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In April 2023, two covers of French and Spanish editions with Easter-themed cartoons depicting Vladimir Zelensky appeared on social networks. We have verified the authenticity of these viral images.
French magazine Courrier International
On April 4, the cover of the supposedly latest issue of the French magazine Courrier international, dedicated to Easter, went viral on the Internet. According to the authors of numerous online publications, the cartoon depicts the Ukrainian president stealing Easter eggs from French children and telling them: “Ukraine needs it more!” Also on the cover is the headline “Save our eggs!” Some posts claim that this drawing is “an allegory about the waste of taxpayers’ money on Zelensky’s wishes.” This probably refers to the assistance provided by Western countries to Ukraine.
Similar statements appeared in Telegram channels “Bullet"(159,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Ukraine.ru"(105,000), "Ivan Utenkov"(98,000), Putin TG Team (76,000), "Mriya"(60,000), Rogandar News (52,000), "InoSMI" (36,000) and "Tsargrad-TV"(28,000), as well as on VKontakte (examples here, here And here) and Twitter (here, here And here).
Courrier International is a weekly magazine published on Thursdays (however, subscribers can get a digital version of the issue the day before it hits newsstands). The viral cover states that it is #1692, released on April 6, 2023. “Verified” studied the publication’s accounts in Twitter, Instagram* And Facebook* and did not find a similar image dedicated to Easter there. There is no issue with such a caricature and in card index covers on the Courrier International website. Moreover, a completely different cover of No. 1692 was published on the official resources of the magazine, announced on social networks on April 5. It contains a photo of young men from India - the authorities of this country, according to opinion editors must carry out judicial reform and provide local youth with work and prospects.
Other details indicate that the cover with Zelensky stealing Easter eggs is fake. For example, the barcode in the lower right corner has the number 031183, while on real covers a different number is indicated - 03183. In addition, the fonts on the collapsible cover differ from those used by the publication - this is especially noticeable in the numbers 2, 3, 6 and 9.
We discovered the earliest appearance of the fake in the Telegram channel “Before anyone else. Well almost. Special Operation" (15,000 views), where the post with the cover published April 4 at 12:18 Moscow time. Previously, this channel many times disseminated false information, which was analyzed by Verified. It is noteworthy that at the end of December, when Catholics celebrated Christmas, from the same channel started distribution of a fake cover of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo with a similar composition, only that time Zelensky stole the gifts of the Magi from Jesus.
Spanish magazine El Jueves
On April 12, another viral image appeared - supposedly the cover of the Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves. The cartoon depicts Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers and Zelensky writhing in pain, while in the foreground is a basket containing scrotums (obviously, the testicles are compared to Easter eggs). There is also an inscription on the picture, which in various publications is translated as “Their last Easter” or “Their last holy week.”
Publications with supposed Spanish cover appeared in Telegram channels “Zl⭕️th proof️"(115,000 views), "DPR 🅉 info 🇷🇺"(46,000), "Angry journalist" (43,000), "Coachman"(26,000), "Summary" (13,000) and "Lightning» (10,000), as well as on Twitter (here, here And here) and VKontakte (here And here).
Under the title of the magazine it is indicated that this is issue No. 2388. We have studied archive covers on the official El Jueves website and did not find a similar Easter caricature there. Moreover, “Verified” did not find any information about the cover of No. 2388 on the official resources of the publication, including social networks (Twitter, Facebook And Instagram). At the time of writing this analysis, the last issue published in the card index is number 2386, its cover dedicated The church is “the world’s oldest business.” In the cartoon, the artist recalled the dark pages of Catholicism, such as the Inquisition, witch hunts, child molestation scandals, etc. Also on social networks posted an announcement with one of the cartoons in issue 2387, which will be released next week, but this drawing has nothing to do with Easter (which is logical, because in Spain this holiday was celebrated on April 9).
In the lower left corner of the viral cover there is a barcode where the number 02375 is indicated. On genuine El Jueves covers this number should match the issue number, that is, #2388 should have 02388 indicated. It is noteworthy that in November 2022 on the Internet appeared a fake cover of the same Spanish magazine, dedicated to the call of the Russian prankster duo Vovan and Lexus to Polish President Andrzej Duda. It was also number 2375. Apparently, the authors of the fake used an old barcode and forgot to change the numbers. Additionally, you will notice that the font above the magazine title is different from the font on the actual covers, most noticeably in the letters a, r, s, q and e.
According to TGStat data, the earliest publication with a fake cover appeared in the Voblya Telegram channel (135,000 views), where the post posted April 13 at 09:13. Although the channel's watermark was superimposed on the image, subsequent publications appeared with a cover without it. Therefore, it is possible that there were earlier posts that “Verified” could not be found.
Updated April 15, 2023. The editors of “Verified” discovered Telegram channels in which the cover without a watermark appeared on April 12. Among them, the earliest publication was in the channel “Before everyone else. Well almost. Special operation”, where is the post dialed over 11,000 views.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
**Supreme Court of Russia admitted “Azov” is a terrorist organization and has banned its activities in Russia.
Cover photo: collage “Verified” / social networks
Fake
- Is it true that Ukrainian stores sold Easter cakes with the symbols of the Azov regiment**?
- Is it true that foreign satirical magazines published these covers with caricatures of Ukrainians at the 2022 World Cup, Zelensky and Duda?
- Is it true that foreign magazines published these covers dedicated to Zelensky and Ukraine?
- Is it true that a Spanish magazine published these covers with Zelensky and NATO leaders?
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