So, while at the ruling top has not taken the final decision what to do with annoying “DPR” and “LPR” being in a state of false truce with uncontrolled Ukraine; the executive group of Channel One decided to pour oil on neglected crisis and hold viewers in front of their screens by a new sensation – secret mass graves.

Everything started on September 23 with a short message about “mass graves” in a news ticker of the story to the effect that “Kyiv-controlled mercenaries acknowledged that Donbas militants were fulfilling the Minsk agreements” as referred to ““DPR” investigators”. Let’s pay attention to this source. Till that day nothing of the kind existed in “DPR”: earlier all the references were to “militants” and “refugees”. “Investigators” is a totally new level of source aimed at having credibility. By the way, Russia has an Investigation Committee, a body independent from the public prosecution office, and if viewers got used to information from “investigators”, then why not create such a term for a source in “DPR”?

Then, in a short message about “mass graves” a “statement of the fact” method is used “at least four bodies are found”, the wording suggests a heavy casualty toll.

Channel One, News, 23.09.2014, newscast 15:00

“Meanwhile, “DPR” investigators report: a mass grave of civilians is found in 60 kilometres from Donetsk. There are at least four bodies near the mine. There are women among the murdered. The soldiers of so-called National Guard left that place two days ago.”

That very evening Channel One reports about “fearsome discovery”. This was a subject of the whole story. However, instead of the “mass grave” term they used wording like “unmarked graves” of four men and a “communal grave” of five men. At first, it’s reported that “OSCE observers were present at exhumation”. Later the journalist declares that “investigation is only about to start, exhumation will be conducted” not specifying who will be a performer – OSCE experts or other authorized personnel. The sources of information about “fearsome discovery” do not refer to “’DPR’ investigators” any longer. Personal assumptions as to the identity and the cause of death of the murdered are made by “militants”, one “Viktor Nosov, “DPR” provost marshal” (in fact, the provost corps deal with internal investigation of crimes!), anonymous “local citizen” alleges about execution of ten men by firing squad, although there are three women among the murdered.

Channel One, News, 23.09.2014, 21:00 (section)

“Host: Oleh Shyshkin: Fearsome discovery in Donetsk region. The unmarked graves were discovered on the territory of “Kommunar” coal-pit. There are bodies of civilians. The circumstances of their death are to be investigated. At the moment, it’s known that military units of Ukrainian National Guard were based here a couple of days ago. OSCE observers were present at exhumation recording everything.

Ukrainian army left the territory of “Kommunar” coal-pit only a couple of days ago. There was a 700-800 people unit plus heavy machinery. Traces of fight and destruction are everywhere. Militants recommend to walk extremely carefully and mind your step for there are numerous dud munitions. It’s dangerous to take the sideline: the territory can be mine studded.

The field engineers were first to discover these unmarked graves, they were disarming mines and trip wires. The bodies were barely powdered with ground. They were lying here for approximately a couple of weeks. Two bodies are in one pit, two more in another one. Three women and a man. All were shot in a head.

“Preliminary indications suggest that they are civilians. This territory was under the control of Ukrainian mercenaries”, but you may notice that the hands are tied-up, head is in unnatural position. Really fearsome”, Viktor Nosov, “DPR” provost marshal says.

Representatives of OSCE mission are working on the site. They are allowed to answer questions within official press-conferences only. No comments so far. All circumstances of bodies discovery and militants’ testimonies will be reflected in a special report no matter how shocking they could be.

There are numerous pistol cartridge cases near the graves. Investigation is only about to start, exhumation to be conducted. Militants do not exclude that there are other burials nearby. One more communal grave is located right near the road at the entrance of Nizhniaya Krynka village. According to local citizens, the National Guard enforcers shot five people here allegedly for their connection with militants. People call the period when Ukrainian army was located here a hell.

Destiny of some locals is still unknown. Witnesses say there are lots of communal graves in vicinity.

