Since May 18, 2023, Georgian- (1,2,3,4,5,6) and Russian-language (1,2,3) Facebook accounts have been disseminating the claim that Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, gifted the Pope an icon of the Virgin Mary, where the typical spot of baby Jesus is blacked out. Some of the posts claimed that, according to the Italian press, the painting is a...

  Arpine Hovannisyan Arpine Hovannisyan obtained her Bachelor’s degree in English and Communications from the American University of Armenia. She is currently gathering expertise in investigative journalism at Hetq Media Factory. Arpine has previously worked at the UNHCR and Radio Liberty. Contest Material: Are Armenians Living Better Now? Propaganda and Reality PUBLISHED MATERIAL: FABRICATED COVER...

On May 14, 2023, writer Merab Ratishvili published five photos showing a large beam coming from the sky in the area of fires, a flying machine with a large lens, and the cover of one of the issues of Time magazine, featuring the Earth is on fire. According to the description, the photos depict fires...

On May 16, 2023, in the “Free Vision” program of the GPB, Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the ruling “Georgian Dream” party, stated that Moldova has not imposed sanctions on Russia, has not cancelled flights with Russia, remains a member of the CIS, pursues a cautious policy with Russia; however,  no one in the European...

For years now, the Russian government and other Kremlin-affiliated actors have been amplifying the narrative that Poland is planning to annex western Ukraine. This narrative has been especially fueled since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, after Poland declared its full support for Ukraine. The Kremlin is trying to convey the idea that Poland is using...

On May 10, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued two decrees; one revoked the 2019 decision to ban direct flights to Georgia, and the other allowed Georgian citizens to enter the Russian Federation without a visa for 90 days. The decision was actively covered in the Russian media. Kremlin propaganda journalists, politicians and representatives of...

On May 9, 2023, a Georgian-language Facebook account published a photo showing an elderly man and two police officers. The elderly man is holding a photo of Mikheil Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia. According to the attached description, the person depicted in the photo is a war veteran who was arrested by the police...

Since May 5, 2023, Georgian- (1,2,3,4,5,6) and Russian-language (1,2) Facebook accounts have been distributing several photos showing a group of children and horned creatures reading books to children. In some of the photos, the children are wearing horns; in one of the photos, they are wearing black clothes and sitting in a circle, which features...

On May 6, 2023, Russian-language media (pravda.ru, rambler.ru) published a video featuring three masked persons addressing “Russian pigs” and promising to dance on their graves. Masked persons, who wear the chevrons of the Georgian Legion fighting in Ukraine, threaten civilians living in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali with violence, and rape women and children. The video was...

Since April 30, 2023, Georgian writer Merab Ratishvili and several Georgian– and Russian-language (1,2,3) Facebook accounts, including former Ukrainian diplomat Andriy Telizhenko, have been disseminating the information that, according to Politico, US President Joe Biden is pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to either start the planned spring counteroffensive immediately or agree on the terms of...

Since April 29, 2023, Georgian writer Merab Ratishvili, as well as other Georgian– and Russian-language (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) Facebook accounts, have been disseminating a video of the Vice President of the United States of America, Kamala Harris, in which Harris says the following words: “Today is today and yesterday was today yesterday. Tomorrow will be today tomorrow,...

On April 25, 2023, Georgian writer Merab Ratishvili published a video collage, which features a segment of the speech of the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John O. Brennan. In the description of the video, Ratishvili notes that Brennan “discusses the injection of chemical trails, aka stratospheric aerosol, as well as stratospheric...