{"id":26213,"date":"2021-02-03T15:52:15","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T15:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media.am\/?p=26213"},"modified":"2021-02-07T21:05:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T21:05:48","slug":"%d5%bf%d5%a1%d6%80%d5%a1%d5%ae%d5%a1%d5%b7%d6%80%d5%bb%d5%a1%d5%b6%d5%ab-%d5%af%d5%a5%d5%b2%d5%ae-%d5%b8%d6%82-%d5%b4%d5%a1%d5%b6%d5%ab%d5%ba%d5%b8%d6%82%d5%ac%d5%b5%d5%a1%d5%bf%d5%ab%d5%be-%d5%ac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media.am\/en\/verified\/2021\/02\/03\/26213\/","title":{"rendered":"False And Manipulative News In The Region About Armenia: January"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January, Azerbaijani and Russian sources spread misinformation about Armenia in the region. The main topic remains the developments following the 44-day war. Other occasions were the COVID-19 vaccine, claims about the agency network, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Freely editing when reprinting text: It wasn\u2019t said in Shurnukh that the village was inhabited illegally<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u0412\u0435\u0441\u0442\u043d\u0438\u043a \u041a\u0430\u0432\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430, while reprinting Sputnik Armenia’s <\/span>article<\/span><\/a> about Shurnukh, freely edited it. <\/span>As a result<\/span><\/a>, the Armenian resident of Shurnukh village confessed that they had inhabited the village illegally. The website attributed this thought to Robert Atabekyan, whose house built 20 years ago is located in the territory returned to Azerbaijan.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, looking at the source material, it turns out that the only time the word “illegal” was used, was in reference to the demarcation, for which the villagers were protesting. Moreover, the source of Sputnik’s news is the <\/span>video<\/span><\/a> prepared by the RA government. Its content proves that the resident of Syunik did not make any statement about an “illegal” settlement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pro-Azerbaijani \u0412\u0435\u0441\u0442\u043d\u0438\u043a \u041a\u0430\u0432\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430 is available in two languages: Russian and English. Its general director, as it is mentioned in the state register of Russian legal entities, is an Azerbaijani, Agakishiev Ismail Alovsat Oghli.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Alovsat Oghli is an <\/span>associate professor<\/span><\/a> at the Department of Near Foreign History at Moscow State University.<\/span><\/p>\n

And this is not the only case of free editing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Azerbaijan edited the response of the German Foreign Minister as it saw fit<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At the end of January, the Azerbaijani media misrepresented the words of the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, German Foreign Minister Hayko Maas about the Syrians fighting in Artsakh. Sputnik Azerbaijan,<\/span>vestikavkaza.ru<\/span><\/a> and other local <\/span>websites<\/span><\/a> wrote that Maas had said that no facts had been found about the involvement of Syrians. Some have already <\/span>removed<\/span><\/a> this misinformation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Armenian side <\/span>corrected<\/span><\/a> Azerbaijan. The information fog <\/span>was dispelled<\/span><\/a> by a high-ranking official of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Michael Siebert. He posted a transcript of Maas’ speech on Twitter from the <\/span>website<\/span><\/a> of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

#CouncilofEurope<\/a>: for all those interested in what @HeikoMaas<\/a> REALLY said on #KarabakhWar<\/a> at yesterday\u2019s @coe<\/a> #PACE<\/a> please see the screenshot ? or visit https:\/\/t.co\/YjkIDDGC3L<\/a>. @PACE_News<\/a> @GermanyDiplo<\/a> @GermanyCoE<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wt7Xiwgth8<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Michael Siebert (@GERonOstpolitik) January 27, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is clear from the full speech of the German Foreign Minister that Maas did not make such an expression. Instead, he noted that they know the issue of Syrian involvement, and this is not the only conflict in which they are involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for Nagorno Karabakh, “Based on the current intelligence, we must assume that some of these Syrian fighters are still in the crisis zone. There are many international efforts to find out how they are used there, how many there are and who is responsible for it. However, there is no final information about them yet,” Maas said. He also spoke about the important role played by Turkey in the second war in Artsakh.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to \u041a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0442\u044a, Pashinyan-Putin did not have a private conversation<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Russian website \u041a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0442\u044a <\/span>spread<\/span><\/a> misinformation about the January 11 Putin-Pashinyan-Aliyev trilateral meeting. They wrote that, allegedly, immediately after the briefing following the trilateral meeting, Pashinyan went to the airport. Aliyev, meanwhile, remained in the Kremlin, having a pre-planned private conversation with Putin. He had no reason to hurry and “it seems that he is still using every opportunity to enjoy his victory once again,” the website wrote.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If the author of the article had opened the official website of the Russian president, kremlin.ru, he would have seen that after the meeting with Aliyev, Putin <\/span>also had<\/span><\/a> a private conversation with the RA Prime Minister.<\/span><\/p>\n

