Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the Russian government has been accused of using its state-controlled media to spread pro-war propaganda. The Associated Press has reported big tech platforms like Facebook, YouTube and TikTok have made moves to block Russia’s RT and Sputnik accounts.
Some social media users are also accusing the Ukrainian government of spreading its own propaganda. A video circulating online claims to show one such failed attempt. In the video, a news reporter is talking in front of a number of body bags when one of them begins to move.
One tweet said: “‘Miracle! Death Ukrainians coming to life after dying on social media but caught on live camera. This entire PR disaster is falling apart very fast.’” The video posted along with the tweet had more than 129,000 views. Other examples can be found here and here.
THE QUESTION
Was the news video of a man moving inside a body bag filmed during the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, this news video is not from Ukraine. It is from an Austrian newscast that happened during a climate change protest on Feb. 4, 2022.
WHAT WE FOUND
In the video, a news reporter can be seen speaking in front of a camera with lines of body bags behind him. At about five seconds into the video, a person can be seen moving inside one of the body bags.
Twitter users are claiming the video is from Ukraine during a newscast detailing the mounting casualties from Russian attacks.
VERIFY can confirm the video was not taken in Ukraine at all. It was filmed on Feb. 4, 2022, before Russia’s attack on Ukraine began.
Using a reverse image search of still frames taken from the video clip, VERIFY traced the video to a news report from OE24, a Vienna, Austria-based newspaper. The name Marvin Bergauer, a reporter with OE24, can be seen in the lower left corner of the clip.
An OE24 video posted to YouTube on Feb. 4 also shows the same protest, with Bergauer in front of the camera. The videographer in yellow and the person moving inside the body bag can be seen at the 1:20 mark of the YouTube video.
The climate change protest was organized by the group Fridays for the Future, which was launched in August 2018, when 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate change. The organization’s website says the protest, which was held on Feb. 4, featured activists laying inside of body bags to represent climate deaths. The protest was held in front of the Chancellery on Vienna’s Ballhausplatz, which is where the Austrian cabinet holds sessions.
The VERIFY team also had the video clip translated and the reporter says: “Not at the Austrian level either, even if you consider that the Bundesrat [legislative body] decided that both the renewable development law and the eco-social tax reform can explain very briefly that the renewable development law is intended to ensure Austria’s climate neutrality into two-thousand” and then the clip ends.
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