“They took about ten young men with them to shoot. How did it happen? Someone made lists, and they took the men on the rolls and shot them, as everyone says, as long as no one saw these people so far. They were ousting people from their houses, robbing, taking furniture and carpets, carrying everything that people prepared for winter out of their basements”, - says a local”.

At first sight, there are more than enough mismatches and unverified testimonies.  However, starting from September 24 a number of TV-channels (Russia, NTV, TV-Centre) pick up the news and spread the stories about “mass graves” in “Kommunar” mine and Nizhniaya Krynka. At that, all stories avoid mentioning the number of death toll and do not impugn the fact that they were killed either by the National Guard or “personal army of Kolomoysky” or just looters from Ukrainian army.

Thus, on September 24 Vesti report that “the Investigation Committee of Russia will make enquiry upon the discovery of mass graves on the territory of wood-yard of “Kommunar” coal-pit near Donetsk… under the investigation of criminal case regarding the use of forbidden means and methods of warfare against civilians in the South-East of Ukraine”, and “Russian MFA is determined to involve international organizations including UN, OSCE, Council of Europe into the investigation of burials discovered near Donetsk”.

This very day Vesti spreads “new” information with a reference to “‘DPR’ public prosecution office” about 20 reports on burials, obviously aimed at reinforcing the thesis of “mass graves” and crimes by Ukrainian military. And if the Investigation Committee and MFA only “assume” that civilians were shot by Ukrainians, Vesti presents it as a proven fact. And that ““DPR” public prosecution office” possesses the lists of captains “partaken in massacres”. By the way, later there will be nothing about these lists and the involvement of “DPR” representatives in the discovery of burials:

Russia, Vesti, 24.09.2014

“The horrible evidences of military crimes are still being found in settlements left by Ukrainian mercenaries when straightening the front line. Nearly twenty reports on burials found near mines and block-posts have already been delivered to “DPR” public prosecution office.

The previous day one of them was opened and it turned out that chasteners shoot civilians. The bodies of men and women with the hands tied behind their backs were found there. They were killed and buried in pits. “DPR” public prosecution office is now making lists of captains of Ukrainian military units partaken in such massacres.

Local citizens also tell about other crimes – beating and robberies.”

One may judge that “Russia” uses the reports on burials near Donetsk for propaganda if analyzes the way Vesti and the news of Echo of Moscow cover the results of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s report. Moreover, Vesti for some reason omits the information concerning the sign in Russian on the grave (“Died for Putin’s lies”) and doesn’t mention that those responsible for the loss of life were not identified in the observers’ report. Instead, Vesti stresses upon the fact that the OSCE observers paid attention to “absence of forensic experts” and the destroyed bridge which “was blown up by Ukrainian militaries according to local citizens”.

Russia, Vesti, 24.09.2014, 21:42

“OSCE confirmed the fact of mass graves near Donetsk

Three mass graves were found near Donetsk by representatives of Donetsk People’s Republic. This is stated in the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s everyday report of September 23, posted on the organization’s web-site.

“‘DPR’ provost corps reported that three unmarked graves with several corpses were found: two burials are located near “Kommunar” = coal-pit near Nizhniaya Krynka settlement (in 35 kilometers north-eastward from Donetsk) and the last is in a very settlement”, - ITAR-TASS quotes the report. – The report states that a group of observers headed toward the coal-pit and saw two areas 50 metres away from one another where two bodies had been buried.

Furthermore, 9-mm cartridges of Makarov gun were found in about 5 meters from the bodies. Near the road at the entrance of the village “the observers saw a pile reminding a grave with a memorial tablet in Russian with names, in one case there were only the initials of five persons.”

The date of death, August 27, 2014, was mentioned near one of the names. According to “the monitors”, “forensic experts were present neither in the coal-pit nor in a village”. However, they discovered the destroyed reservoir bridge that connected the settlement with Donetsk. According to locals, “it was blown up by Ukrainian militaries leaving the region on September 18”.”

