Photo: A screenshot from the video
A video featuring people donning Satanic costumes, masks, and makeup dancing and singing in Ukrainian is being used by the Russian propaganda apparatus to disinform the public. It is insinuated that it was recorded in Ukrainian church, thus making Ukraine out to be satanic and demonic. However, the video was not recorded in a church in Ukraine, nor is it related to religion in any manner, as the post claims. In fact, it is an advertisement for a casino, writes Truthmeter.mk.
Under the content-sharing agreement between Truthmeter.mk and Meta.mk, we republish the text below:
A post on the social media Facebook (screenshot here) features a video of people dressed as devils dancing and singing. According to the post, the clip was recorded in a church in Ukraine. However, that is not true. The video has no connection to any religion whatsoever.
This is from inside a church in Ukraine…does Northland support this????
(Northland is a derogatory term for North Macedonia used by the opponents of the change of the name of the country from Macedonia to North Macedonia)
The Russian propaganda apparatus is using a video featuring people dressed up as devils and singing in Ukrainian to disinform the public. It is purported that the video was recorded in a Ukrainian church, painting Ukraine as satanic and demonic. According to articles published by Russian propaganda media outlets, the video was allegedly published on 6 January, i.e. Christmas Eve according to the Julian calendar. The choir of “devils”, masked actors with horns on their heads, is singing in Ukrainian about Ukrainians needing to be patient and persistent in order to win.
However, this video was not recorded in a church in Ukraine, nor is it related to religion in any manner, as is claimed by the post we are fact-checking.
The logo of the Ukrainian television Kanal 24 is visible in the video, as is the time of the broadcast, which is 11:10 am. StopFake looked through the archives of broadcasts on Kanal 24 and found that on 6 January at 11 o’clock a program titled “Realities: Everything about the War” was being broadcast, not a video featuring devils.
The video used by Russia to spread disinformation is actually an advertisement for an online casino. It is a part of an entire series of videos in which such “devils” appear in various settings. Similar videos had been published for several months. The video featured in this article was a New Year’s greeting by the company. The video has nothing to do with religion or the Orthodox church or any other church, nor is it an official Christmas greeting from the Ukrainians.
In addition, there exists a Ukrainian law regarding advertisements, which demands that ads for online casinos may only be broadcast from 11 pm to 6 am. Therefore, it is impossible that this video could have been broadcast at 11 am since that would not be in compliance with the aforementioned law.
Falsities of this kind reinforce the Kremlin’s longstanding narrative, pushed through media and social media, that Ukrainians are Satanists who are losing their touch with “canonical” Orthodoxy amidst Russia’s absence and waning influence in the country.
In light of the above-stated facts, we conclude that this video was not recorded in a church in Ukraine and has nothing to do with religion. In actuality, it is an ad for a casino. Therefore, we assess this post as untrue.
