Propagandists are spreading information on anonymous Telegram channels claiming that the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo allegedly featured a caricature of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi on its cover, depicting him as the Hunchback of Notre Dame, shunned by the leaders of France and the United States. However, this cover is a fake.

This is reported by the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security. They discovered that the actual publication date of the magazine (every Wednesday) and the real cover with entirely different stories prove that the fake was created by Russian propagandists.

Fakes, similar to the fabricated Charlie Hebdo cover, aim to create a negative image of President Zelenskyi and the Ukrainian government, as well as to undermine international support for Ukraine. Fakes ridiculing Ukraine are designed to create the impression that Western countries are supposedly reducing their aid and support. These actions seek to erode Ukrainians' faith in international support and to sow discord among Ukraine’s allies. They are part of a broader information warfare campaign designed to weaken Ukraine.

An alleged new cover of the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo is being circulated online. The drawing depicts a French military man in the form of a dead man. The picture also has the caption: “Cold, smelly, full of holes, made in France, but not cheese”.

VoxCheck analysts analyzed the case and found that such a cover was not in any issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine. The cover of the magazine indicates that this is issue No. 1659 dated May 7, 2024 - but on the official website of the publication there is the original issue of the magazine for the specified period, which was also published under number 1659.

The cover may be linked to calls by some French MPs for a boycott of the participation of Israeli athletes in the Olympic Games in Paris.

Anonymous telegram channels are distributing the allegedly real cover of the new issue of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo with the image of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi sitting among the dead Ukrainian soldiers. It's a lie.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council examined this case and found out that a magazine with such a cover does not exist. This can be verified on the official website of the publication.

We have repeatedly documented hoaxes involving fake graffiti or covers on foreign magazines, newspaper columns or advertisements. Thus, propagandists seek to show that their rhetoric (for example, that Zelenskyi is hated by the whole world) is also repeated in the West. So it may seem to readers that the public is really dissatisfied with Ukraine. And especially when the authors use elements of popular culture, hinting that people are laughing at the situation in Ukraine, and that the Ukrainian agenda for Europe is a reason to laugh.

Russian information resources, broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, are distributing the cover of the supposedly German satirical publication Titanic, which depicts the President of Ukraine and people wearing Zelenskyi masks, with the headline “This time there won’t be enough candies for everyone”. This is a hint that the world's attention is focused on Israel, and not on the war in Ukraine. It's fake.

The case was examined by the fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. They determined that there was no actual issue of Titanic magazine with such a cover. On the publication's website one can find the latest issue for October, number 10, with a different cover. On the cover, which is distributed by Russian propaganda, the number is indicated - 11, the magazine itself is published once a month, so this is another confirmation that it is fake.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to promote the message that the West is tired of the war in Ukraine and has reduced support and will supply less weapons. All this is to sow panic among Ukrainians. Previously, we refuted the fake that the French magazine Charlie Hebdo dedicated its cover to the Hamas movement.

Russian telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are allegedly distributing the cover of the Turkish magazine Le Man with the image of Volodymyr Zelenskyi “furious at the whole world”. The President of Ukraine is irritated allegedly because the attention of the world media is focused on the conflict between Palestine and Israel, while there is also a war going on in Ukraine. It's fake.

The case was examined by the fact-checkers from the Center for Strategic Communications and the BezBrekhni (No lie) project. They found that there was no such cover either on social networks or on the official website of the publication. Moreover, the last issue of the magazine was published on October 11 (No. 1646), and the date on the fake binding is October 16 (No. 1647).

Thus, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyi and create the illusion that the whole world is tired of the war in Ukraine, and therefore has switched to the conflict between Palestine and Israel. Previously, we refuted the fake that the French magazine Charlie Hebdo dedicated its cover to the Hamas movement.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are circulating a cover allegedly published by the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo depicting Volodymyr Zelenskyi against the backdrop of the burning Crimean bridge. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project drew attention to the case. No issue of Charlie Hebdo had such a cover. On the fake cover it is indicated that this is a special issue of July 18, 2023, the number of which is 1579. The publication’s website has an archive of all issues, so the fact-checkers found the magazine under the number 1579. It was released on October 26, 2022 and had a different cover.

