Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 6/6/2024; Author: Darvin Murić
The pro-Russian online portal IN4S, whose articles about Ukraine, Russian aggression, and the reactions of other countries to it are regularly debunked by all regional fact-checkers, published an article claiming that children in German schools are being taught to hate.
“In Germany, students are taught that Russia is a ‘monster’ and an ‘occupier’ and that they should – hate it,” reads the headline of the article, in which IN4S, among other things, states:
“In Germany, students are taught to hate Russia and are forced to draw the Ukrainian flag – testified Sergey Fast, one of the parents.”
“A little Russian girl was helping a boy from Ukraine with studying, but one day, as soon as he entered the school, he immediately started beating her. He explained that he did it because Russian soldiers had captured his father, a soldier of the Ukrainian armed forces.”
There is no evidence for these claims except for the statements of the parents mentioned in the article. The context becomes clearer when considering that the author of the second claim, about the alleged attack of a Ukrainian boy on a little Russian girl, as IN4S notes, is the German citizen Elena Kolbasnikova.
Kolbasnikova is publicly known as an extreme pro-Russian activist in Cologne who organized pro-Kremlin rallies in that German city, calling for an end to aid to Ukraine.
She and her partner left Germany and moved to Russia. Reuters previously debunked this couple of Russian operatives, explaining that Elena’s partner, Max Schlund, is actually Rostislav Tesliuk, a former officer in the Russian Air Force.
“Key figures in the campaign have links to the Russian state or far right,” Reuters writes.
“The couple travelled to Donbas, the area of eastern Ukraine largely controlled by Russia. A pro-Kremlin media outlet, Tsargrad, posted a YouTube video of the trip in October. It shows Schlund and Kolbasnikova distributing aid, including tent heaters for pro-Moscow forces,” the agency reports.
The German police searched their apartment after learning that she and Schlund, aka Tesliuk, were raising money to buy walkie-talkies, headphones, and similar equipment for Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Kolbasnikova, whom the media in Germany have called a Putin fan, was convicted in Cologne for supporting the Russian aggression in Ukraine. At that time, she stated that she was ready to bear the consequences “if it means that Kyiv will be liberated from the Nazis.”
We could not find more information about Sergey Fast, also quoted in the article. The original article was published in the Russian edition of Russia Today. There are no further details about the man who gave the statement except his name.
Since there is no evidence that German schools teach children to hate Russia, this post is rated a conspiracy theory.
The “Conspiracy theory” rating is given to a media report that provides an untrue or unverifiable description of a phenomenon, event, or person, presenting them as part or the result of a hidden agenda (“conspiracy”). Such content typically presents a series of claims as facts between which causal relationships are established without offering any credible evidence.
