Russian sources are spreading information that the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty allegedly criticized the “language patrols” in Ukraine. As “proof” of this, propagandists publish a video in which O'Flaherty allegedly says that such patrols violate the rights of national minorities in Ukraine. 

However, the video distributed by the propagandists is fabricated - it was created using deepfake technology based on artificial intelligence. This is reported in the Stopfake project. At the 46th second of the distributed video, one can see how the man's “double chin” appears for a second and then immediately disappears. Also, the man in the video hardly blinks, and his speech does not match his facial expressions. In addition to this, the real Michael O'Flaherty has more active facial expressions when he speaks. One  can see this by watching any speech of the commissioner.

StopFake journalists also analyzed the propagandists’ videos using Attestiv, a tool for identifying fake videos created by artificial intelligence. The analysis showed that the video was “highly likely” to be fake.

This is not the first time that Russian propaganda has spread disinformation about “language patrols” in Ukraine, responding to the initiative of the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk to create such patrols in the city to popularize the Ukrainian language. At the same time, the “language inspectors” do not have any special powers; this is a volunteer initiative.

Earlier, we recorded disinformation that the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv opened recruitment for a team of “language inspectors”.

Russian Telegram channels are spreading information that Ukrainian children are allegedly beaten in Polish schools for speaking their native language. As proof of this, the propagandists add screenshots of corresponding reviews from Ukrainian parents whose children study in Polish schools.

In fact, this is a fake. The screenshots are fake, the VoxCheck project reports. Yes, the original reviews were replaced, because they talked about things unrelated to the language issue. For example, there were reviews about school renovations, the quality of teaching, and others. VoxCheck journalists did manage to find one complaint about cruel treatment of refugees from Ukraine, but it was published a year ago.

It should be noted that cases of aggression towards students from Ukraine in Poland do indeed occur.

Russian propaganda continues to work to set Ukrainians and Poles at odds with each other.

Propaganda media and social media users have begun spreading information that in Ukraine citizens are allegedly being forced to change their Russian surnames to Ukrainian ones through the state service Diia. Propagandists have allegedly published a screenshot of a message in which a user with the surname “Lebediev” is asked to “Ukrainize” it and change into “Lebedenko”, “Lebedinskyi” or “Lebedchuk”. However, this is a fake.

StopFake debunked this fake, finding errors in the screenshot text that indicate a fake. In particular, the use of the Russian letter “e” instead of the Ukrainian “є” and the incorrect gender of the word “surname” as feminine rather than neuter, as well as the use of an unofficial font. These errors are unlikely for an official message from Diia. In addition, StopFake specialists checked the official pages of Diia and did not find any similar initiatives or services for Ukrainization. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, which is responsible for the functioning of Diia, also confirmed that such messages were not sent and are fake.

This fake is yet another attempt by propaganda to discredit the Ukrainian state system and stir up tension in society by spreading false information about the alleged forced imposition of Ukrainian identity on citizens.

There are reports online that a man who joined the team of ‘language inspectors’ was allegedly beaten in Ivano-Frankivsk. His wife allegedly complained about this incident by posting a corresponding message on Facebook. She also allegedly wrote statements and complaints to the relevant authorities.

However, the Center for Counteracting Disinformation, after verifying this ‘news’ at the Main Directorate of the National Police in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, reported that there have been no recent reports of any crimes committed on the basis of language in the city.

‘Language Patrol’ is a volunteer initiative of Ivano-Frankivsk Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv. Its idea is that volunteers will tolerantly make comments when using Russian and offer to attend language courses. At the same time, ‘language inspectors’ will not have any special powers, they will not punish violators.

The Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, Taras Kremin, commented on this initiative, noting that Ivano-Frankivsk was the only regional center that did not have a language program, so the mayor can create working groups that will monitor compliance with language legislation.

Russian propaganda spreads such fakes to create the illusion of a split in Ukrainian society around the language issue. Earlier, we recorded disinformation that Ivan Franko LNU opened recruitment for a team of ‘language inspectors’.

Russian propaganda writes about ‘language patrols’ that local authorities are going to introduce in Ivano-Frankivsk. They say that the city first met refugees with increased prices for rented apartments, and now they will forbid them from communicating in Russian. The propaganda also adds that in this way ‘Nazi practices’ are being restored in Ukraine.

However, the propagandists presented the information in a distorted manner. In Ivano-Frankivsk, they really proposed to create so-called ‘language patrols’, initiated by the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ruslan Martsinkiv. At the same time, this is not about some ‘Nazi practices’, but about popularizing the study of the Ukrainian language, as well as about compliance with Ukrainian legislation, according to which the Ukrainian language is mandatory in all spheres of public life. The legislation does not apply to the sphere of personal communication or religion. Moreover, it does not provide for any criminal liability for violating its norms.

