Kremlin propaganda, refugees from Ukraine, German farmers, russian fake

In Germany, there has long been a problem of theft of crops from local farmers, but Ukrainian refugees are not involved in this. The russian factory of fakes simply attributed such criminal activity to Ukrainians in order to discredit them in the eyes of the residents of the European Union.

Social media users are spreading information that Ukrainian refugees are allegedly stealing crops en masse from German farmers: "German farmers are sounding the alarm: refugees from Ukraine are raiding their fields and gardens. They pick everything: cherries, strawberries, apples, grapes, potatoes and even pumpkins. Moreover, they refuse to work in the fields." In such news, the pro-Kremlin media attach only a photo with German policemen. At the same time, the news does not say who exactly (which German law enforcement agencies) reports on the involvement of Ukrainians in such crimes.
As StopFake.org journalists have found out, a number of news stories about thefts from local farmers have indeed appeared in the German news space. In particular, this is stated in the material of the German publication Bild "The fruit mafia robs our fields!" (https://www.bild.de/news/inland/bauern-machen-tausende-euro-miese-obst-mafia-klaut-die-felder-leer-667a6d7628c5a74a4d1da9c6) In it, the publication raised the topic of crop theft, collecting information about such cases that have occurred recently. It was in this article that the photograph with the German police, which was picked up by russian propaganda, was used.
However, the Bild article makes no mention of German farmers being robbed by Ukrainian refugees. Journalists talked to several farmers, who told who exactly, under what circumstances, and how much of their harvest was stolen from them. At the same time, not a single interlocutor raised the topic of the criminals' nationality. The police, whose position is presented in the text, also does not mention Ukrainian refugees.
The authors of the Bild material spoke with Kathrin Walter, a representative of the German State Association of Commercial Fruit Growing of Baden-Württemberg. According to her, crop theft is not a new phenomenon in the country: "...It has been happening since the beginning of fruit cultivation. Every year we see this issue on our radar. This mostly concerns strawberry fields, cherry trees or grapes".
StopFake checked the latest reports from the German police about the theft of crops from farmers. In none of them was it reported that Ukrainian refugees were involved. This is not the first time that russian propaganda tries to discredit Ukrainians abroad.