The doctors also went to Baku before the trilateral meeting<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This same <\/span>publication<\/span><\/a> of \u041a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0442\u044a denies spreading the rumor that Russian doctors <\/span>had visited<\/span><\/a> only Yerevan before the January 11 trilateral meeting. Such a publication was made by the website EaDaily, <\/span>citing<\/span><\/a> RIA Novosti.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u041a\u043e\u043c\u043c\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0442\u044a, citing the press secretary of the Russian president, wrote that before the meeting, Moscow and Baku and Yerevan.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Azerbaijani consulate has turned the pictures of Armenian migrants into Azerbaijani ones in a propaganda film<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Karabakh Records Twitter account <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a> on January 20 that the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles had made a film, distorting another episode of the Karabakh conflict. They used a photo in the propaganda film, in which the Armenian refugees from Hadrut are depicted. The Armenians in the Azerbaijani film became Azerbaijanis, who were attacked by the Armenians themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

The people of Hadrut were deported in 1991, when Azerbaijan initiated <\/span>Operation<\/span><\/a> “Koltso” (Ring) to evict the Armenian settlements of Artsakh.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Azerbaijan\u2019s Consulate General in Los Angeles produced a film distorting yet another chapter of the history of Karabakh Conflict.<\/p>\n

Images of Armenian refugees from Hadrut taken by @StetinaEP<\/a> in 1991 during the Operation Ring(Koltso), are now covering??’s falsified records. pic.twitter.com\/zePLXfddTN<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Karabakh Records (@KarabakhRecords) January 20, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Karabakh Records account noted the author of the photo, Yaromir Stetina, posted a screenshot of the true location and content of the photo. The author of the picture <\/span>shared<\/span><\/a> the tweet on his page.<\/span><\/p>\n

The source of the material was verelq.am, but it does not matter when copying and pasting<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Telegram channel Mediaport <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a> on January 25 that amid discussions over the appointment of Lilit Makunts as Armenia’s ambassador to the United States, an article published by the Russian EaDaily in 2019 had been circulating, “which reveals the relations of the” My Step “faction leader with US special services.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The article mentions that in 2016 Makunts started working in the American “Peace Corps.” Earlier, she had attended a five-day course on “peaceful disobedience” under the auspices of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as part of a summer course at the Fletcher Diplomatic School at Tufts University.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on this, the author concluded that it would be difficult to teach the toolkit of velvet revolutions in 5 days, “but during that time it was quite possible to recruit her.” This news was reprinted without editing by a number of websites: <\/span>livenews.am<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> onnet.am<\/span><\/a>, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if the websites opened the material before reprinting it, they would have seen that the author is not EaDaily, but <\/span>verelq.am<\/span><\/a> operating in Armenia. As for Makunts “being turned into” a member of the CIA, the author’s conclusion is manipulative. It is based on several episodes of Makunts’ biography, but there is no evidence of “joining them.” It is only the author’s assumption, and the material is without an author.<\/span><\/p>\n

AstraZeneca and other vaccines<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In parallel with vaccinations, anti-vaccination groups continue to spread misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine. First of all, let’s refer to the misinformation spread about AstraZeneca bought by Armenia.<\/span><\/p>\n

? It was claimed in the international press that AstraZeneca is only 8% effective among the elderly. The author of this statement, the German newspaper Handelsblatt, referred to an anonymous government source. The same news was spread in <\/span>Russian<\/span><\/a> and Armenian media.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it soon became clear that the journalist (or his source) <\/span>had confused<\/span><\/a> the number of elderly people who participated in the trials with the vaccine efficiency. People aged 56-69 made up 8% of AstraZeneca test participants and this has nothing to do with effectiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n

? EUvsDisinfo’s website <\/span>referred to<\/span><\/a> the Russian campaign for the COVID-19 vaccine. As for Armenia, he wrote that the main source of misinformation is Sputnik Armenia and several Facebook groups. The main misinformation they singled out is:<\/span><\/p>\n