US media speculations based on fake news regarding the ICC warrant and children evacuated from the area of hostilities

US media and organisations close to the government continue to purposefully direct outpourings of misinformation at Western audiences in order to convince the public that Russia is to blame for all problems, maintain a hostile and negative image of our country, and discredit its foreign and domestic policy. Now the American media have a new pretext to showcase its Russophobic modus operandi: on March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued unprecedented and politically motivated arrest warrants for President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on the completely unsubstantiated grounds of “unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

To tally with the trendy anti-Russia agenda, facts and common sense are deliberately ignored. A publication by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is particularly indicative in this context. A once respectable organisation was not embarrassed to include comments by its so-called experts. What is there to say? The level of US “think tanks” is simply depressing. Unfortunately, even on this seemingly professional track, analysis is replaced by primitive propaganda slogans.

The complete unwillingness to verify information and blind repetition of any tales created by the Kiev regime along with the tendency to promote anti-Russia sentiments and meanings give rise to misleading narratives – in particular, the unsubstantiated fake claims that the children evacuated from the area of hostilities will be subjected to pro-Russia correctional education.

This lie is especially cynical because it is Ukraine that has, for many years, practiced re-educating and changing the mentality of the Russian-speaking youth. In these practices, Kiev neo-Nazis follow in the footsteps of their idols from the Third Reich. But in the US media, you will not find any articles or content on numerous Nazi camps training and educating underage Ukrainians, specifically from the eastern regions of the country, in the spirit of hatred for Russia and everything Russian. American audiences will never hear about young children being taught how to use weapons, how to shoot and fight in hand-to-hand combat in order to kill the “Moskals.”

Predictably, after the publication planted by USIP, major US media took up the slack, including The Hill, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many others. Their publications are unsurprisingly typical: authors obediently reiterate ridiculous Russophobic tales, showing theatrical compassion for the Ukrainian children allegedly suffering in Russian captivity. The International Criminal Court, which was criticised in the past for attempting to investigate Washington’s crimes in Afghanistan among other things, suddenly became a respectable international body. Overseas wordsmiths have long forgotten basic principles of journalism and high standards. They must be busy with churning out yet another paid article.

And yet, it is odd that people calling themselves journalists are so negligent with facts and openly accessible data that have been published on Foreign Ministry and other websites multiple times. Alright, we can remind them. We would like to draw their attention once again to the words by Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya, who stressed that the evacuation of children from the area of hostilities had been conducted in full compliance with international humanitarian law and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. As noted by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the evacuees from Donbass, including parentless children and children deprived of parental care, entered our country voluntarily to escape from targeted attacks by the Ukrainian army. Media representatives could have reviewed a detailed report on the protection of children’s rights during the special military operation, made by Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, as well as her news conference at the Russian Foreign Ministry where she invited foreign journalists to verify these facts and see for themselves that the evacuated children currently cared for by Russian families are feeling well. How many American media outlets and journalists responded? It is a rhetorical question.

These media also throw in a mantra about the isolation of Russia into this medley of Russophobic cliches. But the mantra simply does not hold water because in reality, Washington is watching, in extreme discontent, as completely opposite processes are gathering pace and attesting to the fact that the neocolonial and West-centric model of international relations is crumbling by the minute. More than that, as much as they try to put on a brave front, it is obvious to everybody today that the sanctions blitzkrieg has completely collapsed and the overwhelming majority of countries not only refused to join the anti-Russia coalition but are actually considering a transition to a more just multipolar world order without the dictate of decrepit Anglo-Saxon hegemons.

USIP “experts’” claim that, because of the ICC ruling, Russia will become less attractive to heads of state and high-ranking foreign officials was, less than a week later, cut to the bone by President of China Xi Jinping’s official visit to Moscow. It is notable that the talks between the leaders of Russia and China, widely covered around the world, essentially stole the media spotlight from all other events, including in the United States.

It is apparent that the media are maintaining a wall of silence on information about Russia’s diplomatic success in building constructive relations with the countries of the global South. The African vector deserves a particular mention in this context: an increasing number of African leaders are confirming their participation in the 2nd Russia-Africa Summit while the collective West continues to entertain empty hopes about the event’s failure.

We remain in the dark: who is isolating whom and from what?

Sooner or later, this drastic discrepancy between the fictional media reality and the actual state of affairs in the world will finally undermine the audience’s trust in the mainstream US media and the expert community that feeds it propaganda hacks. Perhaps then, they will remember the basics of journalism. And for now, on the pages of these once respected outlets, it is impossible to find a single grain of truth about our country, its foreign policy, the goals and progress of the special military operation.