Martsinkiv himself explained that such patrols will tolerantly make comments when using Russian and offer to attend language courses. He also said that this will be a volunteer initiative, and the volunteers will not have any special powers, they will not punish violators.

Taras Kremin, the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language, commented on this initiative, noting that Ivano-Frankivsk was the only regional center that did not have a language program, so the mayor can create working groups that will monitor compliance with language legislation. At the same time, Kremin noted that the choice of the name of such a program is of great importance: “The component that I would like to dwell on is very important. Despite the fact that such work will be carried out, it is important to correctly name such working groups. Since Ruslan Martsinkiv called such associations language inspections, Russian propaganda began to spread disinformation, saying that citizens of Ukraine will be persecuted on the basis of language”.

Russian propaganda manipulates information to justify the need to protect the rights of the Russian-speaking population and wage war against Ukraine. Previously, we documented the fake, saying that Zelenskyi started a war against the Russian-speaking population of Donbas.

The Russian propaganda Telegram channel writes that the initiative of Ivano-Frankivsk Mayor Ruslan Martsinkiv to create so-called language patrols in the city has caused a stir in western Ukraine. Thus, the Ivan Franko Lviv National University has allegedly already opened recruitment for a team of “language inspectors”. Among the promised items are free lunches, career growth, and team building at BANDERA CAMP.

Lviv University has not announced recruitment for “language inspectors”. There is no such information on the Ivan Franko Lviv National University website or on higher education pages in social networks.

In fact, Russian propagandists are speculating on the initiative of the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk. Martsinkiv explained that such patrols will tolerantly make comments when using the Russian language and offer to attend language courses. He also added that this is a volunteer initiative, the volunteers themselves will not have any special powers and, accordingly, will not punish violators. And the Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language Taras Kremen commented on this initiative, emphasizing that Ivano-Frankivsk was the only regional center that did not have a language program.

In addition, the image distributed by the Russians contains things that give away the propagandists. For example, the photo of a guy standing with a sign saying “we will fight until the end” repeats the Russian narrative of a war until the “last Ukrainian”.

With this disinformation, the Russians are pursuing the goal of feeding their long-standing message about the oppression of the “Russian-speaking population” in Ukraine. Previously, we analyzed the disinformation that Zelenskyi started a war against the Russian-speaking population of Donbas.

Social networks in the Russian segment have disseminated information that, according to some “statistical data”, the popularity of the Russian language is supposedly gradually growing in Ukraine.

“According to statistical data, the popularity of the Russian language in Ukraine is gradually growing. The number of Nazis has decreased – and nature has begun to cleanse itself”, users write.

StopFake analysts examined the case and determined that in their messages, users do not indicate where they got such data from, but simply write “according to statistical data”. They didn't cite any studies.

On July 24, the sociological service Razumkov Center published a study “Identity of Ukrainian citizens: trends of change”, with the help of which it was possible to refute the false information of propagandists:

Actually, the popularity of the Russian language in Ukraine is not growing at all, but on the contrary is falling. According to the aforementioned study, fewer and fewer Ukrainians believe that speaking Russian is prestigious. If in 2015 there were 21.5% of all respondents, then in 2023 they became 9.4%, and in 2024 this number generally decreased to 6.1%. At the same time, the prestige of the Ukrainian language began to grow significantly: from 43.2% in 2015 to 75.5% in 2024.

Information is being spread on the Internet that, according to some “statistical data”, the popularity of the Russian language is gradually growing in Ukraine. Some users cynically write: such a trend can be explained by the fact that “the number of Nazis has decreased - and nature has begun to clean itself”.

In fact, this information is not true. This is reported in the StopFake project. In their messages, propagandists do not indicate where they got such data, but manipulatively write “according to statistical data”. It was not possible to find any publicly available studies that could confirm this trend.

At the same time, on July 24, 2024, the sociological service of the Razumkov Center published a study “Identity of citizens of Ukraine: tendencies of changes”, which can be used to refute the claim of propagandists. According to the results of the survey, the popularity of the Russian language in Ukraine is not growing, but on the contrary, it is falling. Fewer and fewer Ukrainians believe that speaking Russian is prestigious. If in 2015 there were 21.5% of all respondents, then in 2023 they became 9.4%, and in 2024 this number decreased to 6.1%. At the same time, the prestige of the Ukrainian language began to grow: from 43.2% in 2015 to 75.5% in 2024.

