At the end of January, photographs of letters began to appear in social networks and in the Russian media that allegedly send the authorities of European cities and people who sheltered refugees from Ukraine. These documents contain a request to provide information about Ukrainian citizens of draft age. We decided to check if this is true.
January 25 c Russian And Belarusian Telegram channels appeared photos of requests from the Embassy of Ukraine addressed to the authorities of Lithuania and Latvia. In these letters, Ukraine allegedly requested the data of its citizens living in the territory of the Baltic countries and subject to a draft in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, the publication was already accompanied by comments on Lithuanian and Latvian politicians, ready to meet the request of the embassy. The media also wrote about this, for example ""Moscow Komsomolets", As well as users of other social networks -" "VKontakte" And Livejournal. In early February, Russian Telegram channels began publish Another letter is this time from the Department for Communities and Local Self -Government of Great Britain. This letter was supposedly addressed to those who sheltered refugees from Ukraine, and the request for it contained a similar one: to oblige Ukrainians to appear at the embassy.
Latvia and Lithuania
Both documents for Latvia and Lithuania contained an identical text: “In accordance with the agreements between Ukraine and the Republic of Lithuania, in order to help the return (deportation) of Ukrainian citizens to be called to the Armed Forces of Ukraine or are in reserve, we request information about citizens of Ukraine in the Lithuanian Republic, using the form provided from January 31, 2023.” The following is a list of the necessary data: name, surname, age, number of children, address, phone, passport number. The second letter says the same thing, only instead of Lithuania - Latvia. The addresses of the embassies and the names of the ambassadors were also different: under the Lithuanian document there was a signature Peter Beshta, under the Latvian - Alexandra Mishchenko.
These two documents correctly indicate the phones and the addresses of diplomatic agents. And the ambassadors, whose names are under the documents, continue to fulfill their duties. However, already in the “queries” hat there is a noticeable error in email addresses. In the photo of the Lithuanian document there is an address [Email Protected], while the real address - [Email Protected]. The address on the Latvian document looks like the same.
This is what the Embassy of Ukraine in Lithuania drew attention to this, Reacting on the appeared posts on social networks. The embassy called such messages fakes, explained that the Lithuanian authorities did not send any letters, and advised all emerging issues to contact the diplomatic mission, indicating these addresses.
The earliest post with the documents that managed to find is a record in the Belarusian pro-government Telegram channel "Belarusian security forces". Both letters were accompanied by comments on Facebook politicians, in which they expressed their readiness to help Ukraine find conscripts. The Lithuanian letter was accompanied by a screenshot of Facebook by the mayor of Vilnius Remigius Shimashyus.
And the Latvian letter allegedly welcomed the mayor of the Latvian city of the Liepaja Gunars Ansins.
Both posts turned out to be fake, like the letters themselves. IN Facebook The mayor of Vilnius is not such a record, I did not find it and the Lithuanian site Delfi.lt, conducting a check of the letter. In turn, the mayor of Liepai (in Facebook which is not such a post either) even released The official refutation, in which he noted that such letters allegedly from officials of their country were received by many officials in Latvia.
United Kingdom
The British letter is compiled in a completely different way. The photograph published by Telegram channels presented a letter from the Department of Communities and Local Self-Government of Great Britain, signed by the head of the department Michael I will say. In this picture, the recipient (the name is closed, only the city - Ipswich is visible) holds a document that orders to notify the Department of the residence of Ukrainian call citizens for the subsequent transfer of data to the Ukrainian Embassy in London. The letter dated January 30, 2023.
The fact of Reuters Checked These messages came to the conclusion that the letter is a fake. First of all, errors are evident: so, instead of Government (“government”) it is written by Governmen, and the date is indicated as it is customary in Russia (number, month, year), and not as in the UK (month, number, year). A non -existent email address is also indicated. Reuters also turned to the department itself with a request to identify the document. After that, the department released The statement in which he warned of Fake appeared on social networks.
Finally, the source of information forces and the source of information. In the earliest records in Telegram, the authors refer to the English -language site SouthFront.org, where appeared This news is February 4. In the Russian database of registration names, it is indicated that the site was registered in Moscow in 2015 and has a rather conditional attitude towards the UK.
Thus, all three letters are a fake. They make mistakes that could not arise when using the official forms of embassies or the British department. In addition, in each of the cases, refutations followed, and the sources of the first publication were associated with Belarus and Russia.
Photo on the cover: social networks
Fake
- Stopfake. Fake: EU countries will “give out” Ukrainian men subject to mobilization.
- Delfi.lt. PLINTA SUKLASTOTAS LAISKAS: Ukraine Neprašė Siųsti ŠUKTINIO amžiaus Piliečių, įSikūrusių kitose šalyse, duomenų
- Reuters. FACT Check-Uk Government-Headed Letter Addressed to Hosts of Ukraine Refugees IS Fake
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