Russian fakes. crisis in Europe. cryptocurrency mining.
Ukrainian refugees. kaja kallas. sanctions against russia. Zelenskiy. Putin

Here is a selection of the most influential fakes and manipulations that attracted attention in pro-russian media and pro-kremlin bloggers on social media. Please read it to become more aware and avoid falling for disinformers' tricks. Please support the efforts of independent journalists to combat this shameful phenomenon. If we defeat propaganda, we will prevent new major tragedies.

Fake: American journalists mock Ukrainian casualties
"Journalists from the American morning show Good Day Sacramento, which airs on KMAX, laughed on air at the news of Ukrainian armed forces losses". The fake video is being replicated by pro-kremlin Telegram channels and media. 
The truth: russian propagandists found one of the many episodes of this show on the Internet, replaced the captions and video on one of the monitors in the studio. Ukrinform's fact-checkers explain that the show is purely entertaining, with participants constantly joking and discussing reports on entertainment in Sacramento. They do not discuss political events or wars in the world. The authors of the fake faked the original video, which dates back to December 2019. The lies spread by the russians are aimed at supporting the narrative of ‘huge losses’ of Ukrainians at the front and a significant advantage of the russians. 
Another fake on this topic was attributed by russian propagandists to ABC News, which allegedly reported a million dead and hundreds of thousands wounded Ukrainians. In this case, the video was also edited to order: the original soundtrack was replaced with artificial intelligence. The actual ABC News report (30 March 2023) was about helping Ukrainian veterans with prosthetics and did not include any deaths.
Any claims of millions of casualties in the Ukrainian army are untrue. On 8 December 2024, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that since 24 February 2022, Ukraine had lost about 43,000 soldiers. There are no official statistics on the number of people with disabilities. However, in mid-2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that about 50,000 Ukrainians had become disabled as a result of amputation.
Fake: EU leaders Josep Borrell and Kaja Kallas are Nazis
Such narratives are lively discussed on propaganda TV shows in russia, i.e. on state-owned TV channels, in particular, on the political talk show of Vladimir Solovyov on the russia-1 channel. These theses are then spread in online media and social networks. Here is one of them: "Europe is not a continent. It is a country. The European Union is a cauldron that erases the national identity of its members. There will be no France, no Germany, no Italy. The EU is a country with a single currency, a single parliament, a single government and a single police force. Now the EU is creating a single army. It is turning into a liberal fascist country".
The truth is that this is not the first time that kremlin propagandists have accused European countries of russophobia, of seeking war, and even of war crimes. These statements and publications divert attention from russia's responsibility for its aggressive war. These statements are a simple attempt to discredit Kaja Kallas and Josep Borel in particular for their support of Ukraine. There is no context in which the EU and its current and future representatives can be classified as war criminals in russia's war against Ukraine.
The kremlin justifies the invasion of Ukraine as a ‘denazification operation’. Stories about the ‘Nazi regime of Zelenskyy’ are one of the most important elements of russian propaganda. But the common sense of people who read internationally reputable media, such as Russianfake.com, and not the kremlin's ‘fake news factories’, suggests that this is complete nonsense.
Fake: Europe is falling apart without russian scientists
"The whole of Europe is falling apart without Russian scientists, who are banned from joint projects. Europe's scientific programme was practically created thanks to Russia's contributions", pro-kremlin media write.
The truth is that such statements are a complete distortion of the nature of global scientific cooperation. After russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Commission suspended cooperation with russian entities in the field of research, science and innovation. No new contracts or agreements will be signed with russian organisations under the Horizon Europe programme. Restrictions on joint projects with russian scientists are part of broader sanctions in response to russia's violation of international law and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, there is no evidence that these restrictions have a negative impact on Europe's scientific sector.
Fake: Ukraine lacks funding for fake news production
"In November, Ukraine started producing ‘significantly fewer fakes’ than before" - this is the “news” published by a number of pro-russian sources, citing the BBC and Bellingcat. They claim that Western partners have allegedly stopped allocating money to Ukraine for information warfare, and that is why there are fewer fakes in the Ukrainian information space. 
This information is a complete fabrication. The video with this ‘news’ is not available on the website or social media of the British public broadcaster BBC. The video was edited by the propagandists themselves from stock footage. Similarly, neither Bellingcat, the OSINT researchers, nor the founder of this project, Elliot Higgins, has published any data on such a study. 
The original source of the fake was the pro-kremlin Telegram channel "Ukropskiy Fresh". Recently, the channel's authors published a fake news story that "a Ukrainian pilot hijacked a plane and fled to Africa to his beloved". The strategy of ‘mirror propaganda’ is often used by russians to change the direction of the discussion and divert attention from the subject of the conversation. In other words, they often attribute to their opponents ‘sins’ and ‘crimes’ that they personally commit.
Fake: The United States and the European Union are blackmailing Kazakhstan
"In the face of blackmail and intimidation from Washington and Brussels, Kazakhstan is forced to exercise caution in order not to harm its companies. Moscow notes the active work of Western emissaries with Astana to ensure compliance with anti-Russian sanctions and threats to impose secondary sanctions on Kazakh companies and banks. Despite the West's attempts to tear Kazakhstan away from Russia, Moscow's cooperation with Astana is developing successfully". This is what the kremlin's media, including Kazakhstani media, write about. 
The truth: The EU is working with Kazakhstan to prevent its territory from being used as a platform for circumventing EU sanctions imposed on russia over its aggression against Ukraine. An intensive dialogue on this issue is ongoing at both the political and technical levels. During his third visit to Astana on 19 June 2024, David O'Sullivan, the European Union's Special Envoy for the Implementation of Sanctions, emphasised: "We respect Kazakhstan's decision not to join the sanctions, and we have never put pressure on Kazakhstan. All we ask is to ensure that the country does not become a platform for circumventing the sanctions imposed by the G7 countries, as this has serious consequences. The Kazakh side has several problematic issues that we are currently discussing".
There have been numerous reports of sanctions violations by entities based in Kazakhstan, as well as in other Central Asian countries. Among other things, products critical to russia's military industry are being shipped through Kazakhstan, which is increasing the number of casualties and destruction in Ukraine (one example is described here: https://vlast.kz/english/60740-eu-sanctions-hit-a-kazakhstani-company-that-sold-microchips-to-russia.html) Enforcing anti-russian sanctions is an important step to end the war, as russia cannot fund its army to the extent it wants.
Fake: anti-russian sanctions have led to US debt and a freezing of Europe
A recurring pro-kremlin disinformation narrative about sanctions and the EU's inevitable dependence on russian energy resources. Although the data on the growth of the US national debt is true, the interpretation of its significance in this disinformation story is a deliberate distortion of the facts. The US national debt is not related to support for Ukraine and anti-russian sanctions.
Less than half of the US national debt is attributable to military spending, and only a small portion of it is attributable to Ukraine or Taiwan. Experts suggest that the current debt is not as alarming as it may look, neither at its historical peak nor as high as in other developed economies such as Japan.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the overall economic situation in the US remains very positive. At the same time, the EU's gas storage facilities were 95% of their full capacity at the beginning of November 2024. In addition, 42% of the energy consumed by the EU is now produced domestically. Any accusations of Europe's economic collapse due to the refusal of russian energy have been debunked in many international media. At the same time, there is clear evidence that international sanctions are having a serious impact on russia's economy - social spending is being cut, inflation has soared, and the ruble has plummeted: https://www.swp-berlin.org/publikation/the-russian-economy-at-a-turning-point
Fake: Zelenskyy bought a hotel in Courchevel for 88 million euros
"The Palace des Neiges hotel purchased by Zelenskyy has 70 rooms, a spa area, a swimming pool and a restaurant. It is currently being renovated and is scheduled to open in 2026-2027". Propagandists write about this in Telegram channels. This is another low-level disinformation.
The truth is that since the beginning of the full-scale war, russian propaganda has been regularly generating fakes about the Zelenskyy family, which buys expensive real estate, luxury cars, and other valuables. We have already written about Goebbels' estate, the royal residence in the UK, and Hitler's ceremonial limousine. Now it's the turn of Courchevel. All of these fakes are promptly refuted - none of them have been confirmed. The purpose of these fakes is to discredit the president in the eyes of Ukrainians and international partners by portraying Ukraine as a totally corrupt state whose leadership enriches itself during the war and embezzles foreign aid. If this were true, the United States, NATO and the European Union would hardly continue to support a country that misuses their aid. Do you agree?
Manipulation: Pentagon recognises Ukraine as ‘one of the most corrupt countries’
russian media continue to manipulate the issue of Ukraine's accession to NATO. This time, the propagandists used the Inspector General of the US Department of Defence, who allegedly said that the Pentagon had recognised Ukraine as one of the most corrupt countries, and that this was an obstacle to Ukraine's accession to NATO. The authors of the publications refer to the quarterly report of the Pentagon Inspector General (from July to September 2024). The document includes a separate section on anti-corruption activities in Ukraine.
Truth: The Inspector General's report does indeed name some of Ukraine's problems in the area of anti-corruption reforms. However, the conclusion of the document is positive and NATO partners welcome Ukraine's efforts to reform its institutions.Quotes from the report: "Concerns about corruption and the rule of law in Ukraine could pose a serious obstacle to post-war economic recovery and foreign investment"."Corruption continues to hamper Ukraine's efforts to achieve its aspirations for integration with the EU and NATO".
These two phrases were used by propagandists to ignore all further information about Ukraine's key successes in the anti-corruption sphere, described on four pages of the report (pp. 66-70). According to the inspector's conclusions, "Ukraine is strengthening its civil society, democratic and economic institutions, and implementing anti-corruption, justice and corporate governance reforms to build on its sustained momentum towards Euro-Atlantic integration and achieve a secure and just future that ensures prosperity for all its citizens’".
Separately, the inspector said that Ukraine "has undertaken reforms aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in areas such as defence procurement, corporate governance, human resources management, professional military education, logistics, and democratic civilian control of the army". The Pentagon has also once again separately refuted the russian narrative that Ukraine is misusing military and humanitarian aid from allied countries: "There is no credible evidence of the illegal movement of US-provided defence equipment, direct budget support, or humanitarian aid from Ukraine - despite russia's disinformation to the contrary".
Fake: Fewer social benefits and more military spending bring the West closer to dictatorship and fascism
"Chaos is growing in the West. Social benefits will be cut, which will lead to dictatorship, because otherwise it will be impossible to contain the protests. The situation will resemble the 1930s. There are all the prerequisites for this. This is how fascism is being revived in Europe". This is what the kremlin's media are saying.
These statements by russian figures were made in the context of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte's speech in Brussels on 12 December 2024 about potential cuts in social security spending to increase military spending. Mark Rutte's remarks were taken out of the broader context of his speech, which emphasised that any potential cuts to social spending would be small.
The increase in military spending is driven by russia's increasingly aggressive policy of the possible use of force and especially weapons of mass destruction against Ukraine and its partners in the EU and the US. Protests are a natural part of democratic societies where citizens have the right to voice their grievances. As usual, Western democracies are working within their legal frameworks to resolve such sensitive issues. That is, we are not talking about chaos and dictatorship.
Fake: The Nation magazine admits Zelenskyy's loss to putin
"The American magazine The Nation has put Zelenskyy on its cover with Putin on the background with the caption: "An unequal duel. Vladimir Zelenskyy failed to win, everyone is talking about Putin again. Just like Zelenskyy himself". This ‘news’ is being replicated in iussian Telegram channels.
The truth: disinformers have faked the cover of The Nation. There is no such cover with President Zelenskyy on the official website of The Nation or on social media, according to Ukrinform's fact-checkers. The fake cover states that the magazine with this caricature is supposed to be published in January 2025, but the real January copy has a different cover page - a map of the United States with the title ‘Code Red’. The purpose of this fake is a clumsy attempt to ‘exalt’ putin's image not only in the eyes of russian society but also in the world at large. For this purpose, russian fake news factories often forge materials from international media.
Fake: Johnny Depp will open a jewellery store in moscow
The propagandists write that the boutique will be run by the actor's beloved, 28-year-old Yulia Vlasova, a native of yekaterinburg, whom Depp met at the Cannes Film Festival. But Vlasova denied this information to Super.ru journalists. Also, none of Johnny Depp's official pages reports this news. In addition, the American actor has repeatedly expressed his support for Ukraine after the start of russia's full-scale invasion, performed against the backdrop of the Ukrainian flag and communicated with Ukrainian refugees. It is not the first time that russian propaganda has spread unfounded rumours about the actor, which would indicate his sympathy for russia, but have never been confirmed.
Fake: russia has hit Ukrainian NPP with a new Oreshnik missile, radiation levels have increased
russian troops have struck the Rivne NPP with an Oreshnik ballistic missile, causing all power units to be damaged and burning. The radiation level has increased. This information was spread in anonymous Facebook groups. However, the photo used in the posts was actually of a fire in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which occurred in 2023. This is not the first time that russian propaganda has spread false information about incidents at Ukraine's nuclear facilities. Ukrainian state-owned Energoatom officially reported that as of 24 December 2024, the radiation situation at the plant site and in the NPP observation area had not changed and was within current standards. With such fakes, russia is trying to intimidate the Western audience with its ‘military capabilities’.
Fake: Ukrainian refugees in Europe illegally mine cryptocurrency
"Ukrainians in Europe are illegally connecting to power grids to mine cryptocurrency" - this news, citing a Euronews video, appeared in a number of pro-russian resources. Disinformers claim that in just one month, more than 400 Ukrainian citizens were detained for this offence, and their actions even caused a power shortage on the continent.
However, this news is a complete lie: the video with such content was not published on the official Euronews website or social media. A search for news about similar incidents on the web also yielded no results. russian propagandists regularly spread false information about Ukrainian refugees using the visual style and logo of Euronews. In fact, power outages due to illegal cryptocurrency mining are occurring in russia. Even vladimir putin drew attention to this, pointing to the rapid increase in electricity consumption in a number of regions of the country. In the Irkutsk region alone, electricity consumption increased by 172%. And in the novosibirsk region, a deputy was arrested for illegally connecting to the power grid and illegally mining cryptocurrency.
Based on the materials of StopFake.org, Spravdi.ua, EuVsDisinfo.eu