Was Olympic ice dance gold medalist Roman Kostomarov, secretly transferred abroad for rehabilitation? No, that's not true: In January, Kostomarov was hospitalized in Moscow with pneumonia and complications that led to gangrene. Despite various rumours about the treatment location, Kostomarov is currently rehabilitating in Russia. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on the @russiancelebritynews TikTok account on…

Is soaking feet in a vinegar bath for 30 minutes a cure for all diseases? No, that's not true: this is a folk myth uncorroborated by scientific evidence. Videos on social media claim this to be a "cure" for numerous conditions, from foot fungus to digestive problems, and also allege it is effective for weight loss but there is no…

Did rapper Eminem show his support for Ukraine in this video? No, that's not true: The audio translation is a fabrication for a video that was produced in 2010, four years before the Russian occupation of Crimea and 12 years before its invasion of Ukraine. The story originated from a video (archived here) where it was published by nnewmann1 on…

Did a Soviet flag fly over the German Reichstag in 2023 before the May 9 Victory Day celebrations? No, that's not true: There is no evidence of this happening. Reverse image and video searches were conducted with no results. There have been no reports in German or international media, confirming that this happened in May of 2023. The claim appeared…

Did the President of Ukraine get detained in The Hague instead of the Russian President? No, that's not true: Neither the president of Russia nor the president of Ukraine was detained in The Hague. On March 17, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, but he has yet to be arrested. On May 5,…

Правда ли, что президент Беларуси Александр Лукашенко назвал своего союзника, президента России Владимира Путина, «гнидой»? Нет, это неправда. Аудиодорожка в распространяемом видео была изменена. В оригинальном видео Лукашенко назвал «мразью» президента Украины Владимира Зеленского, а не Путина. Данное утверждение появилось в видео (архив здесь), опубликованном в социальной сети TikTok 13 марта 2023 года. В титрах к видео сказано: Президент Путин…

Did Poland's President Andrzej Duda say that Ukraine has already lost the war with Russia, and he sees no point in assisting Ukraine because Russia is too strong? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found no such information on the official website of the president of the Republic of Poland, where all the president's remarks are collected. No such statement…

Did the Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko say that Russia practices a fascist ideology? No, that's not true: The audio clip has been digitally altered from an address to the Belarusian National Assembly when Lukashenko accused Ukraine of fascism. A video (archived here) was posted on the TikTok account @kolitikaua on April 6, 2023. The caption in Russian reads (as translated…

Did Belarusian troops march chanting insults at Putin? No, the footage is from 2021 and shows the march of the Ukrainian military in preparation for the Independence Day parade on August 24th. The video (archived here) displaying this claim was originally published by @hereiswherewedestroythem on the Tiktok on April 28th. This is what the post looked like on TikTok at…

Did US Vice President Kamala Harris deliver a "word salad" speech? No, that's not true: The video is a deepfake, where fake audio was synced to match her lip movements. The manipulated video (an example here) in which Harris seemed to be slurring her speech, went viral. The words: "Today is today and yesterday was today yesterday. Tomorrow will be…

Правда ли, что 3 мая 2023 года на белорусско-польской границе были замечены тысячи мигрантов? Нет, это неправда. Видео, содержащее такое утверждение, действительно было снято на белорусско-польском пограничном пункте «Брузги-Кузница Белостоцкая», но не в 2023 году, а в 2021 году. Данное утверждение появилось в видео (архив здесь), опубликованном в социальной сети TikTok 2 мая 2023 года. Надпись на экране гласит: Вот…

Were people in the Crimean peninsula stuck in traffic on the Kerch bridge after a fuel depot blast in the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol on April 29, 2023? No, that's not true. The footage recently circulated on social media is from October 2022. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on April 30, 2023, by the…

Is the United States preparing for a nuclear war in Europe by deploying a guided-missile submarine to the Middle East? No, that's not true: There is no evidence nor has it been reported that the United States is currently preparing for a nuclear war in Europe or elsewhere. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok by…

Did the British weekly New European publish a special issue cover with a cartoon of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sitting on the lap of Dalai Lama and saying: "I'll suck it if you pay me"? No, that's not true: The illustration has not appeared in any issue of The New European. On April 18, 2023, the cover in English with…

Does this photo show the son of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Nikolai Peskov taking the military oath? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found the person taking the oath in the photo is not Nikolai Peskov, also known as Nikolai Choles. It is the son of the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, Oleksii Poroshenko. On April 23, 2023, this…

Does a surgery to change one's gender cost $700,000? No, that's not true: Depending on one's choice, the cost varies from $5,400 for chin surgery to well over $100,000 for multiple procedures as of October 2022. In an interview with Sputnik, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Commission on International Affairs of the Republic of Belarus Oleg Gaidukevich said that gender-affirming…

Does a video circulating on social media show Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the hands of enemy forces, about to be executed? No, that's not true: The person in the video is an actor impersonating Zelenskyy in a YouTube miniseries, meant to be satirical, mocking the Ukrainian president. The claim appeared in a video (archived here) posted on TikTok by the account…

Did Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in a video, say the Caspian Sea was the territory of Belarus and promise to find all Belarusians who launched their rockets from the shores of the Caspian Sea? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found this video has been manipulated. This claim was published by different TikTok accounts in Russian. On April 7, 2023,…

Did Polish tv show a map in 2023 'dividing' Ukraine among neighbor states? No, that's not true: a recent news report on national Polish tv did not show such a map. The clip is taken from a old news report aired on Polish public television in 2014. It showed a Russian politician's old proposal to divide Ukraine, shrinking its territory…

Have crocodiles turned up in the Caspian Sea, the world's largest landlocked body of water? No, that's not true: The video on TikTok that makes this claim uses footage of a crocodile filmed in Australia. Crocodiles cannot survive the relatively cool temperatures of the Caspian Sea, bordered by the non-tropical countries of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan. The claim…