On the evening of August 6, a video message appeared on social networks from the acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexei Smirnov, in which he allegedly called on residents to urgently report to the military commissariats and receive a weapon. At the same time, a video with a call from the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, announcing an emergency evacuation, began to be sent on regional channels in the Belgorod region. Both videos turned out to be fake, TASS commented.
In the case of the head of the Kursk Region, a real video from his official Telegram channel was used. In the initial address, Alexey Smirnov urged not to succumb to provocations. In the modified video, he appeals to men to urgently come to military commissariats and be given weapons to defend the homeland. A clear comparison of the original and the fake was demonstrated by specialists in combating the illegal use of information and telecommunication technologies of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. Careful examination of the video shows that the image "jumps" and there is a discrepancy in the sound. In addition, the fake video lacks the governor's characteristic pronunciation of some sounds.
As for the video statement about the emergency evacuation of residents of the border areas of the Belgorod region, Belgorod itself and the Yakovlevsky city district, in which the voice of the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov is said to be heard, it was refuted by specialists. "The statement in the video is not real, proven by the Zephyr system, which analyzes the video and identifies the sound as fake with 99% probability," experts said. The fake video claims the governor's address was recorded on air at a radio station, and the footage shows a car radio with a signal on.
"Events such as shelling of the Belgorod region or attempts to break through the border in the Kursk region are always accompanied by attempts to cause panic among the civilian population Therefore, if you are sent a similar video with panic content on behalf of a local official, governor or even the president, "always double-check the official sources of information,", explains Tikhon Makarov, a specialist, "All officials are already represented on social networks and Telegram, especially in the border regions, and if such videos appear on anonymous pages, but not on official channels, this is a cause for reflection. Always look at the original source and don't trust anonymous channels as spreading such information is a crime," emphasized the expert.