Russian propaganda fabricates video about $53M in 'compensation' to Zaluzhnyi

A short video, looking like that of the BBC, is being distributed on TikTok, in pro-Kremlin media outlets and the Chinese social network Weibo. The video tells that the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, unofficially received $53 million in "compensation" for giving up his presidential ambitions, and Bellingcat allegedly learned about such "details" of the resignation.

The video is fake. It cannot be found on the BBC or Bellingcat website or their social media platforms.

The video was edited using photos and video footage available in the public domain. Using a reverse image search, we found all the materials used by the propagandists. This is a photo of Valerii Zaluzhnyi in the Verkhovna Rada, taken by a Reuters photographer in 2023.

Footage was also used after the general was dismissed and awarded a Hero of Ukraine medal.

A video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's meeting with British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps was also inserted into the fake video.

The footage, where Bellingcat investigator Christo Grozev, allegedly reports on the "details" of the resignation, was taken from the Deutsche Welle program about the downing of flight MH17 by the Russian military.

In addition, stock videos were used in the fake. Propagandists took the footage with the British flag from a video published on July 7, 2021.

The video of a man in military-like clothing transferring dollars was taken from an Instagram account. The administrators of this channel post videos with a lot of dollar bills.

As reported, Valerii Zaluzhnyi's dismissal from the post of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine caused a wave of Russian fakes.

Andriy Olenin