Russian propaganda systematically distributes fake covers of famous foreign publications. Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to laugh at Volodymyr Zelenskyi and show that the President of Ukraine is not respected all over the world. Earlier, we refuted the fake that the American magazine The Nation dedicated a cover to Zelenskyi calling him an “evil boy”.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo recently allegedly featured an illustration on its cover of the recent situation at the World Fencing Championships in Milan. Then the Ukrainian saber fencer Olha Kharlan refused to shake hands with the losing rival from Russia. In the messages they add that the authors ridiculed the act of the Ukrainian athlete. It is not true.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project investigated this case and determined that such a cover does not exist. According to the archive, there is no magazine with this cover on the official website. At the same time, the false cover was made using Photoshop.

Thus propagandists seek to show that their rhetoric is also being repeated in the West. So readers can get the impression that the whole world is opposed to Ukraine and supports Russia.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are circulating the alleged cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo with a caricature of Zelenskyi. In the image, the President of Ukraine is holding the deceased passenger of the Titan submarine so that he would transfer money to help Ukraine. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation drew attention to the case. They determined that no such cover exists. The latest issue is number 1613 and it came out on June 21, while the fake cover is numbered 1614 and dated June 23.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit Western partners and convince Ukrainians that Zelenskyi is neglected in the West. To do this, Russian propaganda uses the tactic of ridicule. Earlier, Detector Media refuted the fake that the German magazine Handelsblatt depicted a destroyed Leopard tank on its cover.

Propagandists are spreading a photo according to which the British magazine The New European allegedly published a cartoon on the cover of one of its issues, in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi sits on the lap of the Dalai Lama who put forward his tongue. Zelensky seems to be saying “I'll suck it if you pay me!”, which is a parody of the situation with the Dalai Lama and the boy to whom he offered to “suck his tongue”. In the drawing, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak glares at the other two characters, and at the top of the drawing is the title: “How much is Britain willing to pay to solve the Ukrainian crisis?”. It's fake.

It was noticed by many fact-checking projects, by particular, in Mythdetector. Project specialists found out that the cover is not real. The real cover of number 337, shown on the fake, features a photo of the current British Prime Minister with the heading: “Rishi Sunak's war on the elites”. In addition, the publication on its Twitter published a photo from the printed issue of the magazine, which, under the heading “Lies of the Week”, depicts the mentioned cartoon.

By publishing fake covers of foreign publications, propagandists want to show that the West seems to understand and support Russia's actions, while Ukraine seems to have tired everyone. Detector Media has already debunked such reports, in particular, “covers” of Charlie Hebdo.

A photo of the cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which depicts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Russian President Volodymyr Putin and Jesus Christ, is circulating on social networks. A description is added to the photo that the cover symbolizes Zelenskyi's “church race”, which angered even Jesus Christ, whom Putin supposedly calms down and says: “Don't! We'll figure it out ourselves!”. In fact, Charlie Hebdo never published an issue with this cover.

 Analysts at the Myth Detector project found that the cover published by the French satirical magazine on April 5 does not match the published versions, and there are no similar cartoons on the covers of Charlie Hebdo special issues. Charlie Hebdo's circulated cover bears a serial number (1603) and a release date of April 5. According to the official website of the publication, on April 5, a magazine with serial number 1602 was released, which has a different design. The cover is on the theme of the protests caused by the new pension reform in France.

This is not the first time Russian propaganda has been distributing fabricated covers of various Western publications, which allegedly mock the Ukrainian president. Thus, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyi and create the appearance that the level of trust in the Ukrainian president will fall in the West. Like, the Western community is already beginning to understand “who he really is”.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo featured Zelenskyi on the cover, numb to the “evil Jesus” and Putin trying to “keep” Jesus from attacking Zelenskyi. It is not true.

The Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council says that such a cover does not exist. Fact-checkers went to the official website of the newspaper, and did not find a similar cover. Also, the unreliability of the column is confirmed by the fact that on April 05, 2023 No.1602 was published, but not No.1603, as indicated on the fake cover.

Propagandists systematically spread fake stories about Ukrainian officials, in particular Zelenskyi, in order to discredit him. Thus, Russian propaganda uses the tactics of ridicule and tries to create the illusion that the leadership of Ukraine is despised in Europe. Previously, propagandists spread messages about fake graffiti with Zelenskyi in public places, fake magazine covers, etc.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are distributing a seemingly new cover of the French weekly Courrier International, in which Zelenskyi, with the words “Ukraine needs it more”, steals Easter eggs from French children. Like, the local taxpayers spend a lot of money on the whims of Zelenskyi to support Ukraine. However, this is not true.

According to experts from the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, the weekly Courrier International has never been published with such a cover. One can verify this by checking the official website of the publication. Another confirmation of the inauthenticity of the cover is that it was published in edition number 1692, although the edition with this number is planned to be released only on April 6, 2023.

This disinformation campaign is aimed at discrediting Ukraine and its President in the eyes of the world community. Let us recall that this is not the first time Russian propaganda has promoted fake covers to denigrate Zelenskyi's reputation. The French cartoon magazine “Charlie Hebdo”, the German satirical magazine “Titanic”, the American weekly “Newsweek”, the French magazine “FRANC-TIREUR” and others have already been used to spread such fakes.

Ridicule is a propaganda tactic designed to undermine and discredit the enemy. Propagandists rely on a psychological technique: if someone is funny, this should not be feared or taken seriously.

Russian propaganda uses this tactic to discredit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Propagandists distribute fake covers of French cartoon magazine Charlie Hebdo, Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves and German satirical magazine Titanik. They also spread fake messages about offensive graffiti allegedly painted in Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Warsaw. They depict Zelenskyi as cowardly, helpless or nasty. Thus, propaganda is trying to create the illusion that the Ukrainian president is despised and ridiculed abroad. Propagandists are trying to make Ukrainians feel ashamed of their leader and divide people because of their likes and dislikes towards Zelenskyi.

In anonymous telegram channels, a message was spread that supposedly Ukraine plans to protect the nuclear power plant from itself. Like, planning the construction of new NPP units, taking into account military threats, is ridiculous. Allegedly, only Ukrainians around the world dared to deliberately shell nuclear power plants. Like, there are no other “suicidal people” anywhere. In this case, the tactics of ridicule were combined with the tactics of substitution of concepts, claiming that Ukraine was deliberately shelling its own nuclear plants.

In Russian methodologies with instructions for journalists on how to cover the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war, propagandists advise using ironic names for Russians who left the country because they did not want to participate in the war. In particular, they are advised to call them “patriots who fled”, “perezhdun” (those who wait), “fugitives”, etc. Because of ridicule, the propagandists are trying to form a dismissive attitude towards the behavior of those who have left and spread the message: “if the Russians do not support Russia's war against Ukraine, they are not patriots, they do not deserve respect, they are not worthy”, and so on.

This cover is distributed in social networks and instant messengers. Like, this is a special edition released on the eve of the festive period. The image shows the cover of December 22, 2022, the issue number 1588. The picture also has a text: “Stop whining, we need it more”. It's fake.

Reuters fact-checkers drew attention to the spread of the fake. At the time of checking, on December 23, the latest issue of the magazine was December 21, number 1587, with a cartoon of the World Cup in Qatar. There is no issue for December 22 on the pages of the publication on social networks. The fake cover was published against the background of the visit of Volodymyr Zelenskyi to the United States. Because of the text in the picture, they hint at a propaganda message that Ukraine is “begging” for help from Western partners.

