Is it true that graffiti with Zelensky in the image of locusts appeared in Madrid and New York?

At the turn of 2022 and 2023, reports were distributed on the Web that 3D-rushes appeared in Spain and the United States, at which the president of Ukraine is presented in the form of an insatiable insect. We checked whether these graffiti existed in reality.

Madrid

From December 15, 2022, they began to massively spread a picture allegedly taken in the capital of Spain. How Reported “Izvestia”, on Madrid's streets “Graffiti appeared” (in the plural, although only one photo is given in the note) with the image of the President of Ukraine in the image of a big locust: eyes, gums, wings and limbs as an insect, were dorched to the body and face of Vladimir Zelensky. Together with another smaller locust, the wings of which are painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, he bites the flag of the European Union. There are publications with a photograph of this drawing in Telegram channels "Solovyov"(248,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"RT in Russian"(205 000),"Dmitry Vasilet"(203 000), Voblya (152 000), "The first folk"(152 000),"Mriya"(137 000),"Mordor's voice"(125,000),"Zakhar Prilepin"(123,000),"Zl⭕️"(120 000),"Ukraine.ru"(110 000),"Ostashko! Important"(108 000),"Federation"(105 000), Putin TG Team (77 000), "Yakov Kedmi"(66,000) and"Sexton"(65 000). In VKontakte, similar posts are found in public "News"(294 000),"Portfolio of the General Staff"(102 000),"TV channel "Tsargrad""(77 000),"Solovyov Live"(20,000),"REN -TV | News"(16,000), Iz.ru (12,000) and "Radio Sputnik"(10,000). Also, Graffiti was told on the sites "Federal News Agency" Eadaily And on Someothersnewsresources. In addition, photo graffiti Shared And the official Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Spain.

Initially, photo street art with locusts and Zelensky December 14, 2022 laid out In Instagram*–– Account @typicaloptical with 320 subscribers at the time of writing this text. According to the description of the page, Typical Optical is a group of Polish artists. Moreover, according to post In the social networks of Vladimir Solovyov, the authors of graffiti in Spain "can definitely compete with the Poles who depicted Zelensky in the form of a black hole." “Verified” already disassembled two photos from 3D graphs from the same artists, allegedly made in Warsaw And Paris And depicting Zelensky in the image of a black hole - in both cases there was a photomonta. Only if earlier in the Typical Optical account in one post posted a whole photo (publications about Warsaw and Paris have already been deleted), now one picture is divided into nine parts and duplicated entirely into storiz. This is probably done to circumvent META*algorithms, marked The inaccurate information that users distribute.

In signatures to all parts of the picture, in addition to the phrase “Go home, locust! Thank you ”in English, there are geota and hashtags, which indicate that the viral photo was taken in Madrid. "Tested" set the exact place: this square Cortes (Plaza de las Cortes) in the center of the Spanish capital, next to which located The building of the Congress of Deputies of Spain. To the same conclusion using colleagues from the Spanish Agency for Verification of Facts Maldita Factor came from the Georgian project "Myth detector", As well AFP.

In addition, on December 27, at the request of the editors of the “MIF detector” for the location where this street art was supposed to be, the employee of The Critical Mass Tinatin Japaridze went. She provided a couple of pictures from Cortes Square, where there are no traces of graffiti with Zelensky on the asphalt.

In none of the social networks, neither us nor journalists from RFI (Radio France Internationalale) were able to find publications with a photograph of street art, taken from the Typical Optical account. And this despite the fact that thousands of Madrid and tourists pass through Cortes Square daily (it is located in the very center of the city near From the Prado Museum). Moreover, in RFI declarethat they contacted the company (its name colleagues do not specify), located directly opposite the place where graffiti should be. According to employees who pass this location every day, they have never seen this art installation with Zelensky and did not hear about it from colleagues or acquaintances. Villa Real Hotel Management, located Near the place in the photo, in a conversation with AFP too denied The existence of such graffiti.

The earliest record of the Spanish graffiti with the keywords “Madrid of the locust”, in addition to the Typical Optical post, we found in the Telegram channel “Earlier of anyone else. Well, almost. Special operation ”: There is a photo Placed December 15, 2022 at 11:10 Moscow time (12,000 views). Regular readers “verified” well known the name of this channel, since it is far from the first time It becomes The primary source of misinformation.

New York

On January 11, 2023, the distribution of reports about the new 3D graphfiti began: again with Zelensky in the form of a giant locust, but now with the coat of arms of Ukraine on the wing and in New York. In many posts, the photo of the drawing is signed as follows: "The locusts devour the US budget." About this street art was told in Telegram channels "Observer"(227,000 views),"Dmitry Nicotin"(225 000), Kosti (218 000), "Scott Ritter in Telegram"(197 000),"Bullet"(185,000),"Ostashko! Important"(121 000),"Horde"(117 000),"Polish people 🅉"(96 000),"Gasparyan"(94,000),"Sexton"(87 000),"What is going on?"(84 000), URA.RU (65,000) and "Mriya"(54,000), in VKontakte (examples here, here, here And here), Twitter (here And here) and on Somenewssites, including "Tsargrad".

A picture of art installations allegedly made in New York, authors from Typical Optical laid out In its Instagram on January 10, again in the form of nine posts and storiz. At the same time, they reported that the social network deleted images with their work, so they Created Telegram channel in case Instagram blocks the account. Also in the description of the photo are the English -language phrase "locusts continues to eat budgets around the world!" And the geotheg, according to which the picture was taken in the Central Park of New York.

FACECHERS from Georgian projects "Myth detector" And "Fact-meter", As well as from AFP With the help of the Google Street View service, they determined that the desired place actually located in the central park, namely on the Alley of the Center-Drive (Center Drive).

January 12, two days after the publication of the picture on the Instagram @typicaloptical, the editors of AFP I asked check the place of the alleged placement of graffiti of a New York journalist and teacher Fordham University Peter Green. He said that there were no traces on the asphalt either paint or small.

On January 13, at the request of the “MIF Detector”, a digital media specialist and a undergraduate of the Media Management of The New School went to the same location for verification Keta Bagashvili. She also confirmed that there were no graffiti in that place, providing several photos and video.

On January 16, at the request of the Fact-Meter, the same place was visited by a journalist for the American organization for verification of LEAD Stories facts. According to him, in that section of the park there were no traces of graffiti with the image of Zelensky, which is also visible in the photos provided.

LEAD Stories factor Reportthat the alley captured in the viral picture is located in the area with a large pedestrian movement, which is usually included in excursion tours. The Central Park itself is a sign attraction, which is visited by many tourists and local residents. At the same time, neither “verified” nor Lead Stories, nor AFP could find neither news notes in January about the appearance of graffiti with locusts and Zelensky, nor other pictures of this street art.

In addition, Lead Stories managed to talk with local workers, for example, with the driver of Kikeriksha Anton Chavuska from Romania. According to Chavuska, he was in place from the viral photo “yesterday and the day before yesterday” (that is, January 14 and 15), but did not see the drawing: “I pass by almost every day, because I am looking for customers. I haven't seen this. I would notice it. I know Zelensky. " Also, the fact of a factor interviewed four other men working in the Central Park, including one Russian -speaking and one native of Turkey. They all said that this place was part of their daily route and that they would recognize Zelensky if there were graffiti with his image. But none of them saw a viral street art. The press service of the NYC Parks (units of the city hall, which also responsible for the Central Park) replied to the Lead Stories request: "Employees could not find this graffiti." Kristina Hansen, press secretary of the operators of horse-drawn crews of the park, January 12 reported AFP that none of the cabs saw similar drawings.

According to our data, the massive distribution of the photo of the picture began the day after its publication on the social networks Typical Optical: January 11, 2023 at 11:56 Moscow time of it laid out In the Telegram channel Putin TG Team (87,000 views). In addition, the Putin TG Team channel is more than once He became The “hero” of our other texts (and about “graffiti” in Madrid also told). 

Thus, both of the reports we considered about the emergence of graffiti in Spain and the United States, discrediting the Ukrainian president, are false. Photos of these street drawings, most likely mounted in graphic editors, were originally published by anonymous authors. They pretend to be independent Polish artists and not the first time publish reports about street art with the image of Zelensky, which later turn out to be disinformation.

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

Photo on the cover: collage "Checked" / @typicaloptical

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

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