The owners of Epic Gym in Benalmadena, Spain, whose building features on a photograph being disseminated by Russian media and officials, say they have never had anti-Ukrainian graffiti on their wall. Photo verifications apps also show the picture has been doctored.
Kremlin propaganda continues spreading disinformation about Ukrainian refugees and discrediting Western efforts to provide asylum to Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression. One of the latest incarnations of this relentless campaign is the claim that a Spanish refugee center is not allowing Ukrainians to display their national flag.
Several photographs allegedly showing graffiti with the phrase “No Ukrainian flags” painted on the wall of a building are disseminated as proof of the flag ban claim. According to the Russian propagandists these photographs were allegedly taken in a Spanish city close to a refugee center.
The first to publish these photographs was the pro-Kremlin Ukraina.ru site on its Telegram channel. The publication claims these photos were supposedly taken in Benalmadena, a town in Andalusia in southern Spain and sent to Ukraina.ru by a subscriber.
The Russian Embassy in Spain also posted one of these images on its Twitter account. “In one of the Spanish cities near the temporary detention center for Ukrainians, on the face of the house “No Ukrainian flags!”
However, these photographs are nothing more than a montage. This was pointed out by many comments to the Russian Embassy’s tweet.
Twitter user @HawthornBlack geolocated the spot where the photos were taken. The building in the pictures is indeed in Benalmadena, and it belongs to the Epic Gym a gym and wellness center. @HawthornBlack got in touch with Epic Gym’s owners, who sent him a video of the building’s facade on August 5th, and it does not have any graffiti on it. If you look closely at the photos circulating online, you can see that the “graffiti” was photoshopped over the logo of the gym – the letter “e” can be seen on the edge of the “graffiti”, which corresponds to the first letter in the name of the gym Epic Gym. The owners of Epic Gym, in response to a request from @HawthornBlack, confirmed that the inscription “No Ukrainian flags!” has never been on the wall of their gym.
Epic Gym published a statement on its Instagram account, rebutting the fake circulated. “Today it was brought to our attention that the Embassy of Russia uploaded a picture of Epic Gym in Benalmadena, Spain, stated that we don’t support Ukraine. This is fake news, and we find it disgusting and unacceptable. Neither Epic Gym nor anyone behind the company in Benalmadena supports Russia in the war going on in Ukraine” Epic Gym posted. The company also features a Stand with Ukraine slogan with a blue and yellow heart (the colors of the Ukrainian national flag) on its Instagram signature page.
StopFake also verified the shared photos using the FotoForensics image verification tool. The check showed different levels of compression at the location of the graffiti, which may indicate that the image has been edited.
This is not the first time that the Kremlin’s propaganda machine, with the help of disinformation, has been intent on building a narrative about Western countries’ fatigue of the “Ukrainian issue”. Previously, StopFake debunked fakes about the UK allegedly planning to Ukrainian refugees to Rwanda, and in Germany children are allegedly taken away from Ukrainians “for emotions and appetite”.
