Is it true that recently the Ukrainian military burned the Netherlands flag, confusing it with the Russian?

In May 2022, users of social networks published a picture that states, the APU fighters burn the Netherlands flag instead of Russian. We checked the reliability of such posts.

On May 22 and 23, in social networks they began to spread a photograph in which men in camouflage and completely covering faces burn the blue-white-red flag of the Netherlands. At the same time, in accompanying the picture, the signatures stated that the photo captures the Ukrainian military, who wanted to burn the white-blue-red flag of Russia, but mixed up tricolors. This is probably due to the inscription Fuck Russia in the lower part of the image.

Such publications can be found in rather large communities in VKontakte, such as "Gazeta | Our Donbass " (515,000 subscribers at the time of writing a analysis), "Summarians from the militia of New Russia" (481,000 subscribers), "Donetsk DPR Russia News of the Donbass of Novorossia" (268,000 subscribers), "Donetsk?" lead the DPR | Front reports | PE " (126,000 subscribers) and "Army ★ Weapons ★ Russia" (115,000 subscribers). The image was also extended to Telegram, in particular in the channels "Kadyrov Podolyak Varlamov." (274,000 subscribers), "Sexton" (177,000 subscribers) and "Yellow plums" (129,000 subscribers). The picture was placed by users of other social networks, in particular Twitter And Facebook*.

The picture actively distributed by Internet users in 2022, in fact, is a frame from a video. He was Placed Back in January 2016, on the YouTube channel "Patrіot". This account has 18 subscribers, and a video called “Bignet Bіtsiv” to Nizdereland, a referendum about the Associas of Ukraine - єs ”(“ Appeal of Azov fighters ”to the Netherlands about the referendum on the Association of Ukraine and the EU”) is the only one published on this channel. Nevertheless, in more than six years, it gained about 158,000 views.

A splash screen with the logo of the Azov regiment opens for two and a half minutes. Next, six men in camouflage form and with machine guns in their hands appear in front of the viewer. The center stands in the center in Ukrainian that the heroes of the video are fighters of the Azov Volunteer Regiment, and criticizes the Netherlands authorities, where for a long time Not ratified Association of Ukraine with the European Union. “If the Netherlands do not approve of the Association of Ukraine with the EU in the very near future, we will begin to act. In this case, the Dutch have no place on our land. We will do everything so that they are not. We will find everyone who bothers us. We will also act on the territory of the Netherlands, there are already our people there, ”the alleged fighter of Azov, who gives the Dutch authorities for a decision to make a decision, threatens. Further, the man on the right makes similar statements in English, the fighters pick up the Dutch flag and set it on fire.

The video description on the Patrіot channel claims that the original video was published on the Azov Media channel. However, when the attached YouTube link is transition reportsthat the video is not available to the audience. The Azov Media channel really exists and belongs to the Ukrainian regiment of the same name. It was not possible to find the video of interest on it. But two days after the appearance of the Patriote video on this channel Published A refutation, in which they called the video "provocation and poor -quality fake." The deputy commander of the Azov Andrei Dyachenko separately drew attention to the fact that the men captured on the records hold not real weapons, but airsoft. He also emphasized that the Azov "stood and will be on the protection of a pro -European position, and not threaten civilians in Europe."

Back in April 2016, the Bellingcat project (the Russian authorities consider it to be a foreign agent) released A detailed investigation about the origin of this video. In particular, journalists note that the link to the original video is absent in the largest web archings and cache of search engines (it was probably published on a random channel and very quickly deleted, only to get a link). In the screenshots, allegedly confirming that the video originally appeared on the Azov YouTube channel, Bellingcat found signs of installation. The accounts distributed video in social networks, as the investigators found out, are closely interconnected and regularly reposted or copied each other's notes. Bellingcat also established a connection between these Internet users (real and fake) with the “Internet research agency” and “Federal News Agency”-structures close to the St. Petersburg businessman Evgeny Prigozhin.

By the way, some of the VKontakte groups we mentioned at the very beginning of the analysis of the VKontakte groups, which in 2022 published a photograph with signatures about the “confused Russian flag with Dutch” Ukrainians, and thereby shared the video for six years earlier. The relevant entries have been preserved, for example, in public "Summarians from the militia of New Russia" And "Donetsk DPR Russia News of the Donbass of Novorossia".

Thus, the image distributed by Internet users, contrary to their statements, has nothing to do with the events of 2022. This is a screenshot from the video of a six-year ago, which on an anonymous YouTube channel was issued as a statement by the fighters of the Azov regiment. The authenticity of the video with threats to the Netherlands was refuted by both representatives of the regiment and journalists. Be that as it may, men on the recording deliberately burn the Dutch flag, and not confuse it with the Russian one.

*Russian authorities They think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, an extremist organization, its activities in Russia are prohibited.

Photo on the cover: YouTube screenshot

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Reuters. Fact Check - Screenshot of Video Showing Soldiers Burning Dutch Flag Predates Russian Invasion of Ukraine
2. Open. Soldati Ucraini Bruciano La Bandeera Olandze Scambiandola per quella russa? La Doppia Bufala
3. Is the video true about how Ukrainian refugees in Germany tried to burn the flag of the Russian Federation, and in the end they burned the house where they were placed?
4. Is it true that one of the “ziging” girls captured in the photo is the wife of the Azov regiment commander?
5. Is Time’s cover that Vladimir Zelensky refused to use the letters V and Z real?