By Naomi Gesare
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, there has been plenty of fake news regarding the ongoing war. On April 4, 2022, this tweet shared an image of demonstrators with claims that it was a demonstration in Moscow against the United States’ intervention in other countries.
On one of the posters is an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. The other two are readings that say, “Stop interfering in the affairs of other countries” and “No for American interface” respectively.
Background
Contrary to what the image is portraying, Russian residents have been demonstrating against the war between Russia and Ukraine. For instance, an article posted on March 9, 2022 by the Human Rights Watch gives details on arrests of anti-war protests in Moscow, Russia.
During this protest, Russian authorities arbitrarily arrested peaceful anti-war protestors and in some instances tortured them while in custody. So far, more than 13,000 anti-war Russians have been detained since Russia invaded Ukraine.
According to BBC News, Russian forces launched air-based missiles in Donbas, which broadly refers to Ukraine’s eastern region of Donetsk and Luhansk. President Putin wants Donbas because not only is it a coal mining area, the Kremlin also believes that the region is a Russian- speaking part of Ukraine.
Verification
Reverse image searches reveal that the image showing demonstrators with placards was taken on January 23, 2021 in Moscow, Russia. One of the placards with Navalny’s portrait reads, “One for all and all for one” whereas the other two reads, “Freedom for Navalny!”
According to an article by the Associated Press, Russian residents were protesting against the arrest of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Navalny was arrested and detained on January 17, 2021. On March 22, 2022, he was found guilty of fraud and contempt of court. Navalny was sentenced to nine years in a maximum security prison, as well as ordered to pay a fine of 1.2 million rubles.
Piga Firimbi has debunked similar allegations here.
Verdict
This image does NOT show demonstrations in Moscow against US interventions in other countries as alleged.
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