An allegedly new cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is being circulated online. The cartoon shows men in blue-and-yellow clothes writing Nazi salut on a wall. And men in hijabs look up the meaning of this greeting in the dictionary and say: “This is something in Ukrainian.” Users who distributed the “cover” indicate that the special issue is dedicated to the fact that the Ukrainians drew Hitler's mustache to the football mascot in Qatar. It is not true.

The report that supposedly Ukrainian football fans were detained because of Nazi graffiti in Qatar is not true. This fake has already been debunked. The Charlie Hebdo cover is also fake. Allegedly, this is a special issue dated November 24th. However, on the website of the French magazine, the last issue was published on November 23.

The site also features a paper edition created during October-November dedicated to the World Cup in Qatar, but the illustration for this edition also differs from the image distributed online.

Anonymous telegram channels that try to impersonate Ukrainians, such as “Naspravdi” (Actually) or “In reality in Kharkiv”, distribute a fake cover of Charlie Hebdo the French satirical magazine, which appeared to have been released on November 16 and was dedicated to the fall of a rocket in the Polish city of Przewodów where two people died. The cover says "Volyn massacre 2.0" as well as a Polish swear word. In fact, the next issue of the magazine came out on November 16, but on its cover is the French businessman and billionaire Vincent Bolloré.

Russian propaganda constantly invents the covers of famous magazines in order to promote the messages they need and in this case they say that it is Ukraine that is to blame for the tragedy in the Polish town. In fact, NATO, Poland and the United States have already stated that in any case, Russia, responsible for the deaths of two Poles, either launched a direct missile attack or started a war in Ukraine, which led to the fall of a Ukrainian missile. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said it was not a Ukrainian missile, but is awaiting the conclusions of an investigation by Polish experts. Ukraine is also participating in the investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy.

In the Russian-language segment of social networks, a picture of a seemingly special issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine dedicated to Ukraine is being distributed. In the picture there is a geotag label with the inscription Kyiv on a black field and a signature in a bubble as in comics “So we have crossed over to the dark side of the force”.

The inscription refers to the inscription on President Zelenskyi's T-shirt, where was a call from Star Wars “Come to the Dark Side”, where the first letter in the word Dark was replaced by U, so that the slogan suggested going over to the side of UA.

In fact, Charlie Hebdo did not create such a cover, and this is easy to verify: the fake cover shows the release date and number: October 21, 2022, No. 1579. The magazine with this number came out on October 26, and its cover is dedicated to the far-right French politician Zemmour (and the Russian flag sticking out of the anus of a politician). The next issue came out on November 2, and it features Musk about to "fire the truth" on Twitter, giving the floor to former US President Donald Trump. But the picture of Kyiv in the dark was spread by dozens of Russian telegram channels with more than a hundred thousand subscribers.

This is not the first time that Russian propaganda has created fake Charlie Hebdo covers to convince the audience that Ukraine, its president and the suffering people are constantly laughed at in Europe. The editors even issued a special explanation, where they called the fakes of poor quality and promised to continue to fight Putin's madness.

In social networks, the allegedly October cover of the German satirical magazine "Titanic" with a caricature of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the inscription "eternal appetite" is being circulated. It is a fake. Such a magazine cover doesn't exist. Titanic magazine editor-in-chief Julia Matheus confirmed to Reuters fact-checkers that the pictured cover isn't the official Titanic cover. It is also not available on the publication's website. The actual October 2022 cover features King Charles III of Great Britain with the text: "Colonial Crimes: How Germany Suffered Under the British Crown." The magazine was published on September 30. It isn't the first satirical magazine whose cover was used to create fakes about Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Previously, several fake covers of the French cartoon magazine "Charlie Hebdo" and the cover of the Spanish satirical magazine "El Jueves" were also distributed.

