European pensions. support for Ukrainian refugees. Euronews report. kremlin propagandists

kremlin propagandists deliberately used the European television company Euronews to create a fake story that citizens of France, Germany, Spain and Italy risk losing their pensions due to the high cost of aid to Ukrainian refugees. In reality, the crisis was caused by long-term demographic and economic factors, not by financial, humanitarian or military aid to Ukraine or Ukrainian refugees.

The authors of the fake news took a real Euronews video (https://www.instagram.com/reels/DTPkNpaDd4z/) and superimposed a falsified audio track on it. There is no material on the channel's official resources that contains any information linking pension problems in Europe with aid to Ukraine or support for Ukrainian refugees.
The figures cited in the video are also fictitious, and the cause-and-effect logic used to explain the alleged ‘pension crisis’ is misleading. According to many experts, pension challenges in Europe are a structural, long-term problem rooted in demographics and labour market trends. Eurobarometer surveys show that significant segments of the population doubt that state pensions will guarantee a decent standard of living. Scepticism is most pronounced among young Europeans. Concerns about pensions regularly rank among voters' top social concerns, alongside inflation and access to healthcare.
Additional context comes from a YouGov survey conducted in December 2025 in six European countries — the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland and France — as well as in the United States: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53791-europeans-and-americans-say-state-pension-systems-are-unaffordable-but-dont-support-reform-options A link to the survey is included in the original Euronews report, but it does not refer to Ukraine or spending on Ukrainian refugees. Instead, its findings highlight broader and long-standing concerns about the sustainability of public pension systems, combined with public resistance to reforms that could stabilise them.
Majorities in France, Germany, Spain and Italy said their national pension systems were already a significant financial burden. In Poland, around 45% of respondents share this view, while in the United States and the United Kingdom, the figure is around one-third. Confidence in pension provision is correspondingly low. Across Europe, a majority of respondents who have not yet reached retirement age doubt that they will be able to maintain a comfortable standard of living after retirement.
Importantly, the pension crisis in Europe has no clear link to EU assistance to Ukraine. Financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine is provided through separate budgetary instruments and grant mechanisms and does not pass through national pension funds or directly affect them. To date, no authoritative or reliable sociological study has established any causal link between support for Ukraine and the sustainability of European pension systems. But russians are happy to use any crisis or negative event in Europe to blame Ukraine or question its support.
By the way:
Lithuania has recorded a surge in hostile propaganda: 325 cases in a month.
The main narratives are the Kaliningrad transit and the situation on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border. These are the topics that russian and Belarusian propaganda channels have been trying to promote as much as possible in the media, writes Delf: https://www.delfi.lt/ru/news/politics/rossiya-i-belarus-usilili-informacionnye-ataki-na-litvu-kaliningrad-i-granica-v-centre-vnimaniya-120185524
What did russia do? According to the Lithuanian military, the kremlin actively promoted the topic of possible restrictions on transit to kaliningrad. russian officials tried to present this as a violation of international agreements and even threatened a ‘legitimate response’ in accordance with military doctrine.
This is how russia tries to legitimise its aggressive rhetoric, presenting potential military action as ‘necessary.’ The kremlin is painting a picture that the tension is Lithuania's fault and that russia is only ‘defending itself.’
What did Belarus do? Lukashenko's regime traditionally accused Lithuania of ‘artificially creating tension’ while trying to appear as a peacemaker. Propaganda repeated messages that Lithuania was allegedly accusing Minsk without grounds, while Belarus was ‘taking care of drivers at the border’ and ‘seeking dialogue.’
Belarusian media used the transit issue to portray Lithuania as a hostile state that is militarising the region and provoking conflicts.
Based on materials from Stopfake.org, Spravdi.ua