A similar situation is also with the use of the Russian language “not at home”. If in 2015, 12.3% of respondents spoke only Russian, then in 2023 and 2024, this number increased to 3.2% and 3.8%, respectively. It is worth noting that a small growth of 0.6% using only the Russian language between 2023 and 2024 falls within the scope of sociological error, as the authors of the study pointed out. Also, 11.4% used mainly Russian in 2015, but already in 2023 - 4.5%, and in 2024 - 3.8%.

Earlier, we analyzed the manipulation of propagandists, as if the UN recognized the Ukrainian language as a dialect of Russian.

Pro-Kremlin resources are disseminating information that they want to name the Third Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces after the former MP and linguist Iryna Farion, whose life was cut short on July 19, 2024. The corresponding petition has allegedly already appeared on the website of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi. At the same time, the publications of propagandists on the network were accompanied only by a screenshot, without a link to the petition itself. Some netizens were inclined to believe that such a petition is proof that there is supposedly Nazism in Ukraine.

However, information about the existence of such a petition is not true, writes the StopFake project. You can verify this by checking the petition, a screenshot of which is being distributed by propagandists on the electronic petitions website. Thus, on the website of the President of Ukraine, the last appeal is registered under the number No. 22/230908-eп, while in the fake petition it is much larger - No. 22/264840-eп. In addition, it cannot be found either by keywords or by serial number.

The creators of the fake news are speculating on the conflict between Iryna Farion and the Azov regiment and the Third Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which took place back in November 2023. Then, in the “Randevu” (Rendezvous) program, presenter Yanina Sokolova asked Iryna Farion what to do with Russian-speaking soldiers from the Azov regiment and the 3rd assault brigade, who communicate in Russian, in particular in battle, noting that it would be unfair to call them supporters Russia. The linguist said she “categorically does not accept” this. “This question is for them. What is stopping you, guys, when you are so strong and very smart, what is stopping you from fulfilling Article 29 of the law on the Armed Forces of Ukraine? Do you know what discipline is in the army? If the army doesn’t have discipline, then there is no army, it’s rabble then”, Farion said.

The purpose of this fake is demoralization and emotional split in Ukrainian society, which condemned the cynical murder and united around the search and punishment of its perpetrators.

Propagandists are distributing an image on social networks that allegedly proves that the Ukrainian language is a “dialect” of Russian. In this they refer to various organizations, mentioning “UN decisions” and other “documents”. They also mention an article on the Russian Dzen platform on the same topic. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that an article on Dzen talks about how in 2018, People’s Deputy of Ukraine Andrii Teteruk discovered infographics on the official UN accounts on Facebook and then on Twitter that showed the development of languages. This image showed a branch with the inscription “Old Russian language”, which branched into “Russian language” and “Belarusian language”, and another branch branched off from the Russian branch - “Ukrainian language”. After the deputy addressed the UN with reproaches for anti-Ukrainian propaganda, the image was deleted from Facebook, but remained in a 2017 publication on Twitter.

However, the text of the publication did not note that the Ukrainian language is a dialect of Russian. The post informed that UNESCO had published an updated version of the atlas of endangered languages and most of the text was devoted to Russia and its language problems.

Previously, a mention of this image was found in the material of Petro Zolin on the website proza.ru dated August 26, 2008, where the author calls it a “scientific reconstruction”. However, there are many strange aspects in the image, such as the origin of the Moldovan language from French and Romanian from Spanish. Recognized historians in Russia itself consider Zolin’s ideas to be pseudoscience. Candidate of Historical Sciences Artur Chubur notes that under the guise of patriotism, which often turns into chauvinism, pseudo-historical publications and resources are actively promoted.

The hypothesis about the existence of a vast group of related languages of Europe, Asia and Africa was first put forward in 1903 by the Danish linguist Holger Pedersen. It was given a scientific form by Soviet scientists, but it is often criticized by Western linguists.

StopFake journalists did not find any “UN documents” proving that the Ukrainian language is a dialect of Russian. At the same time, UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay noted that the Russian language has been formed over the centuries, mixing various Slavic dialects, Church Slavonic and even Greek.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to justify Russia's actions and devalue Ukrainian national identity. So, she helps spread the conspiracy theory that Ukraine is not a real state.

Pro-Russian users spread the “news” that a taxi client in Zhytomyr was allegedly indignant because her driver did not speak to her in Ukrainian, although he is deaf and mute. As proof of this event, screenshots from the application of the taxi service in question are provided, as well as correspondence between the client and the support service in the application chat.

