In May 2025, news spread about the escape of one of the Ukrainian representatives at negotiations in Turkey - he allegedly became translator Oleg Golovko. We have verified the accuracy of this story.
Posts that the Ukrainian translator who participated in the negotiations in Istanbul disappeared in an unknown direction spread across the Internet on May 19. The authors of some publications report this with reference to CNN Türk and a 44-second video allegedly released by this TV channel. The video says that Oleg Golovko, a translator from the team of Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, fled Istanbul during a break in the negotiations. According to Turkish authorities, he crossed the border into Bulgaria by car, after which he went to one of the European countries.
They wrote about the alleged escape of a Ukrainian translator Russia Today, Life.ru, "Moskovsky Komsomolets", "Gazeta.ru" And "Business Online", as well as numerous Telegram channels, including "Dmitry Nicotin" (315,000 views at the time of writing this analysis) "ZeRada"(287,000), "KB"(253,000), "Historian Dyukov"(236,000), "Ne.Sugar"(225,000), "Uncle Slava"(187,000), etc.
Some resources reported the disappearance of another member of the delegation - an assistant secretary named Samoilenko. The news was released Lenta.ru, "Constantinople" And ForPost, as well as Telegram channels "The world of Mikhail Onufrienko"(208,000 views), "Ukraine.ru"(236,000), "Belarusian security officer" (158,000), "Voenkor Kitten"(120,000), "Bocharik (yep, that same one)"(112,000), etc.
May 16 in Istanbul took place the first direct negotiations between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in three years. The meeting was initiated by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky expressed his readiness to hold a meeting at the highest level and even flew to Turkey. However, when it became clear that Putin would not fly to Istanbul, Zelensky also did not participate in the meeting. As a result, the Russian delegation was headed by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, and the Ukrainian delegation by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. It was not possible to agree on a ceasefire - Kyiv reportedthat Russian negotiators put forward a number of unacceptable demands. The only concrete agreement was the agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war according to the formula “1000 to 1000” (he took place after a few days). In addition, it was decided that each side would present its vision of a possible ceasefire, after which negotiations would resume.
One of the aspects that was widely covered in the media was the question of the language in which the negotiators communicated. Ukrainian media with link to sources wrotethat the delegation led by Umerov used the services of an interpreter. In turn, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova statedthat the negotiations took place in Russian with simultaneous translation into Ukrainian, English and Turkish (at the meeting also participated Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan). RT employee Konstantin Pridybaylo, who was working in Istanbul that day claimed: “The Ukrainian delegation brought a translator into Ukrainian, but he sits and does nothing, because Russian is the language of dialogue now.”
Media and Telegram channels reported on the escape of the Ukrainian translator with reference to the Turkish television channel CNN Türk, some of the resources posted a story allegedly published by him on this topic. The design of this video is similar to that used by CNN Türk, with its logo placed in the lower right corner throughout the video. The 44-second video is in horizontal format, just like short news videos on the channel’s social media pages. The text of the news is reproduced at the bottom of the screen in the form of subtitles in English.
However, “Verified” was unable to find this video on website CNN Türk and verified TV channel pages on social networks (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X). There are many differences between the viral video and CNN Türk's original stories. Firstly, the channel produces news exclusively in Turkish; there are no videos in English on its social networks. Secondly, it does not use subtitles along with voice-over music - as a rule, original videos voices leading. Thirdly, the CNN Türk logo in the lower right corner is made on a black background, while in authentic videos it is on a transparent one.
However, the most suspicious inaccuracies are contained in the text of the news and the photographs used. For example, at the 30th second of the viral video, Istanbul is called the capital of Turkey - such a mistake could hardly be made by one of the largest Turkish TV channels.
The choice of some illustrations is no less strange. Thus, in the middle of the video there is a comment allegedly given by the Turkish authorities that Golovko did not leave Istanbul International Airport. In this case, for illustration, a photo of Ataturk Airport is used, which does not accept passenger flights since 2019.
Edition "Like this" reported, which contacted two CNN Turk employees for comment on this video. Representatives of the Turkish TV channel stated that the editorial office has nothing to do with the viral video.
Finally, the translator named Oleg Golovko is not mentioned either on official Ukrainian resources or in local media. At the 10th second of the viral video, a photograph of this man appears, but his face is blurred, which makes it difficult to establish the man’s identity.
Information about the escape of the Ukrainian translator was disseminated mainly in Russian. The earliest publication that contained a viral video and was found by “Verified” appeared in the Telegram channel “Gagauz Republic” on May 19 at 11:12 Moscow time. This channel is already met in analyzes “Verified” as the primary source of fake news. Subsequently, the video was widely distributed on other channels, as well as on different languages on social network X.
In addition to Golovko, media and Telegram channels claim, another representative of the Ukrainian delegation fled from Istanbul - a certain assistant secretary named Samoilenko. The video, stylized as a CNN Türk video, says nothing about him. The posts themselves do not provide details about Samoilenko’s escape; it only states that he left for Bulgaria with Golovko. Some people cite the Turkish media as a source of information, but Verified did not find any articles on this topic in authoritative Turkish publications. The first about the alleged escape of Samoilenko reported Telegram channel “Welders” May 19 at 14:05 Moscow time. After 20 min. about him wrote Russian “military correspondent” Yuri Kotenok, who later began to be referenced by other media.
It is noteworthy that almost identical fake about the escape of a Ukrainian translator appeared shortly after negotiations between the Ukrainian and US delegations in Saudi Arabia in March of this year. Then pro-Kremlin Telegram channels published a video allegedly released by the Arab News TV channel. Fact checkers from StopFake found outthat that video was falsified.
Thus, reports about the escape of Ukrainian translator Oleg Golovko from negotiations in Istanbul are based on a fake video from CNN Turk. The news that another member of the delegation fled with him is also not confirmed by authoritative sources.
Cover photo: X/ @rustem_umerov
- The Insider. Fake by the Kremlin media: the translator and the secretary of the Ukrainian delegation at the negotiations in Istanbul fled in an unknown direction
- "Like this". Russian propaganda writes about the escape of two participants in the negotiations in Istanbul from the Ukrainian side. “That’s So” found out that it’s fake
- False authorities. How the BBC became the brand of choice for fake video creators
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