On May 17, a video was broadcast on the Twitter-like social media site Weibo by Global Information, a media account maintained by China’s state-run China National Radio.

“Independent Journalists from Many Countries Fired for Truthfully Covering the Conflict Between Russia and Ukraine,” the post proclaimed. As of this writing, Weibo posts circulating the video have accumulated more than 110 million views.

Independent journalists declare in the film that they were unable to “tell the truth” about Russia’s attack on Ukraine. However, the so-called realities are essentially disproved Kremlin lies attempting to blame Ukraine for Russian-caused bloodshed.

There is a pattern to the post. Russian military propaganda is consistently broadcast by Chinese official media.

Indeed, numerous of the video’s “independent journalists” have a history of regurgitating Kremlin-speak. Although some of their work has been challenged and identified as deception, there is no indication that any of them have been dismissed or expelled.

The United Nations meeting cited was a “Arria-formula gathering.” These are unofficial meetings that any member of the Security Council can organise.

The meeting on May 6 was convened by Russia to address suspected war crimes committed by Ukrainian soldiers. This came amid a flurry of stories suggesting Russian forces had committed war crimes in the outskirts of Kyiv, leaving mass graves and citizens who looked to have been killed in cold blood.

“Today, we will try to speak as little as possible by ourselves and to share with you accounts of the residents of Eastern and Southern Ukraine and to give the floor to foreign journalists who have been working in these areas,” Nebenzia said.