Russia attempts to discredit Ukraine ahead of Bundestag elections.
Pro-Russian English-language media and bots on the social media platform X are spreading a fabricated investigation by the so-called “Foundation to Battle Injustice.” The publication claims that the Ukrainian government allegedly struck a “deal” with the leaders of the German Green Party to “discredit” the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of the Bundestag elections, scheduled for February 23, 2025.
According to the “data” from the foundation, 800-900 Ukrainian “specialists” are purportedly set to recruit 3,500-4,000 teenagers from among Ukrainian citizens and other migrants in Germany to carry out various “acts” under the AfD flag. These include acts of vandalism, terrorist attacks, and violent protests at polling stations on election day.
The fake claims that these “acts” would allegedly be funded by German taxpayers and that Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Oleksii Makeiev is supposedly “managing” the operations, according to the publication’s authors.
The text also mentions that the alleged “agreement” between Ukrainian authorities and the Green Party, supposedly intended to discredit the AfD, was signed on October 15, 2023, between “Deputy Foreign Minister” Vasyl Bodnar and one of the Green Party members, Vice President of the Bundestag Katrin Goring-Eckardt.
This is a fabrication. The authors of the “investigation” provide no factual evidence of any alleged agreements between the Green Party and representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They only refer to unnamed “sources” in the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and the German government.
Additionally, the creators of this fake news incorrectly listed Vasyl Bodnar’s position. He served as the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine from 2017 to 2021, not in 2023 as claimed by the propagandists. From 2021 to 2024, he served as Ukraine’s Ambassador to Turkey, and since 2024, he has held the position of Ambassador to Poland.
The so-called “Foundation to Combat Injustice” is a Russian propaganda organization, founded by international terrorist and former head of the Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin. This entity was specifically created to spread fake material about Ukraine. Earlier, Ukrinform journalists debunked a fake from this foundation about the sale of one million liters of Ukrainian donor blood abroad with the help of USAID.
The author and distributor of this fake news for English-speaking audiences is a so-called “journalist” from Brazil, Lucas Leiroz. He is one of the war correspondents who covers Russia’s aggression against Ukraine from the Kremlin’s side.
Among his photos on social media, there are images with the Brazilian flag in occupied Luhansk, and his profile picture features him posing alongside a portrait of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko.
In his profile description on a pro-Russian English-language website, where he publishes fake stories about Ukraine, Leiroz claimed to have presented a fake report about the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council and at additional OSCE discussions.
These fakes are designed to discredit Ukraine and Ukrainians in Europe, particularly in Germany. Their goal is to create the illusion that Ukraine is allegedly interfering in the German elections, though it is Russia that is behind the creation of these fabrications.
Earlier, Russian propaganda spread a fake story about military summonses being issued to men abroad and their deportation to Ukraine.
Andriy Olenin
