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Russia is trying to dehumanize Ukrainians and spread outright fakes. Propagandists say that Ukraine wants the death of Russian children.
This was reported at the Center for Strategic Communications. A photo of a chocolate bar called “Alyoshka's Death” is being circulated online.
The wrapper of the chocolate shows a child wearing a helmet and wearing a mourning ribbon.
How a fake was created and spread
For the first time, a photo of a chocolate bar was published on January 30 by a Twitter account with the nickname Donbass Devushka. The profile systematically distributes anti-Ukrainian and anti-American propaganda in English.
The authors of the publication claim that the photo shows a chocolate bar produced in Ukraine. The key message of the fake is stated in the description: “Ukrainians wish death on a child because he is proud of his country.” Almost 150 retweets appeared in a day, while for most of the page's publications this figure rarely exceeds 20, the Center said.
In the Ukrainian segment of social networks, messages about the Death of Alyoshka chocolate bar appeared only after the Russian ones. Users are discussing the case as a cheap Russian fake. The Center explains that the image of the boy Alyoshka is not widely known among Ukrainians.
The following propagandists spread the fake image of a chocolate bar: Anatoly Shariy, Roman Golovanov, Ruslan Ostashko. In addition, the photo was published by a number of Russian-language publics “VKontakte”. To work with English-speaking users, Russia uses Twitter. There, the fake was also translated into Spanish, Italian, French and Greek.
Who was the first to spread the fake/Screenshots from social networks
What is known about the image of the boy Alyosha
Alyosha from the Belgorod Region appeared in the media space of the invaders in the spring of 2022. In social networks, the Russians spread a “viral” video in which a child runs along the highway in a helmet and congratulates armored vehicles on their way to the border with Ukraine.
After that, eight-year-old Aleksey Pavlichenko became a symbol of Russian propaganda. The invaders are trying to talk about him as a defenseless child who needs to be “saved from the Ukronazis”. The Center for Strategic Communications considers this propagandist project to be successful.
Alyosha congratulates the killers/Screenshot from the video
“Stories about Alyosha was filmed by federal and regional TV channels, he became the hero of the publications of the most popular Russian news media and came to the attention of military cows,” the Center noted.
Propagandists organized a PR campaign for the child. In particular, the following events took place to popularize the image:
- meeting the boy with the Russian invaders and photo shoots in military uniform;
- thanks from the Russian Ministry of Defense;
- excursion to school with a cadet class, dressing in uniform a policeman;
- joining the Yunarmiya;
- murals in different cities of Russia with Alyoshka;
- winning the “Children-Heroes” contest, an award in the Federation Council.
Mural with a boy/Photo by the Russian media on the chocolate bar “Alenka”, known since Soviet times. However, during the promotional photo shoot, the boy wore a patch with a Serbian or simply upside down Russian flag on his arm.
The governor of the Belgorod region Vyacheslav Gladkov presented chocolates with the image of a child to Putin in August. Therefore, there is reason to consider the fake about “Alyoshka's death” as part of a propagandist campaign.
“Russian propaganda has been making the audience fall in love with the boy Alyosha for months, in order to later use his image as an emotional trigger to generate another wave anger among gullible consumers of content,” the center believes.
A child with an allegedly Russian flag/Photo by Russian propagandists
Militarization of Childhood
The Kremlin implements a criminal policy towards children and militarizes childhood. It attracts minors to paramilitary organizations (such as the Yunarmiya) and annual carnival celebrations on May 9.
“While the Russian army is killing real Ukrainian children, Russian propaganda cynically accuses Ukrainians of wanting to kill little Russians This is another evidence that the Russian “fighters of the information front” are war criminals, just like the Russian military and political leadership of Russia,” the Center added.
Russian propaganda: latest news
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