Echo of Moscow, News, 24.09.2014

OSCE observers found three graves nearby Donetsk. One of the tombs said “Died for Putin’s lies”.

The special monitoring mission’s learned about the graves from the provost corps of self-proclaimed people’s republic. Separatists reported that there were three graves found near Donetsk, two of them are in “Kommunar” coal-pit near Nizhniaya Krynka settlement, and the last is in a very settlement. The observers’ report from OSCE web-site states that that the OSCE officers visited the settlement. They found two decaying bodies in each of the first two graves. And they found eight 9-mm cartridges of Makarov gun in about 5 meters.

Next to the road on the outskirts of the village, the mission saw a grave with a plate on it. The plate had names of five persons written in Russian. It also said that all off them died on August 27, 2014. "Died for Putin lies," said the top of plate. The day before, the DPR supporters reported about the graves found.  According to them, four civilians and five soldiers of the self-proclaimed republic were buried there. They are allegedly killed by close-range head-shots. And DPR also insists that a few days earlier this territory was controlled by Ukrainian enforcers. Kyiv denied the involvement of the servicemen in the death of civilians.

Moscow insists on investigation to establish the circumstances”.

September 25 is marked again by the Channel One with “mass graves” without any specific figures about bodies found.

September 26, Vesti of Russia TV-Channel is telling about the “crime details” in Nizhniaya Krynka. However, they do not give the floor to a “witness” who was tortured to name the militant supporters. And “‘DPR’s’ prosecutor” speaks about “many graves” that cannot be checked because Ukrainian army is too close there. These are the examples of statement of facts and half-truth method:

Russia TV-Channel, Vesti, 26.09.2014

“New details of the massacre in Kommunar settlement came to be known. This man was captured by soldiers in the street, they grilled him in the basement of community culture centre. Under the tortures, the man told them who supported militants in the settlement. These people were found and shot near Kommunarskaya coal-pit.

Mob law of civilians for their political convictions is a usual practice for them. Donbas locals also speak about murders and tortures having been once captured. They marked “separatist” with red-hot chain on the breasts, battered, put fingers into the wounds.

There are no precise figures on the number of tortured and killed civilians. When dropping-back, the nationalists of local battalions leave behind unmarked graves.

“The locals report that there are many of such graves. Some of them are on the territories controlled by Ukrainian army. Others, according to locals, are close to Ukrainian positions, and we cannot check them at the moment. We also have information about other such graves, we are checking them at the moment,” says Ravil Khalikov, the “DPR” deputy prime-minister responsible for security.

September 28, the Sunday summary newscast of Channel One gives a slightly different version of events. It turns out nobody was tortured in Nizhniaya Krynka: people died because of betrayal “as reported by locals” again. And this time Channel One does its best to suppress the number of found victims keeping repeating “mass graves”. And the journalists make no bones of citing the war experience of former Yugoslavia as an argument for “validity” of “crimes” committed by Ukrainian army.

Channel One, News, 28.09.2014, 21:00 (section)

“Representatives of OSCE mission have confirmed that three mass graves were found. At the moment, two bodies are identified. One of them is a local, Nikita Kolomoitsev, fell a victim to delation. There were two betrayers among his home-folks.

“They said: give us 100 grams and we’ll show the DPR supporter. They yielded the boy to those Nazi, he was taken to the community center, detained for two days, and later he was found at Kommunar mine, mutilated,” tells Liudmila Pankovetskaya.”

The next day, September 29, Vesti must have decided to beat the Channel One and made the news that the OSCE observers found new “mass graves” in the same Novaya Krynka. The given information repeated the details of the previous “fearsome discovery”. The main mistake of Russia was that previously they reported about no “forensic experts”, and all of a sudden these “experts” make conclusion about the details of death. Vesti tried to cover their lies about “new graves” with the reference to “Andrei Purgin, “DPR” deputy prime-minister”:

Russia TV-Channel, Vesti, 29.09.2014, 22:15

“OSCE observers visited the mass grave at Nizhniaya Krynka settlement. OSCE observers visited another mass grave found in the East of Ukraine on the territory where Ukrainian army was operating. As communicated by the 27-28 September daily report of OSCE observation mission in Ukraine published on their official web-site.

