On February 22–23, 2023, a strange statement by the Estonian Prime Minister regarding Russia’s participation in the START-3 treaty was distributed across Russian-language resources. We checked whether Kaya Kallas claimed this.

As reported in the news, the head of the Estonian government negatively perceived the news of Russia's suspension of its participation in the START-3 treaty. “Estonia cannot allow this. Russia officially remains a party to the treaty, this is not discussed,” Kallas allegedly said at a briefing.

This information was reported by such media as “Reporter", Pravda.ru, Newsland, News Front And News2. It gained particular popularity on social networks: the news was spread on Telegram by the channels “My Russia"(304,000 views), "The world of Mikhail Onufrienko" (286,000) "Ostashko! Important"(130,000), "From the scene" (91,000) and "Federation" (64,000), and on VKontakte there are publics "SVO reports"(35,000 views), "Military informant" (33,000) and "Yuri Podolyaka, Mikhail Onufrienko"(28,000). She dispersed and Twitter.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-3) was signed Presidents of Russia and the United States Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama on April 8, 2010 in Prague, and on February 5 of the following year, after ratification, it officially came into force. It replaced the Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START-1) of July 31, 1991 and the Treaty on the Reduction of Strategic Offensive Capabilities (SNP) dated May 24, 2002. According to the document, the parties committed themselves to bring the number of deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines, heavy bombers and other weapons to the limits specified in it within seven years.

On February 21, as part of his address to the Federal Assembly, Vladimir Putin stated, that Russia is suspending its participation in the Treaty on Strategic Offensive Arms, arguing that the first agreement in 1991 was concluded “in a fundamentally different situation, in conditions of reducing tensions and strengthening mutual trust,” and today “the West is directly involved in the attempts of the Kyiv regime to strike the bases of our (Russian - editor’s note) strategic aviation.” The next day the State Duma unanimously accepted corresponding presidential bill.

The reaction of the world community to the statement of the Russian president was not long in coming. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken named This decision is “extremely unfortunate and irresponsible,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg statedthat it “dismantles the entire arms control architecture.” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell almost repeated the thought of his Norwegian colleague, and the UN called Russia and the United States to return to implementation of START-3 without delay.

As for the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, she repeatedly spokethat the West should not give in to Moscow's nuclear threats, and repeated her thought in an interview with Bloomberg on February 23, two days after Putin's announcement. “Even in the worst-case scenario, a potential nuclear response will occur in the conflict zone, and not on the territory of the alliance,” Kallas noted, calling on NATO countries not to be afraid to help Ukraine. At the same time, despite the intense activity (as reflected in its accounts V social networks), in not a single speech or in a single publication that appeared from February 21 until the news began to spread, Kaya Kallas did not make ultimatum statements regarding Russia’s withdrawal from START-3. At least nothing like that was spread through official channels.

What source is involved in the appearance of Kaya Kallas’s resonant statement in the media field? According to the TGStat service, this news first appeared on February 22 at 10:36 Moscow time in a Telegram channel called “and here is my Yandex wallet" The description of the channel indicates its profile: “Parody, satire on political reality. Only verified fakes.” Despite this, the comic news published on the channel enviable regularity are distributed by other resources that position themselves as serious. So, back on February 10th the object of a joke became the same Kaya Kallas with an alleged statement about the transfer of non-existent Estonian fighters to Ukraine. At the same time, the creators of the channel are clearly aware of the current trend. For example, on February 23, the resource published screenshots its news, distributed by the Ostashko! Important" and "Russia 2.0", providing them with the comment: "They never let you down."

Cover photo: social networks