The Italian public broadcaster Rai 1 published a “report” from the occupied territory of Ukraine so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic”.

Cliches of Russian propaganda were voiced to thousands of people in Italy – that there is a civil war in eastern Ukraine, fueled by the West; Ukrainian military – fascists who shell the houses of Donbas residents; the presence of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine is a forced measure to deter NATO; Russia is not involved in the MH17 crash, and the investigation into the tragedy is a political persecution by the West.

The leitmotif of the report of the Italian correspondent Alessandro Cassieri was the idea that the people of Donbas are peaceful people who are forced to defend themselves from the encroachments of Ukraine.

“Donbas worked hard for many years and fed the whole of Ukraine while singing in Kyiv” which allegedly caused the civil war.

All the heroes of the report, locals and so-called “DPR” soldiers, repeat the main narratives of Russian propaganda about Ukrainian “fascists” instigated by the West.

Cassieri is also interviewing leader of so-called “republic” Denis Pushylin. Although the “DPR” is recognized only by “pocket” South Ossetia, this fact does not stop Cassieri from calling Pushylin the “President” of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”.