September 27, observers visited three grave locations identified by representatives of “Donetsk People’s Republic”. Two of the graves, near Kommunar mine, were visited on September 23.

The third location is at the beginning of Nizhniaya Krynka,” states the document as announced by ITAR-TASS.

Previously, Andrei Purgin, “‘DPR’ deputy prime-minister” reported that another grave was found nearby Nizhniaya Krynka settlement where a battalion of Ukrainian National Guard was based two weeks before.

“The exhumation will tell the number of bodies and how people died,” he said. Purgin also stressed out that this is not the first grave found on the territory previously controlled by Ukrainian enforcers.

The graves near Mine No. 22 Kommunar, not far from Nizhniaya Krynka settlement were found by “DPR” militants on September 23. Having examined one of them, the forensic experts came to a conclusion that people were killed by close-range head-shots. At the moment, we know about four dead. This territory was controlled by Ukrainian enforcers and Aidar battalion of National Guard. It is to be examined. The militants also found other graves but they are not open up yet.”

The mass grave story blows off on October 1 with the boom of communications about 400 deceased found in mass grave locations and information denunciation directly by the “DPR” supporters. And the source of 400 bodies is the RF’s official journal Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russian Newspaper). And Vesti reported as if they had taken the comment from the source – a Latvian member of OSCE mission. Though, two days later, in the story of October 3, Vesti call Einars Graudins not an OSCE expert but a member of “EU human right group”.

TV-Center, 01.10.2014

“Donetsk mortuaries store 400 bodies found at the grave sites.

400 unidentified bodies are delivered to Donetsk mortuaries, they were found at mass grave sites. Latvian human right defender Einars Graudins does not believe that this is the final number.

Against the “shaky truce” in the East of Ukraine, there arise more harrowing facts on genocide of locals. Wednesday, it was reported that Donetsk mortuaries have almost 400 unidentified bodies, they were found in mass graves of Donbas civilians. And Latvian human right defender Einars Graudins stated this not to be the final number. Having visited Donetsk he gave an interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He informed that the exhumation of the remains keeps going.”

Russia TV-Channel, Vesti, 01.10.2014

Latvian human right defender Einars Graudins, being the OSCE expert, stated that at the moment Donetsk mortuaries have about 400 unidentified bodies. They were found in mass graves nearby the city. Graudins and eight experts from EU-countries visited two mass grave sites. They were accompanied by the representatives of “DPR” and “LPR”.

“A few women came to us. They told that mercenaries of Azov and Donbas battalions were gang-raping all women of the village. Even 12-year old girls and elderly women suffered from the abuse,” told Einars Graudins.

The graves were found near Donetsk on September 23. The locals claim that civilians killed by Ukrainian enforcers are buried there. OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings stated that, probably, internal organs were taken from some of the bodies for sale.”

NTV-News, 01.10.2014

“‘DPR’ people told where 400 unidentified bodies were found.

Representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic told that the militants found 9 bodies in the common grave on the outskirts of Makeevka, and other unidentified remains were found in other parts of the region… It should be noted that not all of the bodies were found in the mass graves.

Andrei Purgin, “‘DPR’ deputy prime-minister”: “It was taken the wrong way, the information was distorted. We meant that the 400 is the total number of unidentified bodies in Donetsk mortuaries. 90% of them are civilians who perished in different periods. Many of the bodies are deformed and hardly identifiable.  So we turned to Russian specialists to have DNA-tests.”

Despite the actual denunciation of the “Latvian expert” declaration by the “DPR”, federal TV-channels actively used the “mass graves” cliché. October 10, NTV reminding of the previous developments stated that “September 23, “DPR” militants found mass graves on the territory of Kommunarskaya mine where Ukrainian enforcers had been camped. Over 400 bodies were found buried nearby Donetsk, and some of them have the signs of tortures.”

