Euronews did not produce or publish a report falsely claiming Ukrainian refugees attacked a man in Germany after mistaking his Slovenian flag for a Russian one.
ADVERTISEMENTA screenshot of a doctored Euronews report is being spread by pro-Kremlin channels, targeting Ukrainian refugees in Germany.
Some social media users are claiming Euronews produced and published a report alleging Ukrainian refugees in Germany attacked a man after confusing his Slovenian flag for a Russian one.
The Slovenian flag and Russian one do share the same colours except the Slovenian one features a coat of arms on the upper hoist.
Another version of this false story Euronews found online is that a German of Slovenian origin hung the flag outside his house.
Ukrainian refugees are said to have mistaken the flag for the Russian one and allegedly beat the man so severely that he ended up in hospital.
This message has been shared along with a screenshot of a fake Euronews report, which says that "the attackers mixed up the flag of Slovenia and Russia."
In the upper right corner of the image, the propagandists added the Euronews logo.
A fake news spread by notable Russian propaganda channels
Euronews did not produce nor publish this report. The graphics and format were used without our consent.
Moreover, we found no mention of such an incident in German media that could prove this story is authentic.
The first instances of this story were shared by pro-Kremlin Telegram channels in Russian.
It was then shared in English on Telegram by the pro-Moscow Propagandist Simeon Boikov, better known as the Aussie Cossack.
On his Telegram account, Boikov published the same false story but did not cite his source nor did he mention Euronews.
Simeon Boikov is currently locked in the Russian Consulate General in Sydney where he has spent more than eight months evading arrest warrants issued by Australian authorities, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Boikov is accused of assaulting a 76-year-old man at a pro-Ukraine rally in Sydney.
A common propaganda technique
This propaganda technique of digitally altering and faking articles from reputable news sources has become increasingly common since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine over a year and a half ago.
By using the same graphics and logos as well-known international media, the propagandists hope to create a sense of legitimacy and dupe social media users into sharing fake news online.
This is not the first time the Euronews logo and font have been copied to spread disinformation.
In October 2022, a fake video spread online claiming to show a Euronews report about a Russian art auction
ADVERTISEMENTThe clip falsely alleged that an auction house had invited art collectors to donate paintings by Russian artists and then to "publicly destroy" them and send the proceeds to Ukraine's military.