Is it true that Ornella Muti visited Mariupol?

In March 2024, information resources distributed a photograph of the Italian movie star against the backdrop of a mural dedicated to her. We checked whether this photo was actually taken in an occupied Ukrainian city.

As reported, Italian actress Ornella Muti visited the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which is under the control of Russian troops, and took pictures near a building on the wall of which street artists placed a portrait of her in her youth. The star allegedly shared the photo on Instagram. Writer and politician Zakhar Prilepin published a screenshot of this post on LiveJournal with the comment: “This is what I understand! This is a man, or rather, this is a woman! She didn’t care about all the sanctions. Russian blood is no joke. Makes itself felt."

The TV channel also reported on Muti’s visit to the occupied city with reference to the same photograph.Constantinople", publications "Podolyak" And "Mariupol news feed", Ukrainian portal "News Live» and many Telegram channels, including Readovka (according to TGstat, 972,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), Colonelcassad (282,000), "Uncle Slava» (181,000), Ukraine.ru (149,000) and "Vertical"(140,000).

Almost immediately after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops in February 2022, Mariupol found itself under siege. She ended May 20, when the last defending Ukrainian military left the territory of the Azovstal plant. During the fighting the city turned into ruins - according to Human Rights Watch, about 90% of residential buildings in its central part were completely or partially destroyed. After the cessation of fighting, Russian companies deployed active construction.

Ornella Muti visited Russia in early March. The actress visited Moscow Fashion Week, where her daughter Nike Rivelli appeared on the catwalk, and on March 6 she performed at the World Youth Festival in Sochi with lecture. The movie star’s sympathy for Russia has long been known – as she herself admitted, her grandfather and grandmother were born in St. Petersburg. In 2016, Russian media reportedthat the actress bought an apartment in Moscow, she also repeatedly stated about the intention to obtain Russian citizenship.

After her performance at the festival, as reported by the media, Muti walked around Sochi and, in particular, examined a huge mural with her own portrait that had appeared in the city shortly before. "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" even published video report dedicated to this event. Muti herself also spoke about it, posting a photo on Instagram.

The author of the work is a compatriot of the actress, a street art artist Yorit (Ciro Cerullo), who can also be seen in the photo (second from left). The mural is located on the wall of the house 27/2 on Khudyakova Street in Sochi, not far from Federal Territory Sirius, where the World Youth Festival took place. City administration announced the appearance of street art at the end of February. Muti herself put under the post on Instagram there is the hashtag #sochi.

This photo was probably associated with Mariupol because of Yorit’s past. Since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has repeatedly spoke out in support of the Kremlin, including in his works. In July 2023, the artist visited Mariupol and created another mural - a portrait of a girl against the backdrop of falling bombs on the wall of a multi-story building, partially destroyed during the Russian siege. Appearance of this work actively covered pro-Kremlin resources, and Yorit himself told about her during the festival in Sirius.

With an incorrect caption of a photo from Muti's Instagram became spread not immediately, only on March 10th. This was probably the result of an unintentional mistake - someone mixed up two works by the same artist. Subsequently, some resources that posted the photo as taken in Mariupol corrected their publications.

Cover photo: screenshot from social networks

Not true

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