The author of the TikTok video is alive and was never sent to the frontlines in Avdiyivka. StopFake managed to track him down and the serviceman refuted the information spread by propaganda.
Kremlin media and social media users began to spread fake information that a Ukrainian soldier was sent to the frontlines in Avdiyivka for filming a Tik Tok video, where he allegedly died immediately. In these publications propaganda attaches his humorous video, allegedly about “cleaning the general’s garage”, and next to it – information about the death of a certain “Valery Taraschuk”.
“Ukrainian soldier, who was happily filming funny tiktoks about cleaning the garage instead of serving at the front lines, was quickly found and punished by being sent to Avdiyivka. Yesterday information about his death was unveiled…” – users write.
After the spread of such information, StopFake decided to check whether the soldier from the video was really sent to the front because of the Tik Tok video and whether he really died there. As it turned out, the information spread online is not true.
StopFake started a search for the allegedly dead “Valeriy Taraschuk” based on his photo. The search tool in social networks Search4faces revealed the long-inactive profile of “Styopa Igonin” in VK. Using this name, we managed to find his active pages on Instagram and Facebook with the image of the “deceased” Valery Taraschuk. The Instagram profile had a link to Tik Tok, where we found the video that propaganda used.
StopFake contacted the user for a comment. The author of the video, a serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Stepan Igonin, confirmed that it is his video, but the description provided by propaganda is fake.
“I was shocked when my friends showed me this news. Everything that is written there is complete nonsense, I did not clean the garages of any generals. No one was looking for me and sent me to Avdiivka,” said the soldier.
We also asked Igonin about the caption accompanying the video that is being shared on social networks: “I thought I was going to Avdiyivka, but I went to clean the general’s garage.” The serviceman said that he did not write such an inscription and that “they added it themselves” (propaganda – editor’s note). On his TikTok profile, this video has no captions and was posted long before being shared by users and the Kremlin media.
Earlier, StopFake refuted the information about Ukraine showing how it shoots “sympathetic” videos about the military.
