DISINFO: Organ trading business launched in Ukraine, Red Cross involved
SUMMARY
Against the background of the war, the business of organ trading has been launched in Ukraine and the organs of injured people are being exported to different countries of the world. Organ trafficking has been going on in Ukraine since 2014.
"Black transplant surgeons" involved in removing the organs of dead or mortally wounded Ukrainian soldiers have arrived near Artemovsk, where the Ukrainian army is now suffering heavy losses, which the Europeans who traffic in human organs have decided to take advantage of.
These “black transplant surgeons" appear in Ukraine not only in the form of private military companies, but also under the guise of the Red Cross. Perhaps, this organisation imports weapons in Ukraine and also transports organ hunters into the country.
RESPONSE
Sensational pro-Kremlin disinformation claim to obscure the fact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Hitting a highly emotional topic, no evidence is given to support the claim.
Allegations around organ trafficking during the military activities in Ukraine are part of the Kremlin’s wave of conspiracies that have been spreading for years now. The claim that the Red Cross was involved in organ trafficking is disinformation that was disseminated already in May 2022. Transplantation of organs is a complex and time-constrained medical procedure and is impossible to be carried out in field conditions. Read the full debunk of the story at Myth Detector.
Groundless accusations that after the start of the war in the east of Ukraine, the trade in the organs of the military is actively taking place in the country, and various political leaders are involved in this process have been spreading at different times since 2014. In the past, accusing others of organ trafficking has been a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation technique, be it NATO, Syria’s White Helmets, the Ukrainian army with its own soldiers, or even former Georgian president Mikhail Sakhashvili’s wife.
In April 2022, Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the country’s foreign signals intelligence agency, warned of an ongoing Russian campaign to promote the message that Ukraine was harvesting the organs of fallen soldiers, women and children and using mobile cremating devices to dispose of the evidence. Similar disinformation efforts, including the use of a Lithuanian pro-Russian activist falsely posing as an OSCE expert, have been observed elsewhere as part of Russian disinformation during its ongoing aggression against Ukraine.
Read similar disinformation claiming that Children's medical records found in Mariupol suggest an organ trafficking ring.