the alibi machine: the crime

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March 2022  Ukraine’s port city of Mariupol is under siege. 

400,000 civilians are trapped as the Russian Army and its local allies, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic People’s Militia, blockade the city.

The mystery of the “Mariupol Madonna” who became the face of Russian propaganda

You might remember this woman, who in the first days after the Maternity ward attack appeared on front pages of the media worldwide.

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Her name is Mariana Vyshemirskaya. She’s a Ukrainian blogger, who was about to deliver her baby in that maternity ward. 

In the first days after the attack, images of her, taken by Evgeniy Maloletka and Mstyslav Chernov, heavily pregnant, her terrified face covered in blood, made her a symbol of Russian brutality. 

Meanwhile, an intense propagandist campaign against Mariana was happening in Russian media. 

“She’s an actress” they said. “The blood is fake. She’s not really pregnant.”

Soon after, an interview with the blogger appeared in ChVK media, in which she repeated the Russian version of events: the hospital had been used by Ukrainian military, and Russia had nothing to do with the attack. 
Vyshemirskaya has since become a well-known blogger inside Russia, collaborated with Russian media and continued to support the government’s agenda.

Over the following weeks senior officials, state-backed TV channels and news agencies, war reporters and bloggers echo a version of the same story. 

The details don’t always match. 

Some reports say the maternity ward was used by Ukrainian soldiers, and was therefore a legitimate target. 

Others say the attack was “staged” — that Ukrainian forces carried it out and made it look as though Russia had done it. 

But the conclusion is always the same: Russia is not to blame for this attack.

“Sometimes things are just chaotic because war is chaotic. At other times, spreading many, many, many different versions of the same event is a very classic Russian tactic to blur the reality of what happened… This is the way you undermine the very idea of truth and belief and just create a sort of a haze around what really happened.”

Peter Pomerantsev 

The Reckoning Project Co-Founder

Independent investigations have determined that the hospital was clearly identifiable and operational.  

There was no evidence of Ukrainian military positions. 

The OSCE calls the attack a “clear violation of international humanitarian law” and a “war crime.”

“The narratives were planted well in advance. And I can essentially break them down into:

1 – “We didn’t do it.”

2 – “We warned you that Ukraine was planning to do it.”

3 – “Even if we did it, the maternity ward was a legitimate target.”

They create so many alternative versions of the truth that if you are having at least some doubt you can pick and choose the one that suits you the most and go with it.”

Anastasiia Vorobiova

Legal Advisor at Global Rights Compliance