While Moldova’s pro-European government holds Moscow responsible for the spill, pro-Russian propagandists claim the crisis was an accident caused by a Ukrainian truck on the Otaci-Moghilau (Mohyliv) bridge and had nothing to do with the war. Cojocari says this is implausible. “I went to check the bridge and there was no oil slick there. Plus the bridge is lower down the Nistru River than Naslavcea, so I wouldn’t have seen the petrol stains in the case of an accident lower down,” Cojocari said.

Tankies, man. Too stupid to live. But as Trump has shown, even the most brazen lie can convince the gullible, if it’s just repeated often enough and with enough conviction.