On December 5, a Georgian-language Facebook user published a post about the alleged trade in organs of Ukrainian soldiers. According to the author of the post, wounded Ukrainian servicemen are taken to the US Ramstein military base in Germany for emergency medical care, but then their organs are sold on the global black market. As an argument, the user shares a screenshot of one of the African media, in which a person who presents himself as a former employee of an American non-profit organization (Global Surgical and Medical Support Group) talks about his own experience and claims that the organs of Ukrainian and earlier Somali soldiers were used for the surgeries of high-ranking NATO officials.
During December 1-4, 2023, Russian-language news agencies (lawinrussia.ru, podolyaka.ru) and Facebook users (1, 2, 3) have also disseminated identical information along with a video of a “former” GSMSG employee.
The claims about the illegal organ trafficking by GSMSG in Ukraine are baseless and rely on the story of an anonymous doctor, spread by unreliable African media. The evidence presented by the anonymous doctor – the certificate, which was given by Zelenskyy “for the merits shown to the Ukrainian people, is fake and differs from the real one. In a comment to the Ukrainian fact-checking portal Gwara media, the GSMSG itself denied the authenticity of the information and any cooperation with the “doctor.”
On November 28, 2023, the Ghanaian news agency mynewsgh.com published an article with the following title: “Role of American non-profit organization for Ukrainian soldiers’ organ surgeries.” According to the article, a former employee of the American organization Global Surgical and Medical Support Group (GSMSG) made a shocking statement about the participation in the secret military project Omega in Ukraine.
According to the above-mentioned person, who presents him as an employee of the organization, he started working in the company in 2015. The GSMSG’s organ harvesting project, codenamed Gamma, in which he participated, was allegedly carried out in Somalia in the 2010s. According to him, after he received recognition from his colleagues and earned the trust of the management, he was transferred to Djibouti on a special assignment, where he worked as a transplant specialist. In a nearly 15-minute video posted on YouTube, a man wearing a mask, goggles, and cap claims that the GSMSG’s purpose was to harvest organs from soldiers and transplant them to the US military’s high-rank officials. As for the second project, called “Omega”, the donors should have been Ukrainian soldiers. This source claims to have been personally invited to the Omega Project by GMSSG founder Aaron Epstein. Then, according to the doctor, he got tired of doing this job and, out of remorse, decided to tell what was really going on.
The person, who cannot be identified, but who identifies himself as a former GMSSG doctor, says that the President of Ukraine presented him with a certificate of honor “for his services to the Ukrainian people.”
According to Gwara media, a Ukrainian fact-checking platform, the honorary diploma awarded to this person for services to the Ukrainian people (Грамота «За местерици перед українским народом») is fake. The person shown in the video says that Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave him the diploma. Actually, this certificate is not issued by the President, but by the Verkhovna Rada. In addition, the certificate shown in the video also does not resemble the document issued by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as the diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has a cover and an attachment. It is also worth noting that the real certificate has a relief image of the facade of the building of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in the center is written the title – Honorary Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The Verkhovna Rada decree also states that the Verkhovna Rada diploma should be awarded at a ceremony. Therefore, the certificate shown in the video differs from the real one and is not official.
The YouTube channel “Stop organ harvesting!” was created on November 23, 2023, the same day when the video was uploaded, it features only one video, and the channel has 159 subscribers.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the GMSSG went on a medical mission to Ukraine. Their activities are public and they have published photos of these activities on their Facebook page. For example, GMSSG representatives conducted tactical medicine training in March 2022, helped vulnerable people who could not get to medical facilities on their own, trained Ukrainian surgeons, and provided assistance to the injured.
The Global Surgical and Medical Support Group is a non-profit organization that provides medical assistance, including medical and surgical care, primary care examinations, and neurosurgery, in conflict and disaster zones around the world. According to the organization’s official website, GSMSG’s mission is to “provide the highest quality medical care and training in harsh conditions and conflict zones overseas. The activities of the organization are public and transparent, and there is no real evidence to prove the illegal activity of organ trade.
It should be noted that the same article was published by the Nigerian publication (The Nation) on November 30, 2023. This article has a different title from the original version and highlights the role of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the organ trade: “NATO doctors perform Ukrainian soldiers’ organ surgeries with Zelensky’s approval”. Gwara Media, a Uranian fact-checking platform, approached GSMSG about the covert operation conducted by GSMSG and the confession of a former employee of this organization. According to the American organization, anyone who knows anything about medicine or surgery, and especially about surgical operations in Ukraine, knows that not a single part of this article is true. The organization also notes that this type of propaganda produced by the Kremlin is used so often that it is easy for almost anyone to recognize. According to the representative of GMSSG, the person seen in the video has never worked for GMSSG.
It should also be noted that in Ukraine there is a presumption of refusal in connection with the donation of organs after death, and according to Ukrainian legislation, transplantation of human organs without the appropriate consent is prohibited. If a person wants his organs to be used for transplantation after death, his written consent is required. In the event that the person did not refuse organ transplantation during his lifetime, the consent of the deceased’s spouse, closest relative, or the person responsible for the funeral of the deceased is required for organ transplantation after death.
The mentioned topic and similar methods used to falsify evidence are often found within the Kremlin’s information operations. Recently, it was also reported that the Olena Zelenska Foundation was involved in child trafficking. The claim was voiced by in a video by an anonymous person, in the same way as the claim above – in the video, the person had his face covered and claimed to be a former employee of the Zelenska Foundation. The disseminated information was verified by the fact-checking organization Stopfake.
“Myth Detector” has debunked disinformation about the alleged illegal trade of child organs in Ukraine in the past as well. See more:
- Recurring Disinformation by Pro-Kremlin Media about Organ Trading in Ukraine
- Repeated Lie by Pro-Kremlin Actors about Trading Organs of Ukrainian Soldiers
- Disinformation of Asaval-Dasavali and TV Zvezda on an illegal Western business of trading organs in Ukraine
- Pro-Government “I Ucnobi” Amplifies the Kremlin Conspiracy about the Alleged Organ Trafficking in Ukraine
- Recurring Disinformation about the Alleged Trafficking of Ukrainian Children
About the Source:
Georgian-language Facebook user Eduard Jishkariani often publishes anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian content, including disinformation. “Myth Detector” has debunked the false information disseminated by Jishkariani a number of times in the past.
Archive:
Facebook posts 1, 2, 3, 4
mynewsgh.com
thenationonlineng.net
lawinrussia.ru,
podolyaka.ru
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