On March 21-23, 2023, Kremlin media (Украина.ру and news-kiev.ru) and selected Russian- (1, 2, 3) Georgian-language (1, 2) Facebook accounts published the image of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, on the cover of two different magazines, the American Newsweek And the cover of the French FRANC-TIREUR. Both versions refer to the meeting between the presidents of Russia and China – Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. The cover of the special issue of Newsweek is inspired by a popular meme, and it shows Volodymyr Zelensky watching the meeting between Putin and Xi Jinping on a TV screen and saying that “everything is not right.” On the cover of the French magazine FRANC-TIREUR, Zelenskyy wears a binocular and observes the negotiations between China and Russia. Both magazine covers are dated March 21, 2023.
The covers attributed to Newsweek and FRANC-TIREUR featuring caricatures of Volodymyr Zelensky are fabricated. Similar posters are not found on any publication platforms.
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None of Newsweek’s platforms features the disseminated caricature of Zelenskyy
No caricature image of Zelenskyy can be found in the archive of covers of the American weekly magazine Newsweek. On March 21, the new issue of Newsweek did not come out at all. Cover photos of March 17 and 24, as well as April 7 issues, are available on the website, and none of them is related to Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia or the Russia-Ukraine war. The cover of the March 17 issue is about diets developed by artificial intelligence, the March 24 is about the increase in the number of women in business, and the April 7 issue is about sports gambling.
In addition, the special issues published by Newsweek have a different design than the ones disseminated by the Kremlin media. On the covers, the inscription Special Issue is made in large letters and is placed at the very top of the cover, and in the case of fake visuals, the inscription is made in small letters below the name of the issue.
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None of FRANC-TIREUR’s platforms features the disseminated caricature of Zelenskyy
The FRANC-TIREUR cover is also fabricated. The poster with Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s image spread on social media cannot be found on the platforms of the French magazine FRANC-TIREUR (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram). The publication’s latest issue is dated March 22 and has a different design. Other issue numbers are also different from the fake design.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s official meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was held on March 21, 2023. Russian media wrote that the West fears Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow. The idea of caricatures with the image of Zelenskyy is allegedly inspired by this narrative. After the negotiations, the joint statement issued by Russia and China also concerned the war in Ukraine. The statement calls on the parties to “peace talks” and “responsible dialogue” and also criticizes NATO and “unilateral sanctions that are imposed by bypassing the UN Security Council”.
Fabricating the covers of well-known publications is one of the Kremlin’s most widely used propaganda methods. “Myth Detector” verified a number of fabricated covers that were disseminated during the Russia-Ukraine war. For more details, see:
- How does Kremlin Propaganda Fabricate the Covers of Western Outlets to Discredit Ukraine?
- Fabricated Covers Disseminated in the Name of Polish and German Outlets
- Caricatures of Zelenskyy and Sunak do not Belong to the Indian Magazine ANANDA VIKATAN
About the Sources
The Facebook account Svetlana Kemerovo, as well as the anonymous Facebook account Злой Ёжик regularly publish posts with anti-Ukrainian and anti-Western content. They have disseminated disinformation about the Russia-Ukraine war many times in the past. Not to mention, Злой Ёжик distributed another fabricated cover in the past as well.
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