Screenshots of the alleged magazine cover with Volodymyr Zelenskyy are being shared on social networks. In the posts, pro-Russian users claim that this disparaging picture allegedly refers to the missile attack on Kyiv on October 10. This cover is fake. According to the fact-checkers of the MythDetector project, the last issue of the magazine under number 2368 was published on October 11. It is dedicated to the history of Spain and has nothing to do with current events in Ukraine. In addition, the barcode on the cover of the viral image matches the number 2365 of "El Jueves," and the caricature on the cover of this issue is about electricity bills. Real magazine covers can be viewed on El Jueves' social media pages.

The magazine is usually published on Wednesdays, but the latest issue on the history of Spain was a particular issue and was published on Tuesday, October 11. Previously, Russian propaganda used fake covers of the French cartoon magazine "Charlie Hebdo" to create contempt for the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Allegedly, a screenshot of an article by the German edition of the Berliner Zeitung with this title is being circulated on social networks. Like, the funds received should be used to raise morale and “expel Russians from Donbas”. It is not true.

As the fact-checkers of the German Correctiv project have established, there has never been an article with such a heading either in the Berliner Zeitung or in any other publication. The image circulating on social media is actually modified by a screenshot of the article “Zelenskyi calls for a ban on international travel for Russians”, published in a German edition on August 8. The screenshot of the original article and the fake image differ in the title and brief description, the rest of the data - date and time of publication, source, illustrations and key quote are the same.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads fakes to discredit the Ukrainian president both in Ukraine and in the international arena. Recently, fake covers of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo were distributed for this purpose. Russian propaganda is also trying to convince that Zelenskyi is an illegitimate president.

The picture is distributed in anonymous pro-Russian telegram channels with the caption that supposedly Volodymyr Zelenskyi the dog has taken roots in the West. This cover is fake.

Propagandists once again used the Charlie Hebdo cartoon magazine for fake news. The death of the British Queen Elizabeth II was not neglected either. Volodymyr Zelenskyi was again portrayed as a dog, who painted the inscription on the pedestal for the coffin, changing the word queen to “queer”.

The fake issue is dated September 19, but there is no such magazine on the website in the Charlie Hebdo archive. There is no such illustration in the drawing section. It is not known who the author of this cartoon is, but it has nothing to do with Charlie Hebdo magazine.

This is not the first time propagandists have used a fake cover. Previously, fake covers were distributed with Volodymyr Zelenskyi in the form of a dog with Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron.

The cover of a cartoon magazine, in which French President Emmanuel Macron allegedly disperses protesters with water, and they swim with pleasure, were used by anonymous telegram channels for manipulation. They say that supposedly the Western authorities are driving people into antisocial conditions, so discontent will quickly develop into protests. Also, allegedly abroad, Zelenskyi is perceived as a dog, which is used to cover up his crimes. However, no such cover exists.

The fake issue is dated August 29, but there is no such magazine on the website in the Charlie Hebdo archive. There is no such illustration in the drawing section. It is not known who the author of this cartoon is, but it has nothing to do with Charlie Hebdo magazine.

This is not the first time propagandists have used a fake cover. Previously, a fake cover was distributed in which the UK “spits out” Borys Johnson, and Volodymyr Zelenskyi in the form of a dog with the torn off arm of the “Azov” defender.

The cover of the cartoon magazine, on which Great Britain "spits out" Boris Johnson and Zelensky, was used by anonymous Telegram channels for numerous manipulations. However, such a cover does not exist.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project refuted the information. The fake cover of the magazine states that the issue was published on July 9, 2022. The Charlie Hebdo website has an archive of all magazine covers. The cover with the caricature, which Facebook users share, is not on this page. In the section with pictures published in the magazine and on the official Twitter account, there is also no cartoon with Johnson and Zelensky. It is unknown who the author of this caricature is, but it has nothing to do with the magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Cartoons allegedly published in foreign magazines are used by Russian propaganda to ridicule and devalue partnership relations between Ukraine and foreign countries.