Anti-Ukrainian materials have been published in Portugal

One of the most popular Portuguese publications, Público, has published a series of articles calling Ukraine the “cradle of modern world Nazism” and “a training ground for neo-Nazis around the world”. On June 21, 3 articles were published by Ricardo Cabral Fernandes, who is an ardent supporter of the far left.

According to volunteers from the international community InformNapalm, since the beginning of June in Portugal, “there has been an active deployment of a new information special operation against Ukraine, which has messages and narratives typical of Russian propaganda”.

Accordingly, Ricardo Cabral’s articles were the culmination of an information attack.

One of the publications is called “Ukraine – a military training ground for the extreme right world.” In it, the journalist calls the war in Donbas “civil” and spreads fakes that the Azov Regiment allegedly “wants to create a Ukrainian foreign legion”. The author calls Ukraine “one of the main centers of attraction for international extreme rights,” and suggests that “nearly 4,000 foreigners from 35 countries have already been trained and joined the police force in the Ukrainian civil war”.

Ricardo Cabral even compared Ukraine to ISIS. He also cited a quote attributed to Jason Blazakis (an expert who was responsible for 10 years in the State Department for identifying terrorist organizations). He allegedly called Ukraine an ideal training ground for terrorists because it is “the back door of the European Union”. At the same time, InformNapalm investigators did not find the original source of this statement.

Ukrainian diplomats immediately responded to this information attack. Ukrainian Ambassador to Portugal Inna Ognivets wrote an appeal to the Portuguese, outraged by the spread of fakes in a popular newspaper.

In addition, Ukrainians living in Portugal have prepared an open appeal to the country’s parliament to draw attention to the appearance of fake news and publications that promote the narratives of the aggressor country – Russia. Ukrainians emphasize that such materials are harmful not only to Ukraine but also pose a threat to Portugal itself, which has provided and continues to provide political support to Ukraine in the struggle for sovereignty and independence.

Bohdan Marusyak