Russian propaganda sources are distributing a video produced by the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF). It claims that law enforcement agencies are massively detaining and harshly interrogating Ukrainian citizens who contact Russian phone numbers, or even for searching the Internet in Russian. Thus, allegedly, in Sumy alone, as of early October, 56 criminal cases for collaborationism were opened, and 27 people arrested on such charges died from torture.

In fact, RSF did not release such a video, as reported by fact-checkers from the StopFake project. They contacted the head of the organization's investigations department, Arnaud Froger, who denied that RSF had published such material.

“This is the third time in recent months that pro-Kremlin social media accounts have used the RSF brand and staff to lend credibility to their propaganda. They use Western media or NGOs like RSF to add value to their narrative and bridge the trust gap that their own propaganda outlets suffer from. With this disinformation, Russia and its affiliated trolls manipulate what is at the heart of every relationship: trust” , Froger commented.

Two things are also indicative. Firstly, the footage of Frozhet's face in the propaganda video is indeed taken from a video in which RSF debunks another Russian propaganda story - about the mass use of Nazi symbols by Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk. We also recorded this disinformation in one of our previous materials.

Secondly, despite the fact that the fake video clip talks about 26 people allegedly dying from torture, the text of the propaganda publications for some reason already mentions 12 dead people – the propagandists are confused in their own fabrications.

After all, communication with relatives in Russia and Russian-language queries on the Internet are legal and are not regulated in any way by Ukrainian legislation.