On September 7, 2023, a Georgian-language Facebook user published a post about the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The post is accompanied by a screenshot of an article by “Reuters,” which reviews the statements made by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the European Parliament. The author of the post claims that Romanian Minister Angel Tîlvăr called on Ukraine to stop the attempts to transfer the war to neighboring countries.
A similar claim was voiced by the Russian propaganda outlet “PRAVDA” on its Telegram channel. According to the quote, which, based on Pravda, belongs to the Minister of National Defense of Romania, Angel Tîlvăr calls on the Ukrainian government to move the theater of hostilities away from the common border, so that no attack happens on the territory of Romania.
“I come out with the proposal and request, to move your facilities and barracks away from our common territory, so that no scenarios are being created in which our territory is the target of attacks,” reads the statement.
The claim that the Defense Minister of Romania, Angel Tîlvăr called on the Ukrainian government to stop the attempts to transfer the war to neighboring countries and move the barracks away from the border with Romania is false. No such statement can be found either in official sources or in the Romanian media. The information that the quote is fabricated was confirmed by the Ministry of National Defense of Romania.
“Myth Detector” contacted the Romanian fact-checking organization Factual and the Romanian Ministry of Defense in order to verify the information. According to Factual’s fact-checking analyst, no such statement can be found in the Romanian media.
The Ministry of Defense of Romania officially denied the authenticity of the quote both in a written comment to “Myth Detector” and in a statement published on the media monitoring platform Inforadar. The Ministry accused “Pravda” of spreading fake news. In the statement, we read that the only purpose of spreading such lies is to divert the public’s attention from the illegal and unjustified attacks and war crimes that Russia is committing on the territory of Ukraine. “The only actions that affect regional security are those of Russian military forces in the illegal war of conquest they are waging in Ukraine. Romania has indeed requested many times, together with its allies and partners, that the Russian Federation stop this brutal and illegal war and respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and peace and security in the region.” the statement reads.
The Romanian Ministry of Defense suspects that this absurd claim is an echo of Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian ports on the Danube River near the Ukraine-Romania border. As a result of one such attack, fragments of a Russian unmanned aerial vehicle fell on the territory of Romania. The information about the crash of a Russian drone on the territory of a NATO member state was initially disseminated by the Ukrainian side, and later confirmed by Romania.
In response to the incident, Romania deployed eleven warships, two helicopters, six border search drones and three teams of divers to monitor the border area. In addition, NATO planes constantly patrol the border of Romania.
About the Source
The Georgian-language Facebook user Eduard Jishkariani often spreads anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian content, including disinformation. “Myth Detector” debunked the false information spread by the user many times in the past.
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