This information is false. It was investigated by the fact-checkers from the StopFake project. To create the fake, one of the screenshots from the site was used, where customers can leave their reviews. The fact that this is the same screenshot that the propagandists used is evidenced by the same time on the phone, phone data and the time when the client corresponded with the support service.

In addition, one of the first to spread this story was the telegram channel Digital Army of Russia, which gives the task to Russian volunteers to misinform Ukrainians or write mass complaints about Ukrainian accounts on social networks.

With this fake, Russian propaganda once again speculates on the topic of the Ukrainian language in order to sow discord among Ukrainian society. More rebuttals from the Detector Media on the topic of language can be found here.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels and other social networks began to spread fake information that the Ukrainian language ombudsman Taras Kremin allegedly “admitted” that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were shooting at Russian-speaking citizens. They use a video with his quote, which is supposed to “confirm” such messages. After the dissemination of such information, StopFake decided to check this information. It is not true.

On November 21, Taras Kremin actually made a comment on the Ukrainian service of Radio Svoboda (Liberty), where he spoke about language problems within Ukraine. On this broadcast, the resource’s journalist spoke about the discussion that arose in Ukrainian society. According to it, one part of the population says that it does not matter what language one speaks if a person is a patriot of Ukraine, and the second part says that communicating in Ukrainian is still very important. It was these two opinions that the journalist asked the language ombudsman to comment on. To which Kremen replied that “with the beginning of a full-scale invasion, the factor of language is not only a factor of freedom, but also the security of our identity and culture, and this is a marker of “friend or foe”. According to him, soldiers from the front line have repeatedly said that where one hears the Russian language, the first reaction is a shot. Propagandists used this to make it look like they were targeting all Russian speakers, especially civilians.

However, if you look more closely at the quote, you can hear that we are talking only about identifying a person as “friend or foe” precisely on the front line. There was no talk about shooting at Russian-speaking civilians in the interview.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to strengthen their own myth about the oppression of the Russian-speaking population. They say that “protecting” this category of people is one of the goals of launching a full-scale invasion. However, it was Russia that turned the language issue into a political instrument. In addition, it attacks civilians in mostly Russian-speaking cities, which undermines the narrative of “protecting” civilians who communicate in Russian.

This thesis was spread in social networks, including in the Russian segment of social networks. The reports say that the Russian language is 400 years older than Ukrainian, which generally arose in the 16th-17th centuries under the influence of the Polish language.

This case was considered by the fact-checkers of the Myth Detector project, who explained that such a thesis is unfounded. The Ukrainian language comes from the Proto-Slavic language, which originated on the territory of Kyiv Rus. Although the development of the Ukrainian language was hampered until the 18th century, its foundations were laid a very long time ago - the East Slavic language group was formed in the 13th century after the collapse of Kyiv Rus. That is, after the collapse of Kyiv Rus, there was a division into Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian languages. They formed about the same time.

The Polish language belongs to the West Slavic linguistic group, and Ukrainian cannot be derived from it. Of course, for some period the Ukrainian language did not have much space for development, since it was always politically dependent on others (Russia, Rzeczpospolita). Both Polish and Russian have had a significant impact on Ukrainian.

This is not the first time Russian propaganda has hinted at the “artificiality” of the Ukrainian language, which allegedly comes from Russian or Polish, or is generally a “dialect”. Thus, Moscow seeks to mentally unite Ukrainians with Russians, they say, we have a common language, traditions and customs, so everyone is almost “blood brothers and sisters”.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that the Ukrainians have created a “special website” “Slovotvir” (Word formation), where they come up with new lexemes for the Ukrainian language. The authors of the messages say that this is evidence of how Ukrainians are “inventing an artificial language”. A screenshot is added to the publication, where you can see “examples of fictitious lexemes”.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project, who found out that the Slovotvir (Word formation) project selects proper Ukrainian equivalents for words of foreign origin, and does not “invent” them. The project website states: “Slovotvir is a platform for searching, discussing and choosing accurate matches to borrowed words”. It allows people to find or suggest a Ukrainian approach to these words. Users can vote for the option they like or comment on certain matches.

The authors of the telegram channel chose the word “lemon”. Users have indeed picked up a few answers that can be used in place of the borrowed one: kyslyna, tsytryna, alomyi, kydra, kydro (a lemon). However, the propagandists decided that these were fictitious words and began to assert the existence of “artificial speech”.

The modern Ukrainian language has gone through a long process of formation and development, and is not artificially invented and imposed on Ukrainians. For example, the first three parts of the “Eneida” by Ivan Kotliarevskyi in 1798 were the first work written entirely in modern Ukrainian colloquial language. However, even by that time the Ukrainian language had already been formed. This made it possible to use it to write a full-fledged work.