Agricultural landscape of Ukraine | Андрій Стебелєв, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
This article was first published by Truthmeter.mk (North Macedonia), within the framework of Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Project.
The post is abundant in falsehoods and distorts the thesis to suggest that Russia’s war in Ukraine is a burden which Ukraine can be “freed from” if it accepts “peace conditions.” It is not true that 30% of agricultural land in Ukraine has been sold to DuPont, Monsanto, and Cargill, in fact, such sales are prohibited.
We analyze a Facebook post which shares video material from a speech by Robert Kennedy Junior, with the description:
Robert Kennedy Junior: BlackRock, the truth about Ukraine! How Ukrainian children are dying for the most fertile ground in the world, unaware it has been sold to DuPont, Monsanto…
In the video, Robert Kennedy Junior says that “The Russians tried repeatedly to settle on terms that were very, very beneficial to Ukraine and us,” the major thing being “to keep NATO out of Ukraine.” He says, “The big military contractors want to add new countries to NATO all the time, because then that country has to conform its military purchases to NATO weapons specifications and get a captured market.” He also adds that the companies Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Lockheed get a trapped market. He goes on to say that the US provided $113 billion in aid to Ukraine, followed by another $24 billion.
But the big, big expenses are going to come after the war, when we have to rebuild all the things that we destroyed. Mitch McConnel was asked “Can we really afford to spend $113 billion to Ukraine?” He said, “Don’t worry. It’s not really going to Ukraine.” It’s going to American defense manufacturers. So he just admitted it’s a money laundering scheme. And who do you think owns every one of these companies? Yeah, BlackRock. So, Tim Scott during the Republican debate, said, “Don’t worry, it’s not a gift to Ukraine. It’s a loan.” Raise your hand if you think that that loan is ever getting paid back. Yeah, of course it’s not. So why do they call it a loan? Because if they call it a loan, they can impose loan conditions. And what are the loan conditions that we impose on them? Number one, an extreme austerity program, so that if you are born in Ukraine, you’re going to be poor forever. Number two, most important. Ukraine has to put all of its government-owned assets up for sale to multinational corporations, including all of its agricultural land. They’ve already sold 30% of it. The buyers were DuPont, Cargill, and Monsanto. Who do you think owns all of those companies? Yeah, BlackRock. And then in December, President Biden gave out the contract to rebuild Ukraine. And who do you think got that contract? BlackRock. They have a strategy, and that strategy is an old, old strategy which is, they keep us at war with each other. They keep us hating on each other. They keep the Republicans and Democrats fighting each other, and black against white, and all these divisions that they sow, adds Kennedy Junior in the video.
Truthmeter.mk confirmed the video was published on Kennedy Junior’s YouTube channel back in January of 2024. Fact-checkers at Myth Detector write that the video was disseminated by Russian pro-government media outlets. The post falsely claims that military equipment manufacturers want to add new countries to NATO. In fact, the countries themselves, through NATO’s open door policy, decide whether they want to join the Alliance. Ukraine itself wants to enter NATO as a sovereign and independent state. Additionally, it is untrue that “Russia tried to end the war on terms favorable to Ukraine and the United States.” Ukraine itself has decided that the conditions imposed by Russia are unacceptable.
However, the conditions for Ukraine not to join NATO, to reduce the army, to give up occupied Donetsk and Luhansk, would mean capitulation for Ukraine and no protection from further military aggression by Russia. That is why, Ukraine, along with the entire international community demanded that Russian military forces withdraw from sovereign and independent Ukraine where they carried out an unprovoked military invasion and thus end the war, but this was not accepted. In the post we are assessing, the thesis is changed, that is, it is manipulated, and the buck is passed onto Ukraine, creating the impression that the state is somehow, along with its Western supporters, “guilty of defending itself” and that it “could have accepted an armistice agreement favorable to all,” which is not true.
It is not true that companies producing military equipment have a say in, that is, that “their desire for new countries to enter NATO” somehow affects NATO accession. Namely, all 32 NATO countries have agreed that Ukraine will become part of the Alliance and NATO supports the right of each country, including Ukraine, to choose whether to join the Alliance.
NATO’s door remains open. Ukraine, as the country who wishes to join and NATO Allies decide on NATO membership. Russia does not have a veto.
At the 2024 Washington Summit, Allies reaffirmed their full support for Ukraine’s right to choose its own security arrangements and decide its own future, free from outside interference. Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance when conditions are met, and Allies agree.
