This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that children are recruited in Germany for work, and then they are required to pay their entire “salary” to help Ukraine. The authors of the messages add a photo of the employment contract, which allegedly needs to be signed by the children. This is manipulation. 

The fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation, who turned to the Ukrainian Embassy in Berlin for comment, took up the case. It turned out that in Germany there is a nationwide action - Social Day - when schoolchildren across the country have the opportunity to exchange one of their school days for a day of their dream work. And the money earned is usually donated to charity. The propagandists distorted the context of the “labor contract”, which referred exclusively to the initiative of one day of work. 

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to show that the West illegally employs children and takes money from them. Allegedly, Germany violates the rights of children and does not believe that children can only be allowed to work at a specific age and for a limited time.