According to the fake news that has gone viral in social networks, “unknown people hoisted the Soviet flag” in Berlin, on the German Parliament (Bundestag) building. This disinformation was promoted in the Georgian-speaking Facebook domain on 8 May 2023, a day prior to 9 May when Victory Day over Nazi Germany is celebrated(1, 2, 3).

In fact, the disseminated footage and photographs are doctored and the information about hoisting a flag with Soviet symbols on Reichstag building is not true.

The Bundestag’s press relation office made a comment about this issue with numerous media outlets. It was officially reported that no such act had taken place whilst there are four flags on the Reichstag building – three of them are flags of the Federal Republic of Germany and the one is of the EU.

Of note is that trees and plants around the Reichstag building are not green in the doctored footage which indicates that it shows entirely different season. In fact, the trees and plants around the Reichstag currently look absolutely different.

Doctored Photograph

Photograph Taken in Berlin on 7 May

The first report about hoisting a flag with the symbol of the USSR over the Reichstag building was first published in the morning hours of 8 May 2023 on the Telegram channel of Dmitriy Smirnov, a Russian journalist.

Identical disinformation was widely shared by Russian-speaking social network accounts as well as by Russian TV channels and online media.

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