On February 24th, 2022, Facebook users Lana Nefaridze, Mimi Gabrichidze and Koka Shurgaia published a video featuring a man dressed in military uniform speaking to a woman on the phone in Russian, telling her that her son had been killed and would try to hand over the body to the Ukrainian side. The man then apologizes.
The video is being disseminated without context during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war. In fact, the footage was released in 2017 by the pro-Kremlin outlet “News Front,” claiming it depicted a lieutenant colonel in the Luhansk region separatist forces informing the mother of a Ukrainian soldier of her son’s death.
The video was first published by the pro-Kremlin outlet “News Front” on November 25th, 2017. The footage uploaded by NewsFront is no longer available, although the text in the material is identical to the dialogue hearted in the video. According to News Front, the information was spread on other Russian websites, and the video was taken from there.
According to the News Front, Ukrainian “saboteurs” were killed in the Luhansk region controlled by Russian-backed separatists, and the mother of one of them was informed about the death of his son by Lt. Col. Andrei Marochko. The video shows a military token with the name Sergei Shevchenko on it.
Andrei Marochko has shared a video on his Twitter, in which the mentioned fact can be seen from another angle. The captive military with a Ukrainian flag on his uniform can also be observed in the video.
For more information about the local stream of disinformation around the Russia-Ukrainian conflict, see the following materials:
- The Photo from 2014 Used to Illustrate the Siege of Kharkiv during the 2022 War
- A Video of the 2020 Russian Parade is Used to Falsely Illustrate the Attack on Ukraine
- The Video from 2016 Disseminated with a False Description in the Context of the Ukrainian War
- The Alleged Video of the Mariupol Bombing Disseminated with a False Description
- Pro-Kremlin “Alt-Info” Shows Footage of Chemical Warehouse Explosion in China while Talking about the Russia-Ukraine War
- Instead of the Russia-Ukraine War, the Video Depicts Scenes from the Video Game “War Thunder”
- Disinformation About the Entry of the Russian Fleet and the Aerial Forces in Odessa
- U.S. Military Aid to Ukraine in 2022 or Brighton Pride in 2005?
- Did Joe Biden Unfollow Putin on Twitter?
- Information about the Death of Georgian Fighters in Ukraine is Disseminated without Indicating the Date
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