The contradictions when depicting the “evil grin” of Ukrainian militaries were evident repeatedly. The use of unsubstantiated statements was the most common.

For example, Channel One, referring to a “militant”, reports about the atrocities of Ukrainian militaries in the Donetsk airport, later, October 3, Maksim Shevchenko, NTV reporter, retells the same story citing a “militant” who saw that with his own eyes:

Channel One, News, 01.10.2014, 15:00

“A battle is going on in the new terminal. We have already gained control over the old one. Guys died… They attached the legs of our dead guys to a BMP [armored infantry vehicle] and dragged all over the airport. We saw those bodies: torn out teeth, tied up legs, frayed corpses; they were dragged all over the airport,” the militant says.

NTV-News, 03.10.2014

“Ukrainian enforcers tied the militants to the tank and dragged: shocking photo from Donetsk.

Despite the truce, there is a full-on war nearby Donetsk airport. Journalist Maksim Shevchenko saw it with his own eyes. He saw the atrocities of Ukrainian enforcers.

Truncated bodies of three militant tankmen were taken from the airport’s territory today; the militants and Ukrainian army have been fighting for the airport’s territory for many days. This message was posted on the Twitter account of Member of Council under Russia's President on Human Rights Maksim Shevchenko; today he came to the airport area.

@Shevchenkomax: ‘When I was in the nearest rear, I was told that there were three dead tankmen in the midground, their legs were tied up with a cable, and allegedly they were dragged’”.

Another time the Russian TV-channels reported about the attacks of “Ukrainian enforcers” in locations where it was totally impossible. For example, at first they reported about perished militants nearby Torez, not far from the Malaysian Boeing crash site. Later it was reported that Ukrainian army bombed the OSCE delegation wishing to examine the crash site.

Since Russian viewers are not likely to check this information and will never know that Torez and jet crash site are in the “DPR” backyard (and not “on the Donetsk outskirts” as claimed by the TV-Center), such stories would assure them that Boeing was shot down by Ukrainian army and not the “militants”.

On the other hand, the next day NTV aired the statement of Zakharchenko ‘prime-minister of “DPR”’ that the Boeing crash site is safe for international missions because it is in their rear. And if international experts do not gather the evidence, they do not want to know the ‘truth’. Such a simple twomover. Though if these two communications are compared, the “DPR’s” situation is: Purgin carries fire in one hand and Zakharchenko carries water in the other.

NTV-News, 14.10.2014

“Last night in the course of fights in the East of Ukraine a militant got killed.

People’s militia reports about the death of its soldier during the firing by Ukrainian army. Moreover, five locals were injured during the last night bombings.

A representative of “DPR” law-enforcement bodies: “One local was injured last day in Donetsk. And one Makeevka local got missile wound. Two locals of Shakhtersk got missile wounds. One Torez local is wounded.”

An officer of “DPR Ministry of Interior” added that a militant got killed during the attack of enforcers.”

NTV-News, 14.10.2014

“The fire in Donbas goes on: the GRAD shelling covered OSCE experts.

There were communications from Donbas that National Guard soldiers fired upon the OSCE expert group working on the Malaysian Boeing crash site.

The observers and experts collecting the crash victims’ belongings for evidence were shelled with GRADs. There were no victims only because the shells did not reach the goal, as stated by Andrei Purgin, “DPR” deputy prime-minister”.

TV-Center, 14.10.2014

“DPR: enforcers fired upon experts on the Boeing crash site.

The Donetsk outskirts were shelled by enforcers again. Civilians got killed. As reported by DPR authorities, the OSCE working on the Malaysian Boeing crash site were shelled. Meanwhile Donetsk locals are restoring their houses and getting ready for winter. Denis Fedonenkov, TV-Center.”

