In numerous media appearances, Jan van Aken, co-chair of German party Die Linke, has expressed his opposition to increasing Germany’s defence budget. He argues this point by highlighting the superiority of the European NATO states over Russia, citing a yearly difference of $130 billion in defence spending. This statement turned out to be mostly false.…
On November 05th, 2022, Irish left-wing party Independents 4 change (I4C) MP Mick Wallace, tweeted that the “Reality is EU now spends 3 times more than Russia” on defence. After analysing the figures Mr. Wallace refers to in his claim, it becomes clear that the claim is mostly true. Numbers from 2021During a word exchange…
Finland’s defence capability became the focus of international media attention after Russia invaded Ukraine. Finland holds a very special geopolitical position in Europe because it has 1300 kilometres border with Russia. In particular, Finland’s position regarding the defense union NATO has become a question of interest. Finland’s military service system is universal, which means that…
Russian state media Russia Today claimed in an article on its German website that “the danger is real” and that since 2015 it has been legally possible for third countries to use nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil. Research shows that part of the claim is true: it is possible by law for third countries to use…
The Lobachevsky University atop (picture taken by Daniel Buylov) and the Jade University of applied sciences (picture taken by Jan Claas Rosebrock) at the bottom – there’s more to the picture than meets the eye. Being neutral and objective is one of THE standards by which qualitative journalism is measured. But truth is an abstract…
In September 2015, at the 70th session of the General Assembly, The UN General Assembly has set 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 related targets for the international community. The fourth global goal is formulated as “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said: “Trade turnover with the European Union decreased in 2020, if you count the UK, by 21% compared to 2019.” The claim was published in the news outlet RT in 22.3.2021, and it seems to be true. Figure 1: RT article 22nd of March with claim RT is publicly…
In a Dutch news article of late February, Russia expert Helga Salemon claims that the Sputnik V corona vaccine is available in just 5 of the 85 regions of Russia. Also, she claims that the vaccine is better available for the so-called elite than for other people. These claims appear to be not completely true.…
In the case of the collapse of Alexei Navalny, Russian officials claim that “pancreatitis, not poison, caused Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to fall ill.” While the EU assumes poisoning, Russian officials are convinced that pancreatitis was the cause. Since no access to medical records is available, the claim is uncheckable”. First of all, a brief…
We decided to turn to the media about the versions of what happened on August 20, 2020 with the Russian politician Alexei Navalny. We analyzed articles from reliable sources in Germany and Russia and identified the most common positions in the case of the possible poisoning of Alexei Navalny by Novichok. We found contrasting views.…