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Putin did not nationalize Russian central bank, and Rothchilds never controlled Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin was not responsible for the nationalization of the Russian centralized bank, which took place in 1917.

• The Rothschild family banking business has had an office in Russia since the 1990s, but it has no oversight over the country's currency or monetary policies, which are controlled by the Bank of Russia.

• The Rothschild family long has been the target of conspiracy theories, and their wealth is believed to be responsible for inspiring the anti-Semitic trope that Jewish people "control" the world's money.

Our ruling
A Facebook post says Putin "ended the Rothschild's control over Russia by nationalizing the Russian centralized bank."

Putin did not nationalize the Russian centralized bank; that occurred in 1917.

Evidence does not support the claim that the Rothschild family had control over Russia. The family's banking business has had an office in Russia since the 1990s ' though it recently suspended operations ' but it has no oversight over the country's currency or monetary policies, which are controlled by the Bank of Russia.

We rate this claim False.

No, this isn’t a picture of Ukrainian students celebrating Hitler’s birthday

An image of Russians forming the number 55 to celebrate the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin rocketing into space has been mischaracterized to wrongly claim that it shows Ukrainian students celebrating Hitler's birthday.

Anyone confusing this shape for a swastika is mistaken. While the the numbers are made with straight lines like a swastika ' lacking the curve that's often used to write the number five ' the angles are off. The two ends of both fives point in the same direction, whereas each end of a swastika points in a different direction.

But what's more, this photo wasn't taken in Lviv in 2022. It was shot in Penza, Russia, in 2016, to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Cosmonautics Day.

The "55" can be seen at the 47 mark, and it's followed by an image of Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet pilot who became the first person to orbit the earth on April 12, 1961.

We rate this post Pants on Fire!

No, Putin didn’t free 35,000 children from Ukraine

This unfounded claim originated on a website known for publishing misinformation.

Putin has freed 35,000 children in Ukraine, a country he's invaded, or anywhere else. There are no credible sources nor news reports to support this.

Searching for evidence that Putin saved thousands of children, we only found articles reporting that Russian police jailed several children for leaving flowers at Ukraine's embassy in Moscow.

We rate this post Pants on Fire!

Fake: “Armed Forces of Ukraine Used OSCE Video Camera Data for Artillery Fire Correction”

Accusations that the OSCE provided Ukrainian Armed Forces with coordinates of military targets obtained through its video cameras are unfounded. StopFake found obvious inconsistencies in Russian media stories on the subject. For one, the video footage offered as "material evidence" was taken in a different area long before the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In addition, the OSCE cameras in question were incapable of recording video at long distances; for this purpose UAVs would have been used.

CNN did not tweet about children in Ukraine signing up to fight in the war

The tweet was fabricated and did not originate with CNN.

The photo in the post was taken in 2017. It was published in a March 30, 2022, story by CNN about the Azov Battalion of the Ukraine military. In that story, the photo caption says it was taken outside Kyiv on July 14, 2017, and shows "a student at a paramilitary camp for children call(ing) the rank to attention."

The AP confirmed with the photographer, Alex Masi, that it was taken at a "summer camp from 2016-17, where kids learn about the realities of war."

CNN did not tweet about "brave children" in Ukraine signing up to fight Russia, and we rate the claim Pants on Fire!

Pro-Kremlin Disinformation Outlets Referenced By Hundreds Of Wikipedia Articles

The Kremlin continues to insulate the Russian population from the outside world in terms of access to reliable information, including an increasingly threatening stance towards Wikipedia. Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor claimed that Wikipedia had become the source of "a new line of constant attacks on Russians" and that its articles promoted "an exclusively anti-Russian interpretation of events". The future of Wikipedia in Russia is up in the air, but as of yet, the online encyclopaedia still remains accessible.

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