It was made public immediately
Leonidas Volkov, a comrade of Andrei Navalny, who recently died in a Russian prison, was attacked and brutally injured near his home in Vilnius on the evening of March 12.
Soon following, Kira Jarmyš, the press representative of the late A.Navalno, announced this fact on the “X” social network.
Leonid Volkov @leonidvolkov has just been attacked outside his house. Someone broke a car window and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, following which the attacker started hitting Leonid with a hammer. Leonid is now at home, police and ambulance are on their way to him
— Kira Yarmysh (@Kira_Yarmysh) March 12, 2024
According to her, the attacker broke the window of the oppositionist’s car with a hammer and sprayed tear gas in his eyes, and then hit him several times.
Also read: A.Navalno’s comrade was attacked and brutally injured in Vilnius: the attacker hit him with a hammer
K. Jarmyš also published photos of the injured L. Volkov. They showed bruises on the face, an injured leg, a car with a broken window near the house. True, no information was provided regarding the severity of the injuries at first.
Also read: What do we know regarding the opposition leader wanted by Russia?
The injured man got home, the ambulance and the police were called. The latter received a notification regarding this on March 12. around 10 p.m.
It was called acting
Although L. Volkov’s attack was immediately reported to the public, photos of the injuries were published, later he himself told regarding the injuries, published various shots, many unfounded conclusions regarding the event were still poured out on social networks.
Screenshot from Facebook/Social network users made fun of the attacked Leonidas Volkov and even doubted whether he was really injured
While most were outraged at the brazen crime, some began to discuss the injuries, wondering if they might have been, according to the description of the injury, shared each other’s posts.
“Poor Mr. Carbonado…smashed his leg with a meat mallet 15 times but broke his arm.” Please bring the Oscar to the stage!!!” – adding emoticons showing loud laughter, a few days later scoffed one Facebook user. This is how she tried to imply that the injuries were faked.
One commenter agreed with her: “It’s one hand in a cast, it’s the other…”
The latter detail was already discussed more actively a day earlier, when a photo of L. Volkov with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielis Landsberg, began to spread on social networks. A member of the government visited the injured on March 16.
The opposition member himself mentioned the meeting on his account “X”, and even thanked the Alex Reed in Lithuanian.
Thank you very much, Mr. Minister!
In these very dark days it is important to feel that Lithuania stands by the values and principles we also share. It is important to have friends and to be understood.
Our resolve to fight for free and democratic Russia, that none of its neighbours… https://t.co/rki5qKjnsX
— Leonid Volkov (@leonidvolkov) March 16, 2024
“It seems that we will have not only our “President of Belarus” (meaning Sviatlana Cichanouskaja – post-ed.), but also our “President of Russia”, – scoffed a member of one Facebook group.
After his post, netizens began to discuss not L. Volkov’s role in the Russian opposition, his influence and similar things, but injuries.
“A specific circus, one day following breaking a leg, I read a photo with a broken right arm in a cast, and already with Landsberg, a left arm in a cast. It’s not normal to laugh or cry at