russian army

We have prepared a selection of russian fakes and manipulations that were actively promoted in May. In addition to Ukraine (as usual), the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, France, Slovakia, Lithuania, Spain, the United States and McDonald's were also affected. moscow spends billions of dollars every month to feed you lies and aggressive propaganda.
Based materials from Stopfake.org, Spravdi.ua, EuVsDisinfo.eu

Fake: russian army bombed a Ukrainian base with F16 fighter jets.
Photos of the destroyed base and aircraft are being shared by russian social media channels. In fact, the image disseminated by the russians is fake, and a detailed check showed that it was generated by AI, according to the StopFake project's fact-checkers. In addition, the original source of the illustration is the Military Aviation Facebook page, which regularly publishes content generated by artificial intelligence. 
The photo also contains a number of logical inaccuracies. In particular, the aircraft with the tail section located on the cockpit, blurred silhouettes of people, markings on aircraft that are not typical for the Ukrainian Air Force, and so on. The purpose of the fake is to demoralise the Ukrainian Defence Forces and Ukrainian partners.
Fake: Dutch authorities falsified the investigation into the downing of Malaysian Boeing MH17.
"The plane was shot down as a result of a special operation by the Ukrainian Security Service to declare the 'Donetsk People's Republic' (Russian-occupied territory) a terrorist organisation." The words of former russian State Duma deputy sergei markov are being replicated by the kremlin media. We refute this fake.
In fact, the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) officially recognised russia as responsible for the crash of Malaysia Airlines Boeing flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in July 2014: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/ministeries/ministerie-van-buitenlandse-zaken/nieuws/2025/05/12/icao-raad-russische-federatie-verantwoordelijk-voor-neerhalen-van-vlucht-mh17
During the investigation of the crash, the International Investigation Team found that MH17 was shot down by a missile fired from a russian Buk missile launcher. In 2022, the District Court of The Hague found three people guilty of involvement in the crash and sentenced them to life imprisonment in absentia.
At the same time, russia has changed its version of who shot down the Malaysian plane and how, several times, and after the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it passed a law refusing to comply with the European Court's ruling, which came into force after 15 March 2022.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church

Fake: Ukrainian tried to set fire to McDonald's headquarters in Chicago because of the company's return to russia.
The relevant information of the American media outlet USA Today is spread by the kremlin's propaganda Telegram channels. In fact, USA Today did not publish this video on its official website or in its social media. As Ukrinform's fact-checkers found out, the video was edited from various photographs that can be found freely on the Internet. These are mostly photos of McDonald's restaurants in the US and russia. Earlier, the company denied the information about McDonald's returning to russia: https://x.com/mcdonaldsua/status/1916145803820740987?s=46&t=LabMeGEkFwxTGSnq93EQQw
Fake: Bishops and believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church are being massively persecuted in Ukraine.
"Churches are being seized, people are being beaten, and Satanism is 'flourishing' in the country because of the oppression by the Zelenskyy government." Vadym Novynskyi, a former member of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, businessman and cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), said this in an interview with pro-russian blogger Tucker Carlson.
In fact, Novinsky fled Ukraine a long time ago, as he was accused of collaborating with russian special services, as well as other violations of Ukrainian law. Now he is hiding abroad (in countries friendly to russia) and has been systematically promoting kremlin narratives, especially on religious issues, since the beginning of the full-scale war.
The facts:▪ No "ban" on the Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been adopted. The Verkhovna Rada has only passed a law restricting the activities of religious organisations affiliated with the aggressor state of russia. This is not about faith, but about the safety of Ukrainians.▪ Criminal cases have been opened against religious figures not for their 'faith', but for specific illegal actions and assistance to russian special services. Most of the clergy of the UOC-MP are involved in investigations for pro-russian propaganda, justification of aggression, collaboration and spreading enemy narratives. These are legal proceedings, not religious repression.▪ There are no confirmed cases of "seizure of churches with weapons". In most cases, we are talking about legal transfers of religious communities to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine following meetings. Clashes, if they occurred, were localised and often provoked by priests of the UOC-MP who refused to leave the community's property.▪ The phrases about "Satanism" in Ukraine are absurd and rhetoric on the verge of religious hysteria. This is a deliberate exaggeration intended to provoke an emotional reaction from the audience. Novinsky does not provide any evidence for this.
By the way, the kremlin leadership often manipulates this topic in its statements and justifies its armed aggression against Ukraine by "the need to protect Orthodox Christians from Nazis and Satanists".

