Propaganda outlet from Crimea spreads fakes about secret Pentagon laboratories

A correspondent from Crimea was convicted for openly supporting Russian aggression in Ukraine. She was spreading pro-Russian propaganda, calling Ukrainians "Nazis" and spreading myths about "secret Pentagon laboratories" in Ukraine.

This is evidenced by the verdict of the Solomenskiy District Court of Kyiv.

According to the investigation, in March 2022, the correspondent of the Millet TV channel of the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Public Crimean Tatar Broadcasting Company" (ANO "OKTRK"), deliberately began information activities to support the aggressor state, spread pro-Russian disinformation content and justify the occupation of Ukrainian territories.

In particular, while hosting her own program in the studio of the Millet TV channel in Simferopol, she made a number of public appearances in which she repeatedly mentioned the so-called "Crimean Spring" and the "referendum" on Crimea's accession to Russia, calling it "reunification."

She also repeated Russian propaganda narratives about "secret Pentagon laboratories" and the production of "biological weapons" in Ukraine, presenting the invasion of a terrorist country as a "prevention of aggression."

In addition, it used the terms "liberated territories" and "new regions" to refer to the occupied territories, creating the impression in society of a "positive effect" of the Russian invasion. She glorified the Russian military personnel involved in the armed aggression, presenting them as "heroic" individuals performing a "noble mission" to protect the population and the occupied territories.

During her speeches, the accused repeated the typical propaganda narrative about the "Kyiv regime", "Nazis" and "nationalists", portraying the military aggression as "liberation" and "defensive". She claimed that the Ukrainian authorities were holding citizens "hostage".

The correspondent also referred to specific participants in the so-called "special military operation," which was in line with Russian propaganda methods of glorifying Russian soldiers. The programs contained stories about soldiers who voluntarily went to the front line, saved the lives of others and continued combat missions after being injured.

We are talking about Aysha Shulakova, who in April 2024, the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol sent an indictment to the court against the correspondent of the occupation TV channel.

The court sentenced her to 11 years in prison in absentia, with the deprivation of the right to hold positions in government and provide public services for that period, as well as the confiscation of all her property.

Earlier, two Crimean journalists were suspected of collaboration and dissemination of materials justifying Russia's aggression against Ukraine. As part of a propaganda project, they published interviews with the occupiers, official reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense, and texts with Russian propaganda about "Ukrainian Nazism."

Анна Бальчінос