The Russian Embassy in South Africa shared an article on X on April 9 about alleged atrocities committed by foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine. But this content originated from a fake news site, and the images used can be traced to other contexts.
Mārtiņš Staķis did not promise to close the Mikhail Chekhov Russian Drama Theater in Riga.
Niger's coup leaders did reportedly ask Russia's Wagner mercenaries help them hold on to power. But a video circulating online with the claim it shows a planeload of Wagner soldiers landing in Niger in 2023 is 17 years old.
Days after Wagner commander Yevgeny Prigozhin was confirmed dead in a plane crash, a video emerged on social media with claims that it showed Russian President Vladimir Putin attending his funeral. However, these claims are false; the footage dates back to 2013, and shows Putin at the funeral of his long-time judo trainer.
As Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was laid to rest after a fatal plane crash, videos purportedly showing graves of the group's fighters being demolished went viral on social media channels. But despite claims to the contrary, this footage does not show a large-scale effort by the Russian state to erase all traces of the mercenary group.
A claim that the Russian mercenary group, Wagner Group, has just arrived Mali to provide support for the coup-led military regime in Niger is circulating online.
Claim: A 79-second video shared by Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, shows the August 2023 crash of the plane allegedly carrying Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Rating: Miscaptioned
Claim: "The Wagnerians are entering Poland as migrants - claims Polsat News," users posted on X (previously known as Twitter). They are referring to the Polish media outlet Polsat News as the alleged source of that information. "People are sure that illegal immigrants from Belarus are entering the country, who are in fact fighters of the PMC Wagner," one of the users adds.
DW fact check: Unproven
Pro-Russian social media accounts have been widely sharing a video that they claim shows Ukrainian soldiers surrendering to the Russian army en masse. The video, however, actually shows a prisoner swap between the Russian state-funded paramilitary group, the Wagner Group, and the Ukrainian army in May 2023.
Social media posts claim a video depicts Ukrainian soldiers surrendering to the Russian army. This is false; the clip shows a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Wagner mercenaries in late May 2023 near the city of Bakhmut.