While it is impossible to access many Russian media or official sites from NATO member countries, Australia has decided to label any information about neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine as “disinformation” and to sanction those disseminating it.

Yet, for eight years, several media put out articles and video reports addressing this issue without the Australian government ever questioning their accounts.

In a statement dated 8 March 2022, Marise Payne (pictured), Australia’s Foreign Secretary, said: "The Australian Government is placing new sanctions on Moscow’s propagandists and purveyors of disinformation, who are trying to legitimatise Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified invasion with false narratives such as the ’de-Nazification’ of Ukraine” [1].

[1"Further sanctions on Russia", Marise Payne, May 8, 2022.