NTV-News, 15.10.2014

“’DPR’: The Boeing crash site is absolutely safe.

The deputy prime-minister of self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (“DPR”) Aleksandr Zakharchenko is sure that nothing disturbs the work of experts on the Malaysian Boeing crash site nearby Donetsk.

He said that “the village where Boeing crashed is in rear, and the commission can work there without any disturbances.” At the same time he called the fact that the parts of the crashed plane were not collected yet surprising.

Aleksandr Zakharchenk: “Such inactivity raises many questions. Since every wreckage is the evidence! If it is not collected, they do not want to see the evidence!”

And he noted again that the militants have nothing to do with the tragedy, as reported by TASS. “I know for sure one thing: we did not shoot it down,” stated the prime-minister of self-declared republic.”

Thus, the Russian TV-channels by means of “DPR” “speakers” during the so called truce move heaven and earth to capture the viewer’s attention with “genocide” shockers. Being clumsy but astonishing. The goal of this undertaking became evident when October 15, four Kremlin representatives: Vladimir Putin, Prime-Minister Dmitri Medvedev, Kremlin chief of staff Sergei Ivanov, RF Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev gave interviews mentioning the “genocide” of Russians in Donbas, “bloodbath”, “mass graves”, and “civil war”. It is logical that their words should have been put to the prepared ground. From this point of view, the federal TV-channels handled their task.

However, phony attempts of TV-propagandists to take advantage of fates of deceased people were also obvious for those Russians who still remembered the Chechnya conflict. We believe Dmitri Muratov, editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta news-paper, on the air of Echo of Moscow, September 25, was the best to evaluate the situation:

Echo of Moscow, Special Opinion, 25.09.2014

“Dmitri Muratov: To begin with, any speculation prior to crime investigation as well as the political and agitation dances on tombs – are to come. The whole story – about exhumation and identification – is very hard. Once in Chechnya, me and the then correspondents of “Sovershenno Sekretno” (Top Secret) Andrei ‘incomprehensible’ and Mikhail Markelov (he is the State Duma deputy now), photoreporter Sergei Kuznetsov… we found a hidden mass grave not far from Grozny and we took a few ammunition boxes with remains to have an expertise.

An outstanding forensic expert Aleksandr Maslov — God rest his soul, now I can tell his name – told how they died, were exterminated, as a matter of fact, what happened to those people. We handed the case over to the military procurator’s office and the boxes as well.

Now, when both sides start playing on still unidentified people – I guess only two of them are identified – when they start showing that a pregnant woman was killed here, and here one can see a longhaired man, this is the information war element. This is the war making use of human bodies. And this is the vilest kind of information confrontation.

I figure what could have been done with acceptance of local authorities that are having elections soon in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, Ukrainian goodwill and goodwill of our, Russia’s, side. A huge number of human fates, perished people were determined in the well-known 124^th lab of Rostov headed by Vladimir Scherbakov. They worked with unidentified bodies, they were doing their best to reconstruct the fates, define genetic stuff, who those people were, the nature of wounds, when it happened, determine a period of time. We have great specialists, I’m mentioning only Pavlov, Kornienko, and Vladimir Scherbakov again. Today he heads the State-owned lab. He has got “Laboratory 124” as the expertise enterprise, but I am sure that those unique and outstanding specialists could be involved on a CIS-scale to establish what has happened: if this was a crime against humanity, the precise number of bodies, the nature of wound and the time and location… And exhumations must be held neither by the “Peace March” (Marsh Mira), even though this is Tretiakov’s opinion, nor by those supporters of peace, nor by those responsible for the war and deaths certainly, but by the professionals. And I would like to ask all the mentioned stakeholders, the unique specialists and governments to allow the specialists together with OSCE observers and opposing parties to have the adequate expertise before it’s too late.

The monitoring is carried out by NGO “Тelekrytyka” supported by the USAID funding provided through the ‘Internews Network’ in the framework of U-Media Program.