In social networks and on Russian websites, propagandists are spreading information that residents of the Kharkiv region allegedly “support the referendum on joining the Russian Federation” and that “Kharkiv authorities approved” the holding of such a vote. They claim that the head of the military-civil administration of the Kharkiv region, Vitalii  Hanchev, allegedly made a corresponding statement on this topic. The authors of such messages note that residents of the Kharkiv region allegedly “regularly make such requests” to the local administration.

In fact, this information is false. This was written by experts from the StopFake project. They found out that Vitalii Hanchev is a self-proclaimed and unverified “chairman” of the so-called Russian administration of the Kharkiv region. This “administration” is an occupation one and was created on the territory of Ukraine contrary to the norms of international law, and therefore has no legitimate power and the right to represent the interests of the residents of the Kharkiv region. According to articles in Russian media, the request for “holding a referendum” allegedly arose during a meeting with residents of the village of Hrakovo in the Kharkiv region, which is now located in a small occupied part of the Kharkiv region. Fact-checkers remind that residents under Russian occupation cannot freely express their opinions if they contradict Russian propaganda, due to the threat of repression.

In addition, Hanchev is a former police officer in the Kharkiv region and a collaborator. He is suspected of treason. According to investigators, the suspect went over to the side of the occupiers and agitated for loyalty to Russia. While in the village of Kozacha Lopan, he voluntarily took up the post of “head of administration” in the territory captured by Russian troops. Also in 2013, Hanchev worked as deputy head of the Derhachivskyi district police department with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Later, he moved to Luhansk, where he worked in the police structures of the so-called LPR. In Ukraine, Vitalii Hanchev faces life imprisonment for treason and collaboration.

As of today, the legitimate head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration is Oleh Syniehubov, and the overwhelming majority of the population of the Kharkiv region does not demand that the administration hold a referendum on joining Russia. As the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security notes, Hanchev's statements about the “referendum” are an attempt to use the media to drown out the effect of the successful operation. The Charter Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine cleared 400 hectares of forest, destroyed and captured a significant number of enemy personnel. In addition, even in 2022, when the Russian army controlled more than 20% of the Kharkiv region, the occupiers were not preparing for a “vote” like the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Then they limited themselves to Hanchev's statements that “it is not time for a referendum”.

Russia's so-called soft power instruments are aimed not only at young people, but also at minors in Europe. The Hello, Russia program, organized by the Russian state agency Rossotrudnichestvo, offers children and teenagers aged 14 to 19 weeks of all-expenses-paid trips to Russian cities, accompanied by patriotic events. The target audience is children with Russian roots who grew up abroad and speak Russian as a second native language. About a thousand young people from all over the world, including the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, take part in the program every year, according to Czech investigators from the Investigace project.

They found that the program includes visits to historical and cultural monuments of Russia, as well as elements of patriotic education. Young people take part in events honoring the memory of Soviet soldiers, visit museums dedicated to Russian history and weapons, and meet with religious figures promoting “traditional family values”. In addition to cultural activities, the program offers two specializations for older participants: media, where young people visit the editorial offices of state media, or history, where excursions are held to archives and scientific institutions. The main goal of the program is to strengthen ties between young people of Russian origin living abroad and Russia through cultural, historical, and patriotic measures to attract new generations to the idea of the “Russian world”.

The program is part of a broader Russian strategy to spread its influence abroad and strengthen pro-Russian sentiments among young people with Russian roots. Such initiatives help to form a positive image of Russia among young Europeans, even in the context of the country’s military aggression against Ukraine. The program is an example of using “soft power” to prepare a new generation to support Russian propaganda and the “traditional values” that Moscow promotes as an alternative to the “liberal Western world”. In this way, Russia also tries to legitimize its actions on the international stage by creating a network of young people who will support its policies and spread pro-Russian views in their countries.

Andrii Lovych, an employee of the office of German Bundestag member Zacklin Nastych, participated in the Conference on a Multipolar World led by Oleksandr Dugin, a well-known Russian nationalist who supports Russia's aggression against Ukraine and advocates the destruction of Ukrainian statehood. In his speech, Lovych supported anti-Western positions and spoke out against Western “colonialists”, which clearly reflect pro-Russian narratives, according to German investigators from Correctiv.

This case is particularly important in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine due to the fact that Nastych is a member of the Defense Committee, where sensitive issues related to German defense and support for Ukraine are discussed. This raises serious concerns that information critical to the defense of Europe could be used to advance pro-Russian interests or even passed on to Russia.  Lovych is also an active promoter of Serbian nationalism and has close ties to pro-Russian circles, including far-right Serbian politician Arnaud Gouillon, suspected of spying for Russia and Serbia. These ties are important because Serbia remains one of the few European countries that maintains close relations with Moscow, especially in the context of the war against Ukraine. Lovych is an active speaker in Serbian media that promotes pro-Russian narratives and propaganda. His rhetoric coincides with them, including that the West is allegedly responsible for global conflicts, in particular in the Balkans and Ukraine. Such statements strengthen pro-Russian influences in Europe, contribute to the spread of disinformation and undermine support for Ukraine in the fight against the aggressor. Zaklina Nastych, Lovych’s boss, also has pro-Russian sympathies, opposing Western support for Ukraine and defending Serbia on the Kosovo issue.

This situation shows how important the role of informational and political support for Russia is from some European circles that openly sympathize with the Kremlin or have pro-Russian ties. Such individuals can contribute to the spread of disinformation, the undermining of international support for Ukraine and the general weakening of the European front against Russian aggression. This is another example of how Russia is trying to influence politics in European countries through its allies and sympathizers, using anti-Western narratives and propaganda to further legitimize its aggression against Ukraine and other countries.

Propagandists are distributing videos and photos on anonymous Telegram channels and other media, allegedly taken in the Holy Trinity Church of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) in Troieshchyna in Kyiv. In the video, an unknown person holds a piece of paper with the so-called prayer against mobilization, which, according to the propagandists, costs 10 hryvnia. However, this is fake.

This was found out by Ukrinform journalists. According to them, the postcard was forged using a graphics editor, and the ornament depicted on it was taken from Russian stock resources, where it is called a Russian pattern. The propagandists replaced the UOC symbol with domes with the OCU cross, printed out the leaflet and presented it as a real “prayer” that is allegedly sold in Ukraine for money. Also, in the text of the fake prayer, the letters “z” are replaced with the Latin z, which is a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Latin z is never used in the Old Church Slavonic spelling used in the UOC. This is further evidence that the postcard is a gross forgery. The video was filmed in such a way that it is impossible to accurately identify the location: apart from the hand holding the leaflet and the general church altar, which can be found in any Orthodox church, no other details are visible.

The fake was spread by an Instagram profile that is also used to spread other disinformation. At the time of its spread, the account had an avatar with an image of a church, but its name was deliberately drawn out. It turned out that this account had previously spread another fake about a supposed birthday celebration of Russian dictator Volodymyr Putin in a Las Vegas nightclub.

Russian propaganda is trying to show that the OCU allegedly uses religious doctrines for financial enrichment, thereby trying to sow distrust of this confession among Ukrainians and the international community. By creating such fakes, Russian propagandists are also trying to demoralize Ukrainian society, undermining trust in religious and national institutions, in particular, in war conditions, in order to disrupt the mobilization process. The purpose of spreading such fakes abroad is to undermine Ukraine's reputation in the international arena and to demonstrate it as a country where chaos and manipulation reign even in the religious sphere.