Top-5 Fake News. First time ever Belarus repatriated its citizens for money, & 2.5 thousand children died in Ukraine's Donbas

On November 8, the European Commission recommended in a report starting negotiations about Ukraine's EU membership. On the same day, Alexey Belyaev, dean of the Faculty of Journalism of Belarusian State University, commenting on this news, said that there are already enough poor countries in the EU.

“But Poland at least shows economic success. And the number of young Europeans, such as Bulgaria, Romania, or Albania, which they want to admit to the EU, are, in fact, completely poor states,” Belyaev said on the air of Alfa Radio.

The standard of living in Bulgaria and Romania is significantly higher than in Belarus. According to the World Bank, in 2022, GDP at purchasing power parity per capita in Romania was $41 thousand per person, in Bulgaria — $33 thousand, and in Belarus — $22 thousand.

The average salary in Bulgaria is €985, in Romania — €790, and in Belarus — €570.

Pro-government Belarusian political scientist Vadim Gigin announced with whom, in his opinion, Belarus has to promote relations.

“Over recent years, Africa has made a very serious breakthrough in its development.

Prosperity has been growing, for the first time the number of people in famine declined. The number of those who live quite well has increased even in some countries. Let's say even Equatorial Guinea. It is one of the richest countries in Africa in terms of GDP per capita. First of all, it comes from natural resources,” he claimed on the air of state-run Belarusian news agency BelTA on November 6.

Equatorial Guinea has become one of the most economically successful countries in Africa after the finding of large oil and gas fields, which became the source of about 90% of budget revenues.

At the same time, the GDP of Equatorial Guinea is lower than the GDP of Belarus. In that country, about 67% of the population still lives below the poverty line.

The West is responsible for the death of a large number of children in armed conflicts, claimed Olga Shpilevskaya, head of the representative office of the Russian state-run TV Channel MTRK MIR in Belarus.

“I’m now talking about half a million Syrian children, I’m now talking about 2.5 thousand children in Donbas. And they called it collateral damage. The death of so many children is called collateral damage,” she said on the air of the program ‘Editors Club’ on TV ‘Belarus 1’ on November 4.

According to the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights, within 10 years from the beginning of the “Syrian Revolution”, 25 thousand children under the age of eighteen have died in Syria. The total number of all those killed in this conflict, including military personnel and Islamic State militants, is estimated at 500 thousand.

Regarding the victims of the conflict in Ukraine's Donbas, Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, made a statement at the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (SPBILF) in 2022, saying that about 2.5 thousand children had been killed in both “DPR” and “LPR” in the period from 2014 to February 24, 2022. However, a year later he gave other numbers.

“As a result of the armed conflict, more than 5 thousand people, including 138 minors, have died in the territories of the LPR, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions from 2014 to the end of April 2023,” Bastrykin stated at SPBILF in 2023.

In Germany, driving electric cars has become unprofitable, economist Georgy Grits said on the air of the program ‘There is a question!’ on the TV channel ‘BelRos’ on November 3.

“A lot has been said about the prospects and low cost of electric vehicles. Nowadays, when electricity prices have risen in Europe, particularly in Germany, electric car charging and use are 1.5 times more expensive than diesel,” he said. 

The average cost for charging an electric car at a charging station in Germany is 0.61 EUR per 1 kWh. And 0.46 EUR — for EV charging at home.

The average fuel consumption per 100km for diesel cars is 7 liters. So, fueling will cost 12.46 EUR. An electric car consumes 20 kWh per 100 km. Thus, electric vehicle use based on a minimum rate would cost 9.2 EUR, and based on a maximum rate — 12.2 EUR.

Belarus has managed to assist its citizens with an evacuation flight home a month after the start of the armed conflict between Israel and Hamas. The ticket for that plane cost $550. According to TV presenter Denis Dudinsky, this was the first such case in history.

“Paid flight! Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in the history of humanitarian evacuation and humanitarian corridors, humanitarian evacuation was provided for money. 550 dollars one way,” he said on the air of the show ‘Ordinary Morning’ on November 9.

Humanitarian flights from Israel with required payment were provided not only by Belarus. U.S.A. had been issuing charter flights for those looking for assistance after they signed a promissory note, stating that they would reimburse the government within 30 days. There are such rules in American law.

German citizens returned home on special Lufthansa flights. They paid 300 EUR for the flight. The government has reimbursed Lufthansa Group Career another €250 for each passenger.

Stuck in Israel, Italians were repatriated both by military aircraft and commercial flights at controlled rates — €360 per person.

Canadians have received evacuation assistance by military aircraft only to Athens, from where they had to get home on their own and at their own expense. 

And Norwegians have paid about €580 for the evacuation flight.

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