Kremlin telegram channels are spreading information that the number of measles cases in Switzerland has increased due to Ukrainian refugees. The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) assumes that the pathogen was brought to Switzerland from abroad. And propagandists have concluded that it was Ukrainians who brought this virus, since measles is allegedly actively spreading in Ukraine.

VoxCheck specialists explained that the Federal Office of Public Health of Switzerland responded to a request that the increase in measles cases was not related to Ukrainian refugees. In fact, it is unknown whether there were Ukrainians among the sick. This was not reported on the Federal Office of Public Health's social media pages or website.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, 152 cases of measles were recorded in Ukraine in the first 7 months of 2024. While in 2023, there were only 30 patients during the same period. That is, the number of patients has indeed increased, but we are not talking about a large-scale outbreak measured in thousands. The last time there was a measles outbreak in Ukraine was in 2017-2019, when more than 110 thousand people fell ill with measles.

Thus, Russian propaganda tries to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research. Since the beginning of the great war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda has been trying to discredit refugees who were forced to leave Ukraine to save their lives.

Propagandists regularly spread fakes about them; they call refugees dependents; they claim that they went abroad not for safety, but for profit; they spread various diseases, etc. Propagandists need this to stake out the opinion that Ukrainians are pagans who do not appreciate the help that residents of other countries give them; they take advantage of the kindness of residents of other countries.