In Washington, Allies confirmed their support for Ukraine on its irreversible path to NATO membership. They agreed to establish NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) to coordinate the provision of military equipment and training for Ukraine by Allies and partners. They also announced a pledge of long-term security assistance for Ukraine, providing a minimum baseline funding of 40 billion Euro within the next year, and sustainable levels of security assistance in the future, says NATO’s website.
It is Russia that started the war against Ukraine without being threatened in any way by Ukraine or any European country. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and continued to seize territories in Donetsk and Luhansk. In 2022, a full-scale unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine began, the bloodiest military conflict in Europe since World War II... Russia has shelled hospitals, schools and shopping smalls, civilian electricity and water infrastructure, and many civilians have been killed.
Ukraine has the right, and the responsibility, to protect its people. Self-defense is a fundamental right, which is enshrined in the UN Charter. And NATO has the right to support Ukraine as it seeks to uphold its right to self-defense and to prevail as a sovereign state in Europe. Self-defense and the support of self-defense is in line with international law, says NATO’s website.
As fact-checkers at Myth Detector write, the founder of BlackRock, Larry Fink, has announced the creation of the Ukraine Reconstruction Fund, within the framework of the World Economic Forum. The purpose of the fund is to find investors who will finance the development of various sectors of Ukraine, including infrastructure, production, and energy.
The claim that Ukraine was sold to the mentioned company is a Russian propaganda narrative, which is also voiced by Russian high-ranking officials.
It is not true that DuPont, Cargill, and Monsanto have bought 30% of the agricultural land of Ukraine, since Ukrainian legislation prohibits foreign companies from purchasing agricultural land, writes Myth Detector.
Since the beginning of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, the US government has allocated aid packages to the country, but most of them are direct aid and none of the documents contain a clause requiring Ukraine to transfer state property or assets or land to corporations in exchange for the help. Ukraine has no debt to BlackRock. Blackrock together with 4 other companies holds 20 percent of Ukrainian securities for which Ukraine is obliged to pay annual interest on the debt. But the pressure on Ukraine was eased and more favorable terms were established, resulting in a 75% percent reduction in the amount Ukraine has to pay by 2023, writes Myth Detector.
The post manipulates saying “someone is keeping us in a war, in arguments between Republicans and Democrats, whites against African Americans,” as a strategy. However, all of these disagreements between the political parties in the United States existed even before the war, and it stands to reason that, the war started by Russia could end with the withdrawal of Russian military forces from sovereign Ukraine. Theses are warped, creating a sort of conspiracy theory claiming “someone has an old strategy of division,” when in fact, it is merely a response to a military attack by Russia.
For Ukraine, Russia’s conditions to surrender, renounce NATO membership and remain unprotected and continue being a further target of Russian military aggression are unacceptable. Regarding the statement in the post we are reviewing, that Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Lockheed get a secure market if Ukraine joins NATO, this would not be the case if Russia did not invade Ukraine. However, these companies have a market even without the war in Ukraine, they have in no way caused the war, nor do they have any influence on whether or when it ends. Raytheon’s 2023 financial report, for example, shows that the company has been around for decades and is in good financial health. In the Raytheon report for 2021, it is written that their sales were 64.4 billion dollars, and in 2023, 73.4 billion dollars.
Even before the war, the company was doing well, and contrary to what was stated in the post, considering the decades-long well-to-do position, like the other listed companies, it would have had a market regardless of the war in Ukraine. BlackRock has invested tens of billions in leading US military contractors including Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Lockheed.
It is not true that “Ukrainian children are dying for the most fertile land in the world not knowing that it has been sold to Dupont and Monsanto.” Agricultural land has not been sold, and Ukrainian children are dying because Russia launched an unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine without being attacked, and without anyone posing a threat to Russia (not an EU country, nor NATO). The post falsely claims that “the US will have to repair everything it destroyed after the war,” but the US is not a direct participant in the war and the bombing is taking place on Ukrainian sovereign territory that has been annexed to a certain extent by Russia over the years.
As for the conditions for the loans, they may indeed be difficult for the population, but this does not mean that the poor will remain poor forever in Ukraine. The very consequences of the war make life in Ukraine difficult for the population. Ukraine’s budget has grown compared to the pre-war period due to the increased costs the war brings with it: primarily for defense, for overcoming damage to infrastructure, for lost income as a result of the war, for the departure of refugees abroad and internal displacement, as well as due to the fact that 18 percent of its territory is occupied.
Such an increase in state spending is difficult for anyone to manage, especially for three years in a row, and it is normal that any state in such a situation, when attacked, needs help to survive and defend itself. Before the war, Ukraine survived independently and with a much lower level of financing from foreign creditors, which did not differ from the levels of many other European countries.
Considering everything mentioned above, we assess the post as untrue.