In mid-September 2023, a photo went viral on social networks, allegedly showing the former British Prime Minister holding his hand in a Nazi salute with two people standing next to him. We checked if this photo is real.
The photo began to circulate en masse on social networks on September 11, 2023. Most often, a photo with a British politician is captioned like this: “Boris Johnson showed himself to be a real Western Ukrainian during his visit to Lviv.” In the Telegram channel of TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko (at the time of writing this analysis, that post received 112,000 views) Johnson called “a real Nazi Galician” and clarified that the former prime minister “ziganed.” Showman Oscar Kuchera (31,000 views) in his channel is perplexed (spelling and punctuation preserved): “I just imagined it or do you see it too?!?!?! Or maybe someone interrupts them, and they synchronously shout back: “Wait a minute!” Pi@dets, comrades..." Similar posts appeared in the channels "Ne.Sugar"(283,000 views), Voblya (145,000), "Militarist"(122,000), "Bullet"(116,000), "Z-News | Army 🅉 18+"(116,000) and TG Team Russia (48,000), as well as in public pages on VKontakte (examples here, here And here), V X (Twitter), V LiveJournal and on some news websites.
On September 9, during his next visit to Ukraine, Johnson visited Lviv. Academic Council of Ivan Franko Lviv National University on October 4 last year appropriated to the British politician the title of honorary doctorate, and now during the ceremonial meeting Johnson personally handed over corresponding diploma. That is why in the photo the former prime minister is dressed in a black robe, and behind him is visible coat of arms educational institution. Johnson named It was a great honor to award him the title and thanked the staff and students of the university for the warm welcome.
Having carried out the reverse search according to the viral image, in the Google “Verified” search results a link to a news article was found note website of the Ukrainian television Channel 24. Among other photos in the material about Johnson’s visit to Lviv there is snapshot from the honorary doctorate ceremony. This photo was taken from the same angle as the viral one, in both images the positions of the heads and legs, as well as the facial expressions of the British politician and council members, are completely identical. However, in the photo from the TV channel’s website, none of the people captured demonstrated the Nazi gesture: Johnson’s hands are lowered, and the other two participants in the ceremony hold their hands to their hearts. The same moment on the website of the Getty Images photo agency imprinted from a different angle. According to a YouTube video posted by one of the spectators And Lviv National Television Center, at that time the Ukrainian anthem was played during the event.
All publications with a viral photo mentioned at the beginning of this analysis used as evidence the same screenshot of a post by a Facebook user* named Vasil Krutchak, who posted photo on the evening of September 10. The caption reads: “It’s immediately clear that Boris Johnson is a true Galician.” However, in the lower left corner of the photo attached to the publication, the name Mikhailo Budapest and the username @smak_media, which belongs to the Ukrainian-language Telegram channel, are indicated Smak. Among the recordings of this channel you can find those where Budapest indicated one of the members of the editorial board.
September 9 Smak released post with an authentic photo of Johnson from Lviv University and the caption: “Boris Johnson was awarded the title of honorary doctor of Lviv National University. Franco. “Fuck, sharaga, it would be better to go to Polytechnic University or UCU (Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv - Ed.),” comments the former prime minister.” The next day in the same channel appeared edited snapshot from the award ceremony. “Photo of the day: Boris Johnson, with a traditional Galician gesture, sincerely congratulates LNU students on the start of the academic year and shows that movement up the ladder of knowledge should only be upward. How sweet,” the caption reads. The thing is that Smak’s records are satirical in nature, which is directly stated said in the channel description: “Exclusively untrue and no manipulation of public opinion (sometimes memes).”
Thus, a fake photo, originally created for satirical purposes, went viral on major Russian Telegram channels. Moreover, how report our colleagues from StopFake, Criminal Code of Ukraine (Article 436, Section XX) prohibits public use of symbols of the Nazi regime.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: @smak_media
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