In mid -December 2023, the news dispersed on the Internet that the Ukrainian animators were threatened with a fine for wearing a suit of Santa Claus - instead of him, supposedly should be dressed up in St. Nicholas. We decided to check if this is true.

The fact that from now on in Ukraine the costume of Santa Claus is banned was written by many Russian media ("Moscow Komsomolets","Truth.ru","DonPress"Et al.). Instead of a fur coat, hats and a long beard, as follows from these publications, the animators should wear the attributes of St. Nicholas - Riza and Mitru, but not the Snow Maiden should accompany him, but an angel. The basis for the alleged ban was that Santa Claus is a character imposed by Soviet anti -religious campaigns, and St. Nicholas is a real face. In addition to different publications, users of social networks wrote about the innovation ("VKontakte","Classmates" And Facebook). Telegram channels did not stand aside: the ban was reported "Ax 18+"(1.7 million views at the time of writing this analysis),"Live broadcast"(626 000),"KB 18+"(325 000),"Rupor"(217 000),"Observer"(184 000),"Uncle Glory"(173,000) and others to many posts A photo of the advertisement board is applied, where the memo with the instructions hangs, what St. Nicholas should look like, and a reminder of a fine of 20,000 UAH (about 48,000 rubles at the rate on the day of spelling of the analysis) for the use of Santa Claus. In some messages specifiedthat such leaflets appeared in animators in Kyiv and Lviv.

The memo from a viral photograph is placed on a cork board, which is not possible to establish the location of which only a poster itself, a cork background and a neighboring leaflet, also dedicated to St. Nicholas as a symbol of the New Year. The announcement does not indicate the institution that released it, and there are no weekends. The environment is not visible in the photo and the surrounding board, so it is impossible to determine whether it was really done in Ukraine. The leaflet itself is an A4 paper sheet with text and pictures printed on the printer. Anyone could make it on the board and photograph it.

“Verified” could not find any news in the Ukrainian media about the ban on the use of the image of Santa Claus. There are no such orders on the site Ministry of Culture countries. It could be assumed that the ban on such costumes and fines for its violation for employees is a private initiative of one of the Ukrainian holidays for organizing holidays, but it is stipulated on the poster that the administration "will transmit a signal to the authorities from which you can’t leave." At the same time, “verified” could not find a single Ukrainian law that would regulate the wearing of Santa Claus's costume or introduce a ban on it. Therefore, it is not entirely clear which bodies in this case should be transmitted to the signal and what measures can be taken in relation to violators.

If you look at the posters of the upcoming New Year and Christmas events for children in different cities of Ukraine, it is clear that the classic image of Santa Claus, including a fur coat, hat and a long beard, is actively used. Therefore, it is not necessary to talk about any widespread ban on these attributes and replace them with a robe and miter inherent in the image of St. Nicholas. However, in the names of the Christmas trees, matins and other holidays, judging by the posters, the name of Santa Claus does not appear-instead of him, Santa Claus or St. Nicholas is mentioned.

The earliest “tested” publication on the ban on costumes of Santa Claus in Ukrainian cities appeared on December 15 at 16:34 Moscow time in the Telegram channel “Freshness"(35,000 views at the time of writing this analysis). In the post with reference to unnamed subscribers, it is stated that “in Kyiv and Lviv in the agencies, the memo spread that our Santa Claus is a pedophile, the Snow Maiden is a prostitute. But St. Mikolai is another matter. ” Previously, this Telegram channel was already becoming the primary source of fake news. So, “verified” refuted the reports that appeared there that Hamas thanked Ukraine for the supply of weapons or that the US President Joe Biden Suddenly he left the award ceremony of veterans without awarding all the participants.

Listen with resonant ads, from the photo of which it is impossible to determine exactly where they are posted, are not the first time used to spread inaccurate information. So, earlier the photo of posters about the recruitment of American debtor students in the Armed Forces or about the collection donor blood In Ukraine, only purebred Ukrainians. All of them were fakes based on the results of the audit.

Rumors that the Ukrainian authorities prohibit Santa Claus are not the first time before the New Year. So, in 2014, a factory project Stopfake He refuted the news that Santa Claus was banned in Ukraine, since he was Russian, and almost were going to cancel the celebration of the New Year as a whole. In 2016, Russian media They toldthat the images of Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden fell under decommunization (although in the corresponding law They are not mentioned). The alleged ban was reported in 2022 year. However, neither then, nor at the time of writing the analysis, no official prohibitions were introduced, and the use of Santa Claus's image remains quite legal.

Thus, as of December 2023, there is no official ban on wearing Santa Claus's costume and the use of this image at New Year's events in Ukraine - at least, information about it was not able to detect either government resources or in the Ukrainian media. It cannot be excluded that one or even several events agencies could on their own initiative to introduce restrictions for their employees. However, in this case, the threat to transmit information about the violator to the "organs" mentioned on the leaflets looks at least strange. The Telegram channel, which was the first to publish a photograph of leaflets with information about the ban, was previously noticed in the spread of fakes. Any person could make the poster itself, and according to his picture it is completely incomprehensible where exactly this announcement is placed. All these factors allow us to conclude that the news about the ban on the costume of Santa Claus in Ukraine is not true.

Photo on the cover: Telegram channel "Freshness"