According to some on social networks, several graffiti mocking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have appeared all over Europe in recent weeks. In reality, it is a new maneuver of Russian propaganda, with cleverly faked photos.
Would Volodymyr Zelensky have been caricatured as a cockroach nibbling the European Union on the cobblestones of a Madrid street? In any case, this is what a photo shared by the Russian Embassy in Spain and by several Internet users on social networks in recent days suggests. They claim that this painting was made by a group of Polish street artists.
A fake photo
In reality, this graffiti never existed. Apart from this single photo circulating, there is no trace of this painting, either online or in the Spanish media. Thanks to the clues present on this picture, it is possible to identify the exact place where this painting would have been made, that is to say at 9 Plaza de las Cortes, in the center of Madrid (at the following geographical coordinates: 40.415552,-3.696683).
We contacted a business located just in front of the location of this supposed graffiti. The staff, who pass by this place daily, assured us that they had never seen it and had never heard of it. It is therefore a faked photo.
Similar cases across Europe
This fake graffiti technique was not only used in Spain. The latest example concerns France, and more specifically the suburbs of Paris. This time, it is a painting by Volodymyr Zelensky, represented as a black hole which absorbs the money of Europeans, which would have appeared in front of the metro entrance of the Saint-Mandé station, east of Paris.
Our colleagues from the Observers of France 24 conducted the investigation. Again, no trace of this graffiti was found. The town hall and local residents claim that it never existed and an analysis of the photo reveals manipulations in the image.
Three weeks before, it was in Warsaw, Poland, that a similar painting had been highlighted on social networks. But there again, no one has seen her.
A well-oiled disinformation campaign
Comparing the Spanish, French and Polish cases, we notice a similar dissemination strategy. Each time, the photo of the graffiti first appears on an Instagram account which presents itself as the profile of a totally unknown group of Polish artists. Strangely, it is always deleted a few days after its publication, before giving way to a new snapshot.
This photo is then shared online by the traditional relays of Russian propaganda, in particular by the chief propagandist of the Kremlin, TV host Vladimir Solovyov, on his Telegram account followed by more than a million subscribers. By looking at the images, we quickly see that they are of the same invoice.
There is always the same composition: a busy street taken in a wide shot, an artist finishing his graffiti and a passer-by observing him. The graphics of the paintings are also similar. The editing is deft, so it’s easy to get fooled.
Make believe in the erosion of Western support
These infox are intended to make people believe, wrongly, that European support for Ukraine is greatly weakening, or even non-existent.According to the latest Eurobarometer surveythe vast majority of Europeans approve of the European Union’s support for Ukraine.
This propaganda affects everyone but it is aimed above all at the Russians, whom Vladimir Putin seeks to convince of the merits of his war.