Category Narratives

Russia pushes false crisis actor claims about video from Bucha, Ukraine

The Russian Ministry of Defense and other top Russian officials claimed that a video of a car driving through Ukraine showed two crisis actors playing the role of dead Ukrainians in a staged massacre. On Telegram and Twitter, they claimed that the video showed one person moving their arm, and another person seen in the car's mirror sitting up.

The video does not show a person raising an arm as the car drives by; it shows a mark floating across the car's windshield ' perhaps a drop of water or a speck of dirt.

The video does not show someone sitting up after the car drives by; it shows a stationary corpse through the lens of the car's passenger-side mirror, which has distorting effects.

Our ruling
The Russian Ministry of Defense said a video taken from a car driving through Bucha, Ukraine, shows a corpse "moving his arm," and then "in the rear view mirror the 'corpse' sits down."

Both claims misrepresent what the video in question shows.

The video shows a mark floating across the car's windshield ' perhaps a drop of water or a speck of dirt ' which Russia officials falsely portrayed as of a corpse "moving his arm."

Similarly, what Russian officials falsely claimed was a corpse sitting up was actually a dead person whose body appeared distorted due to the shape of the car's passenger-side mirror.

We rate this claim False.

Fictional video shared in posts falsely claiming ‘Eiffel Tower was bombed’

A video that appears to show explosions in the French capital of Paris has been viewed thousands of times in misleading social media posts that claim it shows a real attack on the Eiffel Tower. The posts suggest the attack was carried out by Russian forces in response to sanctions from foreign powers following its invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. The footage, however, has been shared in a false context: it shows a fictional film created by a French director that was then shared online by Ukrainian officials in a bid to urge European authorities to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Old photos circulate after Russian forces attack Ukrainian nuclear power plant

Two photos have been shared in a report that links them to a fire at a Ukrainian nuclear power plant following a Russian attack in March 2022. However, the images -- viewed thousands of times -- have been shared in a misleading context. Both photos predate the Russian attack: one image has circulated in reports since 2011 about an oil refinery fire in Japan, while the other has circulated in reports since January 2022 about a Russian military drill.

March 30, 2022
Escalation / WWIII Fact checks / debunkings Media taken out of context Methods Misconceptions Narratives Russia Ukraine

Claim that Putin beheaded bioweapon engineers, called Trump to tell him has no basis in fact

There is no evidence Putin beheaded 12 bioweapon engineers in Ukraine.

This claim comes from Real Raw News, a blog that has shown a pattern of fabricating news about politicians being executed or arrested by the military.

Though the story claims Putin told former President Donald Trump about the alleged beheading, a spokesperson for Trump said the account is baseless.

March 29, 2022
Biolabs Disinformation International community Misconceptions Narratives Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine USA

Donated Canadian equipment sparks inaccurate claims on Ukraine fire coverage

A screenshot of CNN footage has been shared on social media alongside the claim that the channel falsified coverage of a fire in Ukraine, with the name "Edmonton" on a firefighter's jacket cited as evidence. But the footage shows the aftermath of strikes in the city of Lviv, and the jacket was donated by a Canadian non-profit, the organization and Edmonton Fire Rescue Services say.

Viral Photo of Russian Bomber Shows Incident from 2020

Amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, a misleading photo posted March 22 on Facebook shows an American fighter jet intercepting a Russian bomber near Alaskan airspace. But the incident was not related to the current situation in Ukraine; the photo appeared in an article published in Aero Magazine in June 2020.

March 25, 2022
Disinformation Escalation / WWIII Misconceptions Russia USA

Clip of man in body bag smoking is from the set of a music video, not ‘staged’ deaths in Ukraine

A TikTok video of a man smoking a cigarette in what appears to be a truck full of body bags has been viewed thousands of times in Facebook posts suggesting that deaths are being staged in the war in Ukraine. The claim is false; the clip shows the behind-the-scenes making of a music video for a song released by Russian rapper Husky in September 2020.

Old military training drill video falsely passed off as footage of US soldiers fighting in Ukraine

A video of soldiers jumping out of a plane with parachutes has been shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook in South Africa alongside a claim that it shows US paratroopers joining the war in Ukraine. But this is false: the footage, which has been viewed millions of times, has been online since at least 2016 and features US soldiers performing parachute drills at the Pope Army Airfield in North Carolina.

No evidence to support claims that Ukraine is killing people for speaking Russian

Russia has leaned on claims that Ukraine has killed Russian speakers in the country and that Russians are the targets of genocide there, but there's no evidence to support that.

Ukraine appealed to the U.N.'s International Court of Justice in the Hague to rule on the Russian government's claims of genocide "in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of Ukraine," calling them false. The court ruled 13-2 on March 16 that the Kremlin's justification for the war was unjustified and ordered Russia to stop its invasion. Judges from Russia and China were the two dissenting votes.

We rate this post False.

March 22, 2022
"Genocide" vs Russian-speakers Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Narratives Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine

One America News runs conspiratorial segment claiming strike on Mariupol hospital was US false flag

The aftermath of the attack on a maternity hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine, was captured on video and in photos showing that it was an actual attack.

A Pentagon spokesperson called OAN host Pearson Sharp's claims "ridiculous." Several independent experts who spoke to PolitiFact agreed that it was completely without merit. Russian officials have conceded the attack occurred.

Our ruling
Sharp said the attack on the Mariupol hospital had "the makings of yet another false flag operation" by the U.S.

There is no evidence that the attack was staged or a false flag carried out by the U.S. Its aftermath was documented by workers, witnesses and journalists on the ground.

We rate OAN's claim Pants on Fire!