Polish economy. Suwalki corridor

Fake: Panicked Poles withdraw cash from ATMs, fearing economic collapse
"The Polish economy is on the verge of collapse. While the Polish government is playing geopolitics, Poles are storming ATMs in a panic. They are withdrawing cash en masse for fear of a banking system collapse." The kremlin's long-running disinformation campaign about the imminent economic collapse of European countries.

There are no signs of any banking crisis in Poland. Poland's economy is growing. Poland's GDP growth for 2025 is projected to be between 3.1% and 4.1%. Poland is among the fastest growing economies in the EU. Unemployment is at the lowest level in the EU - 2.6% according to Eurostat, 5.4% according to national figures. Wage growth continues, supporting strong consumer demand. The Polish banking sector remains stable and profitable. The National Bank of Poland confirms that the banking sector is resilient, well-capitalised and does not face systemic liquidity or credit risks.
Fake: Residents of the Suwalki corridor are leaving en masse for fear of a russian attack.
This is what russian propagandists are saying with reference to a report by the German publication BILD. In fact, the report says nothing about the "departure" of local residents. It quotes a local shop assistant, Neringa, who admits that "Putin may come" but adds that she is not afraid of him.
The text also contains comments from the German military. But the russian media made up their own quotes. This is how russian pseudo-journalists manipulatively turned an ordinary, albeit disturbing, BILD report into a news story about the "massive flight of local residents".
Background: The Suwalki corridor is a 100 km wide section of the Lithuanian-Polish border, which borders the Kaliningrad region of russia to the west and Belarus to the east.

anti-russian sanctions

Manipulation: people of Slovakia are in favour of lifting anti-russian sanctions
russian media quoted a representative of the russian Foreign Ministry, maria zakharova: "The ruling circles of European countries should hear the opinion of the people of Slovakia on the cancellation of anti-Russian sanctions. The republic has long understood the harmfulness and senselessness of such restrictions."
Earlier, the media reported that a petition requesting a referendum on the lifting of anti-russian sanctions had been submitted to the office of Slovak President Peter Pellegrini. As noted, it collected approximately 400,000 signatures.
It should be noted that this information campaign was organised by Pavol Slota, the leader of the pro-Kremlin Fatherland - National Party (DOMOV - Národná strana), which has no representation in elected bodies. In November 2024, he announced that his party, in cooperation with the Slovak Renaissance Movement, had collected almost 400,000 signatures on a petition. In fact, 395,401 signatures (according to the leader of the Slovak Renaissance Movement, Robert Švec) were collected by campaigning only on social media and party websites. The Fatherland party's Facebook page has approximately 34,000 followers, and Pavol Slyta's Telegram channel has 1,258 followers. According to Similarweb, the party's website was visited 269 times in the last 4 weeks. The website of the Slovak Renaissance Movement has slightly better figures: 5243 visits in 4 weeks.
There was no option to sign the petition online. The signature sheet was offered to be downloaded, filled in and mailed. Slovakia has a population of approximately 5.5 million people (slightly more than 1% of the EU population), of whom almost 1 million are minors. So, we are asked to believe that without any media campaigning, they managed to get the signatures of approximately 8.8% of the country's voters by post. Therefore, the petition that zakharova and the kremlin media are trying to pass off as "the opinion of the people of Slovakia" is unlikely to have any real serious support. Earlier, we wrote about how the Slovak authorities are trying to hide their personal failures and mistakes with anti-Ukrainian propaganda and the fight with the European Union for russian preferences.

