Russian propaganda distributing fake video amid opening of EU accession negotiations with Ukraine

Russian pro-war Telegram channels and English-speaking pro-Russian bots on X are spreading a video allegedly shot in Brussels, which shows graffiti with a caricature of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the caption "Please! Invite one more defaulting debetor to EU." A man behind the scenes concludes in Ukrainian that no one in the EU is allegedly waiting for Ukraine.

This is a fake. Such graffiti has never been painted in Brussels. The video was actually shot in the Belgian capital.

But there are other pictures on the house. Using Google Maps, we managed to establish that opposite this wall is a pet shop called Zinneke&Kats.

We contacted the owners of this store on social media. They confirmed that the video spread by propagandists was fake.

They also provided a video shot on June 25, 2024.

It should be noted that the fake video was uploaded for the first time on June 25, 2024.

That is, the Russians shot a real video in Brussels and, using graphic editors and deepfake technology, superimposed a voice and a fake image.

On June 25, 2024, the first Intergovernmental Conference on Ukraine's accession to the EU was held in Luxembourg, which gave an official start to accession negotiations.

Earlier, Russian propaganda created a number of video fakes about May 9 symbols in Berlin and New York.

Andriy Olenin