On February 27th, 2023, Georgian (1,2), as well as Russian-language Facebook accounts (1, 2, 3), published a screenshot of a tweet posted on the official Twitter account of the US Consulate in Milan. The tweet, in which the flag of Nazi Germany can be seen behind the flag of Ukraine, is accompanied by the following text: “We all know the truth!”
A photo of a Nazi flag hidden behind a Ukrainian flag was indeed published on the official Twitter account of the US Consulate in Milan; however, the US Consulate in Milan deleted the said photo on Twitter within a few hours and wrote that the account experienced a hacker attack, and the post was published as a result of the attack. No other tweets with similar content can be found on the profile.
The US Consulate in Milan published a tweet on February 27th at 14:52, in which it is mentioned that in the past few hours, their Twitter account became a target of a hacker attack, as a result of which the content published on the account was also modified in an unauthorized way. According to the consulate, they are working to determine the cause of the attack and the perpetrators.
The mentioned tweet published by the US Consulate can indeed be found on Archive Today – a website to archive web pages. The tweet was posted on February 27th at 02:11 am. In the replies to the tweet, the US Consulate in Milan writes that he is from Ukraine and that people in his country are forbidden to speak Russian, which is Nazism. In the replies to the tweet, one of the accounts asked whether this account had been hacked by someone, and the US Consulate Milan replied – “Not today. Greetings from Kyiv!”
No other tweets with similar content can be found on the US Consulate Milan’s official Twitter account. The account actively expresses support and solidarity towards Ukraine.
About the Sources
Irakli Zakareishvili is a lawyer by profession. He actively expresses his pro-Russian views and nostalgia for the Soviet Union on social networks. For more information on disinformation and manipulative claims disseminated by Zakareishvili, which have already been verified by “Myth Detector”, see:
- European Cities in 2022 or Moscow in 2016? The Backstory Behind the Photos of Ukraine’s Coat of Arms (in Georgian)
- Manipulation as if the ‘1918 Independence Act’ Renders Georgia’s NATO Integration Illegal
- What Do We Know About the Drone ‘SEAFOX’ and How Is It Linked with the Explosion of North Stream Pipelines?
As for the Facebook account Georgian Georgian, it tags the account Sidonia Bell on its posts. There are several other accounts linked to these two users, namely: Sidonia Bell (Sidonia), Sidonia alternative page, Bell Bell (currently no longer available). Izabela Khomeriki is indicated in the URL address of one of the accounts. Georgian Georgian and the other accounts listed above support the pro-Russian party “Conservative Movement” and their affiliated TV channel “Alt-Info”.
For detailed information about the disinformation disseminated by these Facebook accounts, see:
- Pornographic Video Disseminated on Facebook was Falsely Linked to Joe Biden
- Has the EU Permitted the Use of insects in Food and What Do We Know about Their Safety?
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