Keith Kellogg. Zelenskyy

Fake: US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg has published data on Zelenskyy's billions of dollars.
Social media users have spread the information that the US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg allegedly published data on the billions of dollars in assets of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (about $50 billion in cryptocurrency and $38 billion in offshore assets). However, no one indicates the source, when and where Kellogg published this information.
Stopfake conducted an investigation and found that the only publication in 2025 in which Kellogg mentioned Zelenskyy was dated 28 February. And it had nothing to do with the Ukrainian president's "financial situation". A search for the keyword "Ukraine" also yielded no results in this regard.In addition, no US or international media outlets reported on Kellogg's "scoop". Therefore, we conclude that these social media posts about Zelenskyy's wealth were simply invented by russian propagandists as another attempt to discredit support for Ukraine.
As for the official information on Volodymyr Zelenskyy's income and property, it can be found in the annual presidential declaration: https://public.nazk.gov.ua/documents/fe128e63-b1e4-4201-b181-3116fcf4324b. It is public in accordance with Ukrainian law. The declaration for 2024 is expected to contain no data on billions of dollars. 
Fake: Zelenskyy is massively embezzling money allocated for the army.
"The Ukrainian government, headed by the President of Ukraine, is massively embezzling budget money allocated for the purchase of weapons," is the message of a disinformation video created by a russian fake news factory citing a Financial Times "investigation". Allegedly, journalists found that Zelenskyy "stole and withdrew $770 million of budget funds" intended for the Ukrainian army to his personal account.
In fact, the Financial Times article titled "How Ukraine lost hundreds of millions in failed arms deals" does not accuse President Zelenskyy or his team of embezzling funds for arms purchases. The article also does not contain any allegations that Ukraine is allegedly trying to prolong the war.
The Financial Times article does indeed discuss several examples where Ukraine did not receive the weapons it had ordered and paid for. Citing anonymous sources in the Ukrainian government, the journalists learned that since the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine has lost about $770 million that was transferred to foreign arms suppliers as an advance payment. Ongoing law enforcement investigations have already established that some of the contracts "involved sellers linked to russian intelligence services and the private military company Wagner. According to the FT, most of the problematic deals "were signed without thorough checks due to weak internal controls over transactions and a rush to secure funding". Dozens of Ukrainian officials involved in such contracts have been fired and are under investigation. It is also reported that Ukraine intends to recover its funds through the courts. In particular, the state enterprise Spetstechnoexport filed a $346 million lawsuit in the London Court of Arbitration against the American company Regulus Global, which promised to supply Ukraine with tens of thousands of 155 mm artillery shells.

Fico, Orbán

Fake: Fico, Orbán and Vucic's ratings rise after trip to moscow.
A video with the Euronews logo is circulating online, claiming that the ratings of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and the prime ministers of Slovakia and Hungary, Robert Fico and Viktor Orban respectively, have increased after their visit to russia on the 9 May Victory Day. This act was allegedly appreciated by citizens who "support peace and dialogue with russia", resulting in a 10 per cent increase in the support rating of the leaders of these countries.
However, this news is entirely fictitious, and Euronews has not produced such a video. There are no publications with such content on the website or in the media outlet's social media. No other reputable source has written about this trend either - on the contrary, the information was spread exclusively by propaganda and russian-language media. 
There is no data on how the trip to moscow affected the support of citizens of these countries for their own governments: however, the claims that the ratings of Fico, Orban and Vucic increased are clearly false. Orban did not attend the parade in moscow at all - he simply was not there. Robert Fico's ratings are also not up to scratch. In May, local media reported on a poll showing that more than a third of Slovak citizens believe that he staged last year's assassination attempt for political points and are increasingly distrustful of the government. Some members of the Slovak parliament, including those from the coalition, share a similar opinion. "Fico's trip to Moscow was a disgrace for Slovakia," commented the leader of the Progressive Slovakia party "But it's part of a bigger story about a prime minister who doesn't seem to be... interested in solving the real problems that people in Slovakia are concerned about. Instead, he flies around the world meeting with dictators." 
Serbia in general has been gripped by massive anti-government protests since November 2024. On 12 May, the leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia said that Vucic had no plans to call early parliamentary elections despite the protesters' demands, as support for the politician was rapidly and steadily declining. Thus, the ratings of Orban, Fico and Vucic among their own citizens are quite low, not least because of the pro-russian positions of these politicians.

