The authenticity of the video was denied by the Associated Press. The agency said that the video is a fake and they have never published such information.
A report with the Associated Press (AP) logo is spreading online that Russian and Slovak flags will allegedly be seized at Slovakia’s match against Ukraine on 21 June.
«Security staff will seize Russian flags from all fans, regardless of the country of a rival. It also became known that the ban will also apply to the flags of Slovakia at the upcoming match with Ukraine. The organisers claim that the Slovak flag is very similar to the Russian one, which can cause provocations against Ukrainians,» the video says.
However, this video clip is a fake.
The Associated Press said that «The video circulating on social media is not an AP video and features a false and manipulated clip of an AP staffer».
The information that Russian and Slovak flags would allegedly be confiscated during Slovakia’s match against Ukraine was also made up. None of the European media, whose focus these days is the European Football Championship, published such reports.
The propagandists used a real AP video of the Tesla shareholder vote to create the fake report. The voiceover, which is very similar to that of AP reporter Tom Krisher, was most likely generated using artificial intelligence. The attackers also used some fragments of Tom Krisher’s real report to make the fake video look more authentic.
And finally – this «new» itself is completely absurd. The fact is that although the flags of Slovakia and Russia have the same colours, they are significantly different. The flag of Slovakia has an image of the national emblem of the Slovak Republic on the left side of the cloth, the height of which is half the width of the flag cloth.
Earlier, StopFake denied the untrue news that Ukrainian refugees in Germany allegedly beat up a man after mistaking the Slovenian flag for the Russian one.