The news video was fabricated by propagandists. The Colombian government has not made any such statements.
The Colombian government plans to block TikTok videos from Ukraine due to the «romanticization of war» and «propaganda of the Ukrainian Armed Forces» — a news story with such information is being shared in the pro-Russian segment of the network. The video says that TikTok videos from Ukraine seem to create a distorted, romanticized perception of war among Colombian youth, which encourages them to join the International Legion of the Armed Forces.
However, this news is made up, and the video was fabricated by propagandists. They used the corporate style and logo of the Colombian media source City Noticias TV to create this fake, but did not take into account that the news agency does not publish content in English, only in Spanish. Therefore, it is not surprising that this story can not be found on the media’s website or in their social networks. Similar news is also not available on the websites of the Colombian Information Technology and Communications Ministry and National Defense Ministry, as well as in any credible Spanish- or English-language media.
Moreover, the «facts» from the video are at odds with reality and common sense. For example, the story says that the average age of Colombians joining the Ukrainian army has dropped from 22 to 18 due to the influence of TikTok. This is extremely unlikely, because 18 years is precisely the minimum age for joining the International Legion. On the contrary, the vast majority of Colombians in the Ukrainian army are veterans with combat experience, by no means teenagers — this was reported by a number of sources that investigated the motivations of Colombian citizens to join the International Legion. Accordingly, such experienced fighters are motivated to join the war with Russia not by a romanticized perception of war, but by a decent financial compensation.
It is worth noting that recently Russian propaganda began to spread more and more fake news on the topic of Colombia and Colombian citizens in the ranks of the International Legion. Recently, we already refuted similar narratives in the stories Fake: Pablo Escobar’s Offspring Dead Fighting for Ukraine and Fake: Soldier’s Body from International Legion Was Returned to Colombia Without Internal Organs.