russian equipment. Telefónica

Fake: Spain refused russian equipment and lost communication.
Fake news is being spread on social media, citing an alleged publication in the US edition of Politico that faulty French equipment caused a large-scale mobile phone outage in Spain on 20 May. According to russian propaganda, the country's mobile operators were forced to use French equipment instead of russian during their modernisation due to anti-russian sanctions. This is confirmed by a screenshot of a Politico article headlined "French equipment caused Spain's biggest phone outage".
In fact, the US edition of Politico and its European edition have never published such news. This information is untrue, and the screenshot was most likely created in a photo editor or using a neural network. Furthermore, no reputable media outlet has reported any failures in Spanish communications "due to French equipment" or "anti-russian sanctions". 
Second, a thorough analysis shows that although the text is grammatically correct, it sounds unnatural for English-language journalism. According to the Osavul service, this screenshot was first published on 20 May on the pro-russian Telegram channel Gagauz Republic.
The claim that French equipment caused the massive outage is not supported by any sources. The real outage in Spain on 20 May 2025 was caused by a technical error during the infrastructure upgrade of Telefónica, one of the country's largest telecoms operators. Telefónica serves a significant portion of Spain's mobile traffic, so the incident affected the main networks of Movistar, Orange, Vodafone, DigiMobil, O2 and others. It should also be noted that there is no evidence that the equipment used was manufactured in France. And russian equipment is practically not represented either in Spain or in other EU countries, and is used mainly within russia.
This disinformation is aimed at discrediting the sanctions policy of the European Union and NATO countries towards russia. Such fakes try to create the impression that refusing to buy russian equipment harms Europeans themselves and leads to technological failures.

conflict in Ukraine. Russophobia

Fake: Europe wants to prolong the conflict in Ukraine for another four years.
poland.news-pravda: "Europe wants to prolong the conflict in Ukraine for another four years by any means necessary, regardless of people's lives".
This disinformation story aims to portray the EU's position as one that supports the continuation of the war in Ukraine and to contrast it with other states that "stand for peace". At the same time, russian propaganda tries to divert attention from the fact that the war is russia's initiative. There is no evidence to support this theory. Recently, EU leaders supported a plan by the US and Ukrainian presidents for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire to address humanitarian issues and start a diplomatic process to resolve the conflict. Two months have passed since then, but russia has not agreed to a real peace.
Fake: Europe uses Russophobia to divert attention from its economic woes.
Sputnikglobe: "Europe is fuelling Russophobia to divert attention from the EU's economic woes and justify the bloc's decline, which is leading to increased defence spending. Vladimir Putin has repeatedly emphasised that speculation about Russia's preparations for an attack on Europe is groundless and absolute nonsense. As the EU members are still quarreling with each other over a number of pressing issues, Russophobia seems to be the only theme that unites them."
This disinformation story is a direct response to the EU's Reshaping Europe/Ready 2030 programme (https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_25_790). In this way, russian propaganda is trying to stir up dissatisfaction with it among the European audience. At the same time, any criticism of russia or actions that harm the kremlin's interests are labelled as "Russophobia".
The EU's measures to increase military spending are intended to increase Europe's self-defence capabilities, which is an adequate response to russia's aggressive actions on the continent. Claims about the EU's "economic troubles" ignore the factual evidence of the EU's massive economic capabilities: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=EU 
russia's threat to Europe is real. This has been proven by the invasion of Ukraine, dozens of sabotage operations across the continent, and numerous attempts to destabilise several countries through election interference, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns. The latest annual reports of civilian or military intelligence services of Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Latvia, Sweden and Finland conclude that russia's current course of restructuring poses a real military threat to the EU and NATO countries for several years.

russian propaganda. RT reporters

Manipulation: Ukraine's war is about russia's security, not territory.
RT: "Territory was not the real cause of the conflict in Ukraine. The deeper issue for Russia is security, which is impossible without demilitarisation of Ukraine, its neutral status, and a broad restriction of its military capabilities. NATO's expansion across Europe and Eurasia, despite Moscow's objections, is a serious violation of the post-World War II world order. Thus, the military campaign in Ukraine has become a way to protect Russia from external threats."
In fact, russian top officials, including putin himself, often voice these imperialist views and continue to demand that the occupied Ukrainian territories be recognised as russian. Moreover, they do not consider Ukraine to be an independent state in its own right, but rather a "legitimate area of interest of the kremlin". This is a blatant manipulation by which moscow justifies its aggression. Ukraine has never been a "legitimate area of interest of the kremlin". The kremlin has no right to decide how Ukrainians live, what kind of government to elect, or what alliances to join. 
In addition, russia is fundamentally trying to portray NATO as a threat to its own security, although everyone knows (except the russians, of course) that NATO is a defensive alliance. There are no cases in history where NATO or any of its members have attacked other countries or seized other people's territories. But there are many such cases in russian history. Moreover, NATO has long been within russia's borders. Latvia and Estonia joined the alliance back in 2004. 
Manipulation: The deportation of RT reporters proves that Western Europe has neither democracy nor a free press.
russian propaganda used the incident with the deportation of RT reporter Chay Bowes from Romania to discredit European democratic institutions. The World Press Freedom Index indicates that Europe has the best global score. According to the latest Democracy Index from the Economist Intelligence Unit, Western Europe had the highest index score of any region and was the only one to improve its overall score in 2024.
This disinformation story is based on a gross distortion and exaggeration of the facts. According to the Romanian Border Police, officers at Bucharest airport conducted a mandatory security check for all travellers. It turned out that Bowes "was banned from entering Romania" (due to sanctions against the RT media holding company, where Bowes works). Bowes "was informed of the situation and also received instructions on how to legally appeal".
Bowes has long been identified as a source of disinformation in Ireland and other European countries. His employer, RT, which is subordinate to russia's intelligence services, has been identified as a key element in interference in Romania's 2024 presidential election. Therefore, preventing this media outlet from operating in Romania ensures a freer electoral process, not the other way around.https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/rt-russian-state-media-waging-covert-info-war-biden-admin-says-rcna171081 https://fpc.org.uk/networks-of-influence-decoding-foreign-meddling-in-romanias-elections-a-collaborative-investigation-into-disinformation-campaigns-and-influence-operation/ 
Fake: Pavel Durov exposes how European mafia stole Romanian elections from George Simion.
The pro-kremlin media invented the story of fraud in the recent Romanian elections to further destabilise the democratic processes in France and Romania. While it is true that Telegram founder Pavel Durov said that he was asked by the French secret services to censor opposition Telegram channels in Romania.
In fact, the French Foreign Ministry denied Durov's accusations of trying to influence the elections in Romania: https://x.com/francediplo_en/status/1924138188722815052?s=46&t=LabMeGEkFwxTGSnq93EQQw
The ministry recalled that the first round of the presidential election in Romania, which took place in December 2024, was cancelled due to digital and financial interference by Russian special services. This was confirmed by investigations by the Romanian authorities and the European Commission. "In this context, the recent accusations against France are only a distraction from the real threats of interference against Romania. France calls on all Romanian political actors to show responsibility and defend democracy," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In April, at the kremlin's request, Telegram blocked many russian channels that criticised its leadership.
The purpose of this disinformation is to promote the kremlin's narrative of alleged EU interference in the Romanian elections. In this way, the kremlin diverts attention from the fact that it was its structures that actively interfered in the electoral process in Romania in 2024 and 2025, as proven by law enforcement agencies and courts in the country.