Is it true that Mikhail Shatz was hiding from Iranian missiles at the Consulate of the Russian Federation?

At the end of June 2025, the media and Telegram channels reported that the comedian who left Russia to Israel during the shelling of Tel Aviv took refuge in the Russian consulate. We checked whether this statement corresponds to reality. 

Notes that Mikhail Shatz waited Iranian shelling at the Consulate of the Russian Federation in Tel Aviv information portals and in some media ("Arguments and facts" News.ru). Social networks sharing news (""VKontakte" X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, "Classmates"), Platform blog (Livejournal, "Zen") And forums It was discussed whether the diplomatic mission should be sheltered by an actor and a showman declared in Russia by a foreign agent. Many popular Telegram channels talked about this: "Zlaya Prof"(225,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Voblya • News"(139 000),"Dmitry Vasilet"(115,000) and others. The proof in these publications mentions a photo that the Shatz allegedly took from the consulate, posted on Instagram, and then deleted it. Some posts even give a screenshot Storiz: a certain embankment is visible in the picture, and a comment was imposed on “I didn’t think that it would reach” (punctuation was saved. - approx. “Checked”). Sometimes publications are accompanied by screenshots from Google from the photo of the building where the consulate is located, and the screons from the Google Street View service, where the street is visible in front of it.

Consular department The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Israel is located in Tel Aviv at the address of ul. Kaufman, 2. Skilacists from Google Street View In viral publications, they are true: the surroundings of the building where the diplomatic mission is located is very similar to those that are captured on the alleged story. However, not the whole building belongs to the consulate - in this large office center, the representative office of the Russian Federation occupies only the third floor. In addition, judging by the data Google Maps, there are many establishments and institutions - from cafes and hostels to offices of commercial companies and representative offices of other states, such as Nepal. Therefore, even if we assume that Shatz really published such a story on Instagram, it was almost impossible to establish whether the photo was taken from the consulate window, and not any other institution in this building. At least, there are no drops on the Storiz itself about a specific whereabouts. 

Iranian missile shelling in June 2025 is far from the first to face the Israelis. Bomb shelter In Israel, you can find everywhere: for example, in shopping centers - public, in the basements of houses - common -house, in apartments - individual Safe rooms (Since the beginning of the 1990s, developers are required to provide them for the construction of residential buildings). Each resident of the country knows that as soon as the alarm is heard, you should immediately go to the nearest shelter, because the time of time in such a situation goes for seconds. It would be specially to go to the Russian consulate to hide from shelling there, it would be an extremely strange decision. In addition, you can get there only by preliminary RecordsTherefore, this is not the best option if it is necessary to urgently run to the bomb shelter. Even if we assume that Shatz did not find another place where it would be possible to hide from the Iranian missiles, he should have moved to a diplomatic mission, because shelling can begin at any moment of the day and night. Iranian missiles could find a comedian at the consulate when he was there for other reasons, but in this case he would hardly have photographed views from the window. 

“Verified” turned to Mikhail Shatsa for a comment. He said that during the shelling he was in Tel Aviv, but was not hiding at all at the consulate, but in the protected room at home. He also noted that he was not in the Russian diplomatic deposition for more than a year (since March 2024, when the presidential elections were held), and recently he did not even pass by this building and, accordingly, could not lay out such a story. 

Since the Storiz on Instagram disappear from the account 24 hours after the publication, it is no longer possible to check whether the Shatz posted such a picture. However, the fact that all posts and notes with this news contain the same version of the screenshot, allegedly made after 10 minutes, are alarming. After the alleged publication (and with the same strip of duration in the upper part of the story). In most cases, the fact that a photo or screenshot exists in only one version indicates a fake, but this largely depends on the source.

The earliest “tested” publication about the Mikhail Shaz consultant appeared in the Telegram channel “Zanoza»On June 16, 2025 at 16:04 Moscow time and at the time of writing this parsing, I gained 8,000 views. The post contained the very story, a screenshot of the image of the Consulate from Google and the screenscars of a walk along the building in the Google Street View. A comment was added to them: “Ino-agent Mikhail Shatz is hiding from Iranian shelling at the Russian consulate in Tel Aviv. The principles were not too firm. ” Then the exactly the same post appeared in the channel "Countess with a changed face pond"(91,000 views), and within an hour-and in other large Telegram channels, already Noticed In the distribution of fakes: ""Kryminforum zov"(15,000),"Voblya • News"(136 000),"Shaman Rahu"(7000), Nina Vatt (56,000) and others. 

The Channel "Zanoza" also previously became the primary source of misinformation. For example, it was there that the news first appeared that Parental committee Schools in Kyiv demanded to paint over the US flag on its facade that Rector Kyiv National University forbade students to use the words “Russia” and “Russian” in their works or that they announced in France auctionon which relics will be sold from the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. None of these messages were true. It is noteworthy that in previous times after the appearance of the fake in Zanoze, he was picked up by the same channels as in the case of the news about Shaz in the Russian consulate. 

Fake story is also not a unique case, fake people have repeatedly used this format to discredit celebrities. For example, it has already been “verified” earlier that after the collapse of the aircraft in the United States Ukrainian rapper Potap He expressed condolences to all on board, except Russians, or that he was mocking the death of the actress Anastasia Zavorotnyuk. Then the proof was also served from the musician's page on Instagram. However, later it turned out that neither the first nor in the second case Potap laid out anything like that, and the screenshots were fabricated. 

Thus, there is no evidence that Mikhail Shatz was hiding from Iranian shelling at the Russian consulate in Tel Aviv. The comedian himself denies this, and the facts set forth in viral publications simply contradict common sense. In addition, the source of this news is the Telegram channel, which has repeatedly been noticed in the spread of fakes, including using fake storiz.

Photo on the cover: DEDASASHA, CC by-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. The Times of Israel. The Mamad: The Room That Saves Lives in Israel
2. Facel is required. How Russian propaganda has been issuing its fakes for announcements from Ukraine and Western countries for two years
3. Is it true that the Ukrainians did not let Semyon Slepakov into the bomb shelter during the Iranian blow to Israel?