Russian propaganda fakes Human Rights Watch video

Russian fake: SBU using sex workers to mobilize Ukrainians to the front

Kremlin media outlets and "z blogger" Telegram channels are distributing a news video allegedly shot by Human Rights Watch. According to the video, the Security Service of Ukraine allegedly uses recruited sex workers to mobilize Ukrainians into the army. Employees of the Ukrainian special service allegedly filmed the process of the visit and then blackmailed the men with these videos, forcing them to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The video is fake. There are no such publications either on the official page of Human Rights Watch or its social media platforms. This video was created from videos and pictures that are easy to find on the internet. They have nothing to do with the recruitment campaign for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Propagandists took the footage with sex workers from a video investigation conducted by Detective.Info journalists. The video was published on YouTube on May 7, 2020, two years before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The design of the video distributed by propagandists also differs from actual Human Rights Watch videos. The fakers used a different font and did not highlight important words in blue, as is usually done in the original short videos of the human rights organization.

Moreover, in the fake video, the propagandists used photos of Ukrainian service members, mobilization footage and neutral stock images that can be easily found on the internet. The Russians use them in their numerous propaganda stories related to the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Earlier, Russian propagandists faked an Instagram post of a well-known American musician.

Andriy Olenin