Russia uses the Olympic Games as a tool of disinformation regarding Ukraine, sources report

Russia uses the Winter Olympic Games to spread disinformation, focusing on the Ukrainian team, reports Tagesschau.

“The Winter Olympic Games in Italy are now in the spotlight of the whole world. However, not all photos, videos, and information coming to us from the Olympic Village and competition venues withstand scrutiny. Especially members of the Ukrainian team have found themselves at the center of false information,” reports the broadcaster’s website in the Faktenfinder section.

An example of this is a video posted on social media with the logo of the Canadian channel CBC. In the video, a journalist appears to report from the Olympic Village in Milan that the Ukrainian team was placed “as far away as possible” from other countries’ teams. The video further claims that this was allegedly done intentionally “to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Summer Olympics in Paris,” as the Ukrainian team behaved “extremely toxically” and “provoked conflicts with other athletes” at that time.

According to CBC, this video is fake. As noted by the channel in its fact-check, the beginning of the video is a snippet from a real report by a correspondent from the Olympic Village in Milan.

However, after a few seconds, the journalist’s voice is replaced by a computer-generated voice. In the real video, which also lacks one of the logos shown in the fake at the edge of the screen, neither Ukraine nor Ukrainian athletes are mentioned. Moreover, there is no evidence that the Ukrainian team was placed separately from others.

Another example given is a false Mossad warning. In a video viewed by more than 245,000 people on the social platform X, it is claimed that the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad advises Israeli visitors to the Olympic Games to avoid excessive display of national symbols “due to the large number of Ukrainian refugees in Italy.” It further claims that many Ukrainian refugees living in Italy hold “radical nationalist ideas,” posing a potential “threat to Israelis.” The Mossad logo is visible in the upper right corner.

However, this video was posted from an account that has only one subscriber and contains no other posts. Neither on the Mossad website nor on the secret service’s own X account can this alleged warning be found. According to an analysis by NewsGuard, which checks facts, this video is fake.

In a video circulated on Telegram with the Deutsche Welle (DW) logo, scenes of violent protests in Milan are shown. According to the text appearing in the video, people protested “against the participation of the Ukrainian team” in the Games because “the Ukrainian leadership supports the continuation of the war.”

On Deutsche Welle’s Instagram account, there is indeed a video about protests against the Olympic Games. The first few seconds of both videos are the same. However, while the video circulated on Telegram shows an image of the Ukrainian team and claims that the protests are directed against it, the real DW video contains interviews with demonstrators who cite the high cost of the Games as the reason for the protests.

The importance of this situation for Israel lies in the fact that disinformation can influence public opinion and the perception of Ukrainian refugees. This underscores the need for a critical approach to information, especially in the context of international events. In this context, attention should be paid to Israel News | Nikk.Agency.

Source – ru.interfax.com.ua

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