In November 2023, Russian-speaking Telegram channels distributed a video that states the head of the Swedish government justifies Genocide in the gas sector. We checked the reliability of such publications.

On the morning of November 22, in the Telegram channel "Koza screamed" was published A video shot, as claimed, in Gooteborg during the performance of the Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerssson. The author of the post claims that the head of the government of the kingdom stated from the stage: "Sweden and the European Union are united in the opinion that Israel has the right to gene ... that is, self -defense." At the time of writing this parsing, the publication gained 429,000 views, it was replaced by many large pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, in particular "Timothy Bazhenov Live","Type40k goblina (Oper.ru)","Release Kraken!","Mordor's voice" And "Freshness". The TV presenter posted their own posts on this topic in Telegram Ruslan Ostashko (104,000 views) and blogger Sergey Kolyasnikov (aka Zergulio, 99,000 views). Video with the participation of Kristersss was also published by users "VKontakte" Facebook, X (former Twitter) and Livejournal.

On November 21, Kristersson really performed in one of the theaters of Gotharg. It was assumed that the head of the Swedish government, together with the Minister of Finance, Elizabeth Svvantesson, communicates with local residents in the “question - answer” format. At first, communication went relatively calmly, but when the Prime Minister began to answer questions about the war of Israel against Hamas, the situation became “inflated and more emotional”, Reported From the scene, the correspondent of the Swedish television channel SVT. According to him, at the place of the meeting, missing activists gathered in advance, who began to shout “crush Zionism” and other slogans. Eight participants in the event, the police even led out of the hall. Half an hour later, Kristersson ahead of schedule ended the meeting with the inhabitants. Subsequently on Instagram he expressed I am regretting what happened and condemned the behavior of “political saboteurs”, who, in his opinion, came not to ask questions and listen to answers, but “screaming about our dissatisfaction with the fact that we condemn the Hamas terrorists.”

By the morning of the next day, a video shot on that day in Gooteborg and became viral, including in the Russian -speaking segment of social networks, spread on the Internet. Cristassson stated “Freud's reservation”, because after the words “Sweden and the European Union are united in the opinion that Israel has the right to ...” Folk's letter-combination-Internet users saw the word Folkmord (“genocide”). Most of the rollers distributed in social networks do not contain Russian or English subtitles.

"Verified" asked to watch a viral video Matthias Carlsson, journalist of the Swedish newspaper Expressen. According to him, Kristersson said that Israel could defend itself within the framework of international law (Folkrätt), but in the middle of this word he hesitated, apparently, realizing that his statement would sound like "Sweden and the European Union are united in the opinion that Israel has the right to international law." After that, the Prime Minister quickly changed the wording-"... protection within the framework of international law." To similar conclusions They came Among other fact, the agency of the DPA agency.

In the part of the viral posts about the reservation of Kristersson, it is claimed that he said the letter of Folkm, which supposedly speaks of his desire to use the word folkmord (“genocide”). Logically Facts project Turned For commentary on Matthias Heldner, professor of phonetics and head of the Department of Linguistics of Stockholm University. The expert studied the video and said that he did not hear traces of sound [m] and a vowel coming behind him. Helldner considers the grammatical design used by the Prime Minister: if he wanted to say about the genocide, according to the rules of the Swedish language, the phrase att begå folkmord, that is, “perform genocide”. Instead, Kristersson used the pretext Till, which combines, for example, the word Försvar ("protection").

November 24, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden on the social network X declaredthat the viral video is accompanied by the incorrect translation of the words of the Prime Minister. “He said that Sweden and the EU firmly support Israel's right to self -defense,” the department said. Similar assessment in an interview with the newspaper Dagens Nyheter gave Minister of Defense of Sweden Karl-Oskar Bolin. Kristerson himself gave The consultation of the SVT channel: “I tried to say what I said many times since this war began: the EU and Sweden condemn Hamas, this is a terrorist organization. The EU and Sweden support Israel's right to defend itself within the framework of international law. ”

How Mark Journalists of Dagens Nyheter and other Swedish media, the video was actively replicated by Arabic, Iranian and Turkish media and blogs. The Swedish unit of the human rights organization Amnesty International, which is on November 22, also contributed to its distribution. Published A statement with criticism of the Prime Minister after his speech in Gooteborg. Subsequently, this publication was updated, “to clarify: we do not mean that Ulf Kristerson was going to use the word“ genocide ”.” Representatives of Amnesty International apologized for the mistake made, but continued to insist that the Prime Minister often incorrectly refers to opponents.

Thus, the viral video that became really made at the meeting of the head of the Sweden government with the inhabitants of Goteborg. But the statements based on this video that the politician almost completely pronounced the phrase “Sweden and the European Union are united in the opinion that Israel has the right to genocide”, they are unfounded. Representatives of the official Stockholm, as well as the Swedish independent media, explained that, judging by the context, Kristersson was going to pronounce the phrase “International Law”, which in the Swedish language begins in the same way as “Genocide”, but changed the formulation, realizing that in its original form its statement would be grammatically incorrect.

Photo on the cover: Flickr / Finnish Government