A photograph has circulated on social networks that supposedly shows an “ordinary wedding in Ukraine” - in the picture, the newlyweds and guests raise their hands in a Nazi salute. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.
On September 4, the photo was published by Telegram channels “Tough of the day» (1.5 million subscribers at the time of writing this analysis), "Voblya news" (1.1 million) and "Observer????" (487,000). On the same day, the photo was posted on VKontakte in the public pages “Special Forces» (193,000) and "We are V uniform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Guard military» (84,000). The image was also shared by users Twitter And Facebook*.
In fact, this photo appeared several years ago - for example, in 2017, a user of the YaPlakal forum turned on her into a selection of funny pictures found on the Internet. The photo posted five years ago almost completely matches the one published in September 2022. The only difference is that in the original image the top stripe of the flag is painted black, not blue.
Some Internet users, who have taken up the task of exposing bloggers sharing false information, claim that in fact the men in the photo are holding the flag of the Russian Empire. It does have black and yellow stripes, but there is also a white stripe underneath them. Since it is not visible in the photograph, it is impossible to say unequivocally that the guests brought the imperial flag to the wedding.
In recent decades, the black-yellow-white flag of the Russian Empire began to be actively used by Russian nationalists - in particular, he became the main attribute of the “Russian March”. It is also popular among monarchists and some football fans. On the largest Russian marketplaces for sale dozens of versions of the imperial flag with the inscription “We are Russian, God is with us.”
Although the photo was taken at least five years ago and did not have a yellow-blue flag, can we say that the wedding captured by the photographer did not take place in Ukraine? The background will help you figure it out, on which you can see a very characteristic pedestal of a certain monument and a yellow-beige five-story building. Judging by Google Street View, the newlyweds and their guests took pictures not in Ukraine at all, but in Russia: behind them is a monument to Lenin and one of the registry offices Novokuznetsk.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities on Russian territory are prohibited.
Cover photo: Telegram
Fake
- Newsweek. Fact Check: Does Viral Photo Show 'Nazi' Wedding in Ukraine?
- Facta. Nella versione originale di questa foto non c’è la bandiera ucrainae
- Is it true that the photo shows Ukrainian refugees in Croatia?
- Is it true that in Gostomel the Ukrainians filmed a staged video about the “atrocities of Russian troops”?
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