Russian fakes, Sandu Moldova, Armed Forces ukraine, Ukrainian refugees, International Legion

The kremlin continues to spend tens of millions of dollars every month just to hurt someone. Instead of somehow improving the lives of his people. The russian economy is in the worst state since 1992, social spending and projects have been cut for the third year in a row, but no money is spared for war and disinformation. For your attention, a selection of lies from the russian "Fake Factory" for October.

Fake: The head of Zelenskyi's office called Macron a "two-faced politician"
Pro-russian media are spreading a video that the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, allegedly called Emmanuel Macron a "two-faced politician" for his demand to reduce the loan to Ukraine from the G7 by $30 billion. Allegedly, he made this statement for the Ukrainian TV channel "1+1".
However, this news is completely fabricated. First, the video was fabricated by propagandists, as the website United24, whose logo is used in the video, did not actually publish such news either on its website or on social media. Moreover, United24 is a state platform launched to consolidate international support for Ukraine. Publications with insults to the leaders of the allied states are not a priori possible there. Secondly, the last time Andriy Yermak gave an interview to the TV channel "1+1" was three years ago. Finally, the statement that Emmanuel Macron is allegedly demanding a reduction in the loan amount for Ukraine is also untrue. The loan project did encounter some bureaucratic constraints. Today, the European Parliament approved the allocation of a loan to Ukraine in the amount of 35 billion euros at the expense of russia's frozen assets, which must be paid to Ukraine by the end of 2025. If the US does not pay its share (this possibility exists in the event of Donald Trump's election victory), the remaining 15 billion will be provided by other G7 partners.
Fake: during the reign of Sandu, Moldova entered the 50 poorest countries in the world
The kremlin's top propagandist, Dmitriy Kiselyov, made a statement on his TV show on the eve of the elections in Moldova: "As for poverty in Moldova, it is at a record high during Sandu's presidency. Moldova is on the list of the 50 poorest countries in the world. There is massive impoverishment. It is even difficult to understand where it is worse now in Ukraine or Moldova."
Truth: There are different ways to define poverty in a country. The World Bank uses the criterion of gross national income per capita with the conversion of national currencies into US dollars using the Atlas method. At the same time, all countries are divided into 4 groups: with high, higher than average, lower than average and low incomes. Moldova is now an upper-middle-income country, although it was classified as a low-income country in the late 1990s.
According to this criterion, in 2023, Moldova took 111th place in the world (above Ukraine, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bolivia, Uzbekistan, India). And according to the criterion of nominal GDP per capita, Moldova is in 96th place in the world (Ghana, which occupies the 50th position from the end, this indicator is 2.97 times lower).
Maia Sandu became the president of Moldova in 2020. In 3 years, according to the IMF, the nominal GDP per capita increased by 1.37 times. Another confirmation that russia openly despises politicians who are developing and have chosen a democratic path for their countries.
Fake: 60% of foreign soldiers of the Armed Forces return home disabled
Propagandists faked an infographic on this topic. This was confirmed in a comment to StopFake by a representative of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which is mentioned in the fake news. The fake infographic shows data on the percentage of foreign fighters likely to become disabled, broken down by country: 89% from Colombia, 88% from Poland, 62% from Germany, 71% from France, and 64% from the US. The chart also claims that these numbers coincide chronologically with Ukraine's actions in russia's Kursk region. The authors of the fake refer to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), an American think tank that specializes in the analysis of modern conflicts, as well as the Statista platform.
The German online platform Statista, which specializes in collecting and visualizing data, has also never published this particular infographic, despite closely following events in Ukraine. Statista's latest publications include the number of refugees from Ukraine and an estimate of the total cost of damage from the war in Ukraine. We could not find any information about "foreign mercenaries" in Ukraine on their website or social media. The very use of the term "mercenaries" to refer to foreigners fighting on the side of Ukraine is characteristic of russian propaganda.
Fake: Ukrainian refugees in Florida looted houses damaged by the hurricane
russian mass media and social networks spread information that Ukrainians were allegedly engaged in looting in Florida when the hurricane was raging. The discrediting of Ukrainian refugees is a topic that has been actively promoted by kremlin propaganda for a long time. Especially after the full-scale invasion, when many Ukrainians fled abroad in search of safety.
The news about looting by Ukrainians during the natural disaster in Florida is a complete lie. The whole story is based on a single screenshot allegedly from the "EARNINGS Florida/Miami" Telegram channel where users are allegedly "discussing" which house to rob. It was not possible to find the same channel through Telegram search. There are clear signs that point to the false nature of the story. For example, the unnatural use of the Ukrainian language. That is, the texts were created using artificial translation. Analysis of the screenshot using the InVID tool also shows that the image has been edited. Moreover, there were no reports of similar incidents involving Ukrainians in the American media.
Fake: Mila Jovovich fired a Ukrainian domestic worker for refusing to speak russian
The reports claim that the domestic worker's name is Svitlana Chornykh and that she is a refugee from Ukraine. Apparently, it was her duty to speak to Jovovich's daughter in russian in order to maintain her knowledge of the language, but the Ukrainian categorically refused to do so.
While researching this story, several strange details immediately catch your eye. First, no foreign media reported on this incident (although Jovovich is a global star). English-language publications about the alleged release of the Ukrainian woman appear only from anonymous users on the platforms X (formerly Twitter) and Odysee.
According to the data of the TGStat service, which provides analytics on Telegram, the original source of this news is the russian Telegram channel "Imperiya ochen zla". This is a satirical channel that publishes fictional news, as stated in its description: “Caution, possible fake and harsh satire. What is written is an artistic fiction." In the comments to this "news", subscribers of the channel invent different continuations of the story and mock the russian mass media, which took this satire seriously and posted the information on their social networks.
Fake: Ukraine is preparing to use bacteriological weapons to infect water bodies
russian propaganda is actively spreading the fake that Ukraine is allegedly going to use chemical or bacteriological weapons to infect water bodies in the Kherson region (currently partially occupied by russia). The primary source of this information is the representative of the occupation authorities, Vladimir Saldo, who a priori cannot be considered a reliable source of information.
Throughout the russian-Ukrainian war, the kremlin's "Fake Factory" has repeatedly promoted the topic that Ukraine uses bacteriological weapons. With such narratives, the russian media seek to create a negative image of Ukraine, whose government poses a threat to the local population. But without any evidence.
To date, the Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has no evidence of Ukraine's use of chemical weapons during the war. On the contrary, in May 2024, the United States announced the presence of evidence of the use of chemical weapons by the russian army against Ukraine, namely chlorpicrin, a chemical substance included in Schedule 3 of the Geneva Convention, which is a means of suppressing riots. Since 2022, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has recorded 815 cases of the russian army using ammunition filled with chemicals such as chlorpicrin.
Fake: Ukraine's public debt will soon exceed 1000% of the country's GDP
The propagandists multiplied the real data by 10. In fact, the public debt of Ukraine is 97% of GDP. In addition, the propagandists completely ignored the context of the authentic news. The message of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine talked about the reduction of external debt from 100.5% to 97% of GDP in 2025, that is, about the positive dynamics of this indicator.It should be added that such a high indicator is not uncommon even for countries with developed economies that are not at war. Thus, the public debt of France, Belgium and Great Britain is 112%, 105% and 104% of GDP, respectively, and in Japan this percentage reaches 254%.
Fake: more than 240 Colombian citizens died near Kursk
russian propaganda launched an absurd fake that a relative of Shakira, who fought on the side of Ukraine, allegedly died in the Kursk region. The 40-second clip was designed with the logo of the Colombian media "El Espectador". It says that a relative of the singer Shakira joined the International Legion of the Army of Ukraine in mid-September, with which he entered the Kursk region (russia). In 5 days, the man was allegedly killed, and his body was already sent to Colombia. The video, accompanied by English subtitles, was shared by many pro-russian Telegram channels and online media. In fact, there is no corresponding story on the verified resources of "El Espectador" in X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. There is no such news either on the official website of the publication or in other authoritative sources. In addition, "El Espectador" is published exclusively in Spanish. Therefore, the product of the russian factory of fakes was quickly recognized.
This news is actively spread by the pro-kremlin mass media with reference to the news of the Colombian media "El Tiempo". Among the dead is allegedly 37-year-old Rodrigo Gaviria, the nephew of Pablo Escobar's grandson. The man allegedly went to the Kursk region (russia) on September 20 as part of a sabotage group, and on September 23 his death was reported. The video also states that more than 240 Colombian citizens who fought on the side of Ukraine died near Kursk over the past month and a half.
However, this news is completely fabricated. First, there is no such video on the "El Tiempo" website or on the YouTube channel. Also, this news was not published by any other Spanish-language media. Secondly, there is no information on the network about the nephew of Pablo Escobar's grandson named Rodrigo Gaviria. Everything suggests that the propagandists invented both the relative of the Colombian drug dealer and his death.The only truth is that there are really Colombians in the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The country has the largest military in Latin America after decades of battling insurgents and drug cartels, so veterans with combat experience abound. Since professional soldiers at home receive small pensions, they often join foreign armies for good contracts.
Pro-russian media also spread the news that the body of the dead Colombian soldier of the International Legion, Michael Ramirez Fino, was allegedly returned to his family without internal organs. In a edited video with the Ahora logo, the soldier's mother reports that the leadership of the International Legion admitted to her that her son's organs were transplanted to wounded comrades. "Fake Factory" once again returns to its favorite topic: the so-called black transplantation of organs on the territory of Ukraine.
And this story is completely fictional. First, there is no Spanish media with the name "Ahora" (most likely, the logo of the fictional media was created artificially). Also, no other reputable media reported on this case.Second, judging by Michael Ramirez Fino's Instagram page, the woman whose photo is shown in the video is not his mother. Previously, the soldier published photos with a woman named Reyna Ramirez, but it is his grandmother or another relative. It was this photo that the fake authors used in the video. The woman's voice seems to belong to artificial intelligence - it is too monotonous and emotionless.
When asked by StopFake, the International Legion responded that serviceman Michael Ramirez Fino has been officially declared missing. His body has not yet been found, which completely contradicts the propagandists' version.
Based on the materials of StopFake.org