counts for both sides to go decrease (i.e. as they engage in combat and are destroyed). MSNBC reports Forbes stating: The Ukrainian army has more tanks now than when ...
stevec's user avatar
  • 263
-1 votes
1 answer
737 views

Are these maps captured Russian plans to invade Ukraine? [closed]

Pro-Ukrainian twitter user, @TruthsUnchained, tweeted: #BREAKING 📰 Russian battle plans captured, likely from one of the command vehicles captured. Battle plans were approved on January 18th and ...
Landak's user avatar
  • 109
18 votes
0 answers
649 views

Has traffic in some hashtags "plunged" since Russia lost access to Twitter? [closed]

Russia has blocked access to Twitter and Facebook. Opinions vary as to why, but most speculate that it is to prevent the general public from knowing how the Ukraine invasion is going. Today, I have ...
Kate Gregory's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Did the Russian 74th motorised rifle brigade surrender in February '22? [closed]

The following statements go around on the major social media networks. However, I have been unable to verify the statements are actually sourced. Ragıp Soylu (Turkey Bureau Chief for MiddleEastEye): ...
Mast's user avatar
  • 485
7 votes
1 answer
1k views

Did a Ukrainian woman tell a Russian solider in Kherson Oblast to put seeds in his pockets so flowers would grow when he dies in Ukraine?

Basically, is the following a real exchange, down to the details? Reported on Twitter with 1.1M views: Ukrainian woman confronts Russian soldiers in Henychesk, Kherson region. Asks them why they came ...
Fizz's user avatar
  • 59.8k
30 votes
1 answer
7k views

Did a Turkish cargo ship get bombed in the Black Sea during the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

In a Discord server, someone pointed out the following article by Russian state news media about a Turkish cargo ship which was reportedly hit by a bomb on the way from Odessa to Romania: Turkish ...
Nzall's user avatar
  • 1,729
6 votes
1 answer
783 views

Did the US break several treaties with the USSR/Russia after 1918?

Source (last paragraph) *Here’s another fact few Americans know: ever since 1918, the Russians have never once broken any treaty they’ve signed with the U.S., though the U.S. has broken a number of ...
Allure's user avatar
  • 1,011
23 votes
2 answers
10k views

Do these photos show Ukrainian children being trained to fight the Russian army?

From a widely-shared Reddit post: Ukrainian children trained to use rifles against Russian soldiers The other photos in the post are shown below. Neither the post nor the comments provide a source. ...
LShaver's user avatar
  • 9,911
-7 votes
1 answer
754 views

Has there been a "buildup" of 175,000 Russian troops on the Ukraine border in January 2022?

Numerous news items have claimed or implied a buildup of 100,000 Russian troops and hundreds of tanks and armoured personnel carriers along its borders. Most are vague about the exact location. The ...
Keith McClary's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
1k views

Did Syrian army Pantsir systems destroy 23 Tomahawks (using just 25 missiles) in an attack on Damascus?

It's been claimed in a Russian documentary that When NATO delivered a Tomahawk strike against Damascus, it was the Pantsir systems of the Syrian army that destroyed 23 targets, using just 25 missiles....
Fizz's user avatar
  • 59.8k
14 votes
0 answers
686 views

Did Stalin's son hide the death of a whole hockey team after a plane crash?

According to World Heritage Encyclopedia, in the Sverdlovsk air disaster of 5 January 1950 almost the entire national ice hockey team (VVS Moscow) died, which was covered up by Vasily Stalin (born ...
Joaquin Barañao's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
365 views

Is Sputnik V the first registered vaccine against COVID-19?

Sputnik V vaccine's official website claims that their product is the first registered against the disease. Sputnik V is the world’s first registered vaccine based on a well-studied human adenoviral ...
Snack Exchange's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
541 views

Did British journalists keep silent about Russian defections to Germany in WW2?

In George Orwell's essay, The Prevention of Literature, he claims this: When Germany collapsed, it was found that very large numbers of Soviet Russians — mostly, no doubt, from non-political motives —...
The Masked Rebel's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
999 views

Did the USSR government trade 17 submarines and three warships for three million dollars in Pepsi?

According to this video on Soviet Russia, the Russians traded submarines and warships to the Pepsico company for three million dollars worth of Pepsi. Is that factually accurate? The video does not ...
Neil Meyer's user avatar
  • 1,084
2 votes
1 answer
543 views

Is this a video tour of the building claimed to be "Putin's Palace"?

This video posted to Youtube Jan 29, 2021 purports to be a tour of the "palace" described in The Inside Story of How Alexey Navalny Uncovered Putin's $1.3 Billion Palace. It is in Russian, ...
Keith McClary's user avatar
-3 votes
1 answer
291 views

Did a recent Senate report vindicate the Mueller investigation? [closed]

Because according to Aaron Mate: But the plain text of the Senate report contains no concrete evidence to support its conclusions. Instead, with a heavy dose of caveats and innuendo, reminiscent of ...
Jacob Blaustein's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is this a genuine New York Times job ad for Russia Correspondent?

Is this a genuine New York Times job ad? International Opportunities Russia Correspondent Moscow, Russia Job Description Vladimir Putin’s Russia remains one of the biggest stories in the world. It ...
Keith McClary's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
900 views

Is or was Putin hiding in a bunker?

There were rumors that due to the Covid pandemic, Putin was hiding in a bunker (his press secretary denied it). Here's just one of many quotes (sorry if my translation is bad). Right now, somewhere ...
Sergey Zolotarev's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
1k views

Did the United States ever call Venus "the Soviet planet"?

I saw an article that mentioned some recent comments from the Russian space agency Roscosmos. One statement they made was: The huge gap between the Soviet Union and its competitors in Venus research ...
pacoverflow's user avatar
  • 2,934
8 votes
0 answers
226 views

Can Russian electronic warfare systems "shoot down" or even "take over control" of (enemy) drones?

Various reports on the feats of Russian ECW systems in Syria against drones, e.g. According to a report published by Avia.Pro, an Israeli drone used in an air strike in Syria was shot down by the ...
Fizz's user avatar
  • 59.8k
6 votes
3 answers
892 views

Was Koenigsberg area given to the USSR for 50-year administration rather than permanently?

This article says: That is how a third of the northern part of Eastern Prussia was handed over for the USSR to manage – until the Peace Conference would decide otherwise. Because Moscow was ...
Anixx's user avatar
  • 868
7 votes
1 answer
767 views

Is Russia's fiscal break-even price for oil around half of Saudi Arabia's?

According to the philosopher John Gray (Why this crisis is a turning point in history): An increasing influence on the EU will come from Russia. In the struggle with the Saudis that triggered the ...
Martín-Blas Pérez Pinilla's user avatar