In January 2023, two photographs of street art went viral on social networks, the authors of which presented the President of Ukraine in an unsightly form. We checked whether such drawings actually appeared in Germany and the UK.
Berlin
On January 4, many publications appeared on the Internet with photographs of 3D graffiti allegedly taken in the German capital. According to social networks and the media, the authors depicted Zelensky as a purulent pimple with a face and clenched fists on one of the streets of Berlin. A photo of this drawing was published by Telegram channels “Russia now"(350,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Solovyov"(318,000), "Dmitry Vasilets"(226,000), "Army 🅉 18+"(215,000), "Observer"(212,000), "Scott Ritter on Telegram"(209,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(158,000), Voblya (155,000), "PE Donetsk Z"(132,000), "Zl⭕️th proof️"(121,000), "Breaking news"(117,000), "What happened?"(112,000), "Special Operation Z"(107,000), "Uncle Slava"(100,000), Putin TG Team (90,000), "Yakov Kedmi" (90,000) and "Coachman"(35,000). In addition, the photo went viral on VKontakte (examples of public posts here, here, here, here And here) and Twitter (here, here, here, here And here), appeared in "Zene", LiveJournal, and also talked about it on somenewswebsites, among which "Federal News Agency"
Photos of Berlin graffiti, as in cases with photographs of similar 3D drawings in Warsaw, Paris, Madrid and New York, originally appeared on the Instagram* account @typicaloptical on the eve of its mass distribution, that is, January 3, 2023. The authors published the image in the form nine individual publications and entirely in stories. At the same time, in the Telegram channel “Dmitry Vasilets» (545,000 subscribers) by graffiti artist called Banksy. At the time of writing this material, the Typical Optical posts with the photo have already been deleted, but preserved archival copy. “Zelensky is the biggest pimple in the world. In 2023, we must squeeze it out,” the anonymous artists captioned the photo in English.
In some online publications note, that the chosen location for the art object was a sidewalk in Berlin, “on which many feet pass.” At the same time, we could not find a single photograph of the graffiti from a different angle, as if not a single passer-by photographed or posted this drawing on the Internet, which seems unlikely, since we are talking about a crowded place. In addition, despite captions and tags stating that the photo was taken in Berlin, we were unable to determine the location of the alleged graffiti placement.
German fact checkers from Correctiv installed, that the photo was not taken at all in Berlin, and not in Germany at all. They noticed some dates on the wall in the background of the viral photo and suggested that this place could be in Zurich, Switzerland. More precisely, in the area of renovation of a historical building Swiss Life Brannhof on Bahnhofstrasse. Correctiv's guess was confirmed by Pio Sulzer, head of the communications department of the Department of Civil Engineering and Waste Management of the Zurich City Hall. He specifically went to the supposed location of the graffiti and said that there was neither the drawing nor its traces on the asphalt. Fact checkers from Correctiv (date unknown, but analysis published on January 9) and agencies also visited the site AFP (January 12) and took their photos.
Sulzer also said that in the stall, which is captured in the photo, chestnuts are roasted all winter. Correctiv spoke with a salesperson at the stall, who recalled a man pretending to be an artist but actually drawing doodles rather than work from a viral photo. The same chestnut merchant told and an AFP correspondent. In addition, the German publication contacted the Zurich Waste and Recycling Department, which is responsible for street cleaning. Communications manager Tobias Nussmann told Correctiv that no such street art had been reported on Bahnhofstrasse or anywhere else in Zurich, and therefore there was no need to remove it from the pavement.
The earliest publication, in addition to the original in Typical Optical, “Verified” was found in the Telegram channel “Before everyone else. Well almost. Special Operation”, where is the post about Berlin graffiti appeared January 4, 2023 at 11:00 Moscow time. After a post in the same channel started and the massive distribution of fake graffiti from Madrid, which depicted Zelensky as a locust.
London
On January 19, the last photo of Zelensky graffiti from Polish artists from Typical Optical at the time of writing this article went viral. It depicts the President of Ukraine as a pile of feces, from which columns of smell rise in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. It is reported that this street art appeared somewhere on the streets of London. This graffiti was written about in Telegram channels “Scott Ritter on Telegram"(221,000 views), "First People's"(203,000), "Reports by Yuri Podolyaki"(156,000), "Ostashko! Important"(110,000), "What happened?"(107,000), "Uncle Slava"(104,000), Putin TG Team (82,000), "News.RF" (56,000) and "Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation"(14,000), in communities on VKontakte (examples here, here, here, here And here) and on Twitter (here, here And here).
The Polish art group Typical Optical posted a photo of their latest creation on their website. instagram (again in the form of nine posts and stories) and in recently created Telegram-channel (the photo was published in its entirety) on January 18, 2023. The English caption for the post reads: “Shit happens in Europe. Thank you, Zelensky!” According to hashtags and geotag, this street art originated in London.
Lead Stories edition established, that the location was once again indicated incorrectly by the artists. In fact, the photo was not taken in London or in the UK at all. The facade is visible in the background of the photo "Lindt chocolate houses» - buildings of the Swiss chocolate company Lindt & Sprüngli AG, located in Kilchberg near Zurich.
The editors of Lead Stories contacted the company's press service for a comment on the viral photo with graffiti. On January 19 (one day after the publication of Typical Optical), Lindt Home of Chocolate PR Manager Daniel Huggenberger confirmed that the photo was taken in front of the House of Chocolate in the suburbs of Zurich, but denied the presence of street art: “There was never graffiti there. So it's fake." Ditto Huggenberger told AFP editors: “This is fake... This image never appeared in front of the Lindt Home of Chocolate building. We are open almost every day and none of us have ever seen this picture. And it’s a pretty busy place.” He said the photo was taken in December or very early January because it shows Christmas decorations that were removed in the first week of January. Probably, another photograph was taken in Zurich during the same period (with Berlin graffiti), which is indirectly confirmed by the same clothes on the person in the frame and the same yellow crayon box.
In addition, "House of Lindt Chocolate" functioning and as a museum, therefore attracts many tourists and local residents. However, there is no other photo of the graffiti anywhere on the Internet other than the one that went viral. Moreover, the picture of the drawing began to be distributed again not immediately after the appearance of the original publications in the Typical Optical accounts, but after some time in Telegram (the earliest of the posts we found was posted on the “Bullet” channel (198,000 views) January 19 at 11:55 Moscow time). Previously, this channel had repeatedly disseminated misinformation: for example, they posted photos of a non-existent 3D graffiti with Zelensky in Warsaw, more than once shared fake covers foreign satirical magazines, and once "Bullet" became the primary source of distribution of such a cover.
Thus, the Zelensky drawings we examined did not appear either in Berlin or in London. The authors from Typical Optical, who previously only edited images in graphic editors, also indicated incorrect locations in these cases. At the time of writing this text, all 27 posts, posted on the Typical Optical Instagram account, marked moderators of the social network as “False information”.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: collage “Verified” / @typicaloptical
Fake
- Is it true that a monument to Zelensky was erected in Milan in the form of a nose with white powder?
- Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers dedicated to Zelensky and Ukraine?
- Is it true that in Berlin a bus with the inscription “Zelensky is a black hole” accidentally ended up in a TV report about the energy crisis?
- Is it true that one contemporary artist sold his feces for huge amounts of money?
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