In the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, a photo of a poster allegedly hanging in one of the clinics in Lviv and prohibiting foreigners from donating blood has spread. We checked to see if a similar ad existed.
The poster from the viral photo reads: “From March 1, 2023, donated blood will be accepted only if you are a purebred Ukrainian. Foreign citizens are prohibited from being donors. We ask you to be understanding of these restrictions." The photo was widely distributed in Telegram channels specializing in politics. For example, it was published by the publicist Dmitry Vasilets (240,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko (136,000) and political commentator Yakov Kedmi (79,000). The ex-Minister of Defense of the self-proclaimed DPR also reposted a photo of the announcement on his channel. Igor Strelkov (over 600,000 views). The photo also appeared in Telegram channels “Evil proof"(136,000 views), "Kot Kostyan - official channel"(104,000), "Military observer"(50,000), etc. Not so widely photograph separated on Twitter, but a few users Same wrote about this, some - with links to the Telegram channels mentioned above. There are a couple publications about this on social networks “VKontakte" From major media outlets, she wrote about the announcement, in particular, “Komsomolskaya Pravda"
The poster shows the logo of the Ukrainian online medical service Doc.ua, which on its official Facebook page rejected any involvement in the appearance of such advertisements. Representatives of the medical organization noted that they do not collect donor blood or other procedures related to donation. In addition, Doc.ua is online service, with which you can make an appointment with a doctor, for a procedure or testing. The service itself does not provide any medical services at all; it only acts as an intermediary between the patient and the hospital.
Co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Doc.ua Igor Liski also stated on its Facebook page that the company had nothing to do with the announcement. And first he counted dissemination of the photo through the machinations of competitors and even promised to pay $5,000 to anyone who would help identify ill-wishers. Then, seeing a publication in Igor Strelkov’s Telegram channel, Liski made conclusionthat this is the work of “Russian special services who want to destabilize the situation in the country.”
All publications we found used the same photograph of the poster. Firstly, if Doc.ua owned such an advertisement, most likely it would have been posted in other clinics affiliated with the service, which means there would have been more photographs from different institutions. But even if we assume that the ad was posted in only one hospital, it is difficult to imagine that none of the other visitors to the institution took a single photo or video from a different angle, or at least talked about what they saw on social networks. At the moment, the only evidence of the existence of the poster is one photograph, in which, in addition to the ad itself, only a white tile is visible. Theoretically, it could have been made in someone’s bathroom - no distinctive features that would indicate that this was the premises of a medical facility (and especially a specific hospital) are visible in the photo.
Earliest publication with a photo of the poster, which we managed to find, appeared on the Telegram channel “Gasparyan” with a link to a certain reader who sent the news: “My wife went to see a gynecologist at the Lviv clinic at Ivan Ogienko, 5. She saw an advertisement there at the donor office: “From March 1, 2023, donated blood will be accepted only if you are a purebred Ukrainian. Foreign citizens are prohibited from becoming donors."
The owner of the channel is Russian publicist Armen Gasparyan, who has already been “verified” caught on the spread of fakes according to the same scheme. For example, at the end of August 2022, a fast that a library in Hamburg, Germany, allegedly collects books to heat rooms during an energy crisis. Gasparyan even then referred to a certain anonymous reader who sent him a photo and a short video. By the way, the publicist is under sanctions European Union for “spreading Kremlin propaganda narratives.” He was also subject to sanctions from Canada And UK. Thus, the honesty of the original source is highly questionable.
At the address mentioned in Gasparyan’s channel - st. Ivan Ogienko, 5 — located Clinical hospital of the Lviv Railway, where you can actually make an appointment via Doc.ua. However, it is highly doubtful that this online service in any way determines the institution's blood collection policy. If its administration had put up such an advertisement, the service logo would not have been on it.
In October 2022, a photo of a similar advertisement was already distributed, allegedly appearing in one of the Ukrainian reproductive medicine clinics. According to the poster, the medical institution decided to accept biomaterials “only from purebred Ukrainians who have no relatives in Russia.” Then “Verified” also analyzed publications based on the viral image, and didn't find it evidence to support their authenticity.
Taking into account the dubious source of information - the Telegram channel of a Russian propagandist, who, in turn, referred to an anonymous subscriber, denials from representatives and owners of the service whose logo is placed on the poster, as well as the absence of a photo or video of the announcement from a different angle or at least oral evidence, we can conclude that this announcement about taking blood only from purebred Ukrainians is most likely a fake.
Most likely not true
Read on the topic:
- Is it true that one Kyiv clinic now accepts biomaterials only from purebred Ukrainians?
- Is it true that, at the request of the United States, Ukraine was working on a mosquito-borne virus?
- Is it true that it is possible to create biological weapons that selectively attack people based on their ethnicity?
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