Category Russia

Russia targets Paris Olympics with deepfake Tom Cruise video | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian

The fake Cruise video, which appeared on the Telegram messaging platform last year, is called Olympics Has Fallen and uses artificial intelligence-generated audio of the film star's voice to present a 'strange, meandering script' disparaging the IOC. The documentary, whose title riffs on the Gerard Butler action film Olympus Has Fallen, also claims falsely to have been produced by Netflix and is promoted with bogus five-star reviews from the New York Times and the BBC.

Fact Check: U.S. Spokesperson Did NOT Justify Ukrainian Strikes On Belgorod, Russia Saying It Holds ‘Virtually No Civilians’ — Video Is AI Fake | Lead Stories

Does a 50-second video show authentic remarks by U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller discussing "military targets" in the Russian city of Belgorod, with "virtually no civilians left" in that city? No, that's not true: The video mixes video of different briefings, during which Miller made no such remarks. The words falsely attributed to him in the video were AI-generated. The State Department labeled the video a deepfake. The video of fake remarks was also posted by the Russian Embassy in South Africa account on X, but later that post was deleted.

Fact Check: Putin Defends Hitler’s Invasion of Poland in Carlson Interview

True. Based on a Russian transcript of Vladimir Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson, Newsweek verified Putin said Adolf Hitler was "forced" to invade Poland, an inaccurate interpretation of the circumstances leading to World War II. While translations do not use the word "forced" or "compelled", they broadly match its meaning.

Russian has not been banned in Ukraine, despite repeated claims

Ukraine has not banned the use of the Russian language in the country. A 2019 law established Ukrainian as the official language of Ukraine and strengthened its use in businesses, schools and the media. Our ruling Lavrov referenced the banning and prohibition of Russian in Ukraine, particularly in "education, the media, everyday contacts," during a press conference. Despite a language law that establishes Ukrainian as the country's official language and prioritizes its use in civil society, Russian has not been banned. We rate Lavrov's statement False.

FACT CHECK: Kim Jong Un And Vladimir Putin Video Edited To Show The Two Refusing To Drink From Glasses After Toasting | Check Your Fact

The caption reads, "When Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong UN met and none of them was willing to drink first." The claim is inaccurate. The video has been edited to remove the moment that they drink. The full video shows that they did drink. The video shows the two toasted each other and then the other people at the table and then were clearly seen drinking.

January 15, 2024
Coordinated disinformation Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions North Korea Putin Russia

Russia did not invade Ukraine to stop a NATO genocide in eastern regions

The Verdict: False. There is no evidence that the people of eastern Ukraine were subject to systematic extermination. [...] The claim was spread widely after [Russian Foreign Affairs official] Maria Zakharova [...] stated in February 2022 that there was a "systematic extermination of the Donbas population." However, an OSCE monitoring mission active in Ukraine since 2014 has found no evidence of mass targeted killings of civilians in the Donbas region. The Russian Foreign Ministry has not provided any proof to back up Zakharova's claim.

Russian Nationalist Channels Fabricate YouTube Data to Claim Ukrainians Don’t Listen to Ukrainian Musicians

"It's just that YouTube Music published the TOP artists in Ukraine. Not a single performer in Ukrainian." That is false. Musicians singing in Ukrainian dominated all of YouTube's weekly charts of top artists in Ukraine in 2023 as shown in YouTube's own data.

January 15, 2024
Coordinated disinformation Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine Ukrainian culture

Fact Check: Image of NYT headline on ‘low’ civilian casualties in Ukraine is fake | Reuters

The New York Times did not publish a headline saying Western military experts were bewildered by low civilian casualties in Ukraine. The headline in the circulating screenshot has been altered from an authentic article published by the outlet in late December on Russian airstrikes on Ukraine.

January 15, 2024
Attacks on civilians Coordinated disinformation Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Russia Ukraine

This Is a Real Photo Of Putin Speaking with Other Leaders at an Enormous Table | Snopes.com

Claim: A photo authentically shows Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking with regional leaders at an enormous but sparsely populated table. Rating: True [...] Putin's public appearances often involve abnormally long or large tables, which has been a consistent source of speculation and mockery since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

January 15, 2024
Fact checks / debunkings International community Putin Russia

Russian fake news: Ukrainians allegedly disconnected from public utilities for not appearing in military commissariat

In a commentary to Ukrinform, the representative of Rivne Regional State Administration confirmed that the above 'announcement' was another fake story. By spreading fake narratives, Russian propagandists pursue two objectives at once. Firstly, they make attempts to sow panic within Ukraine against the background of the adoption of a decision on the draft bill on mobilization. Secondly, they try to discredit Ukraine's military and political leadership before international partners, as if the Ukrainian authorities were conscripting citizens against the law, allegedly shutting them out even in routine matters.

January 15, 2024
Coordinated disinformation Disinformation Fact checks / debunkings Misconceptions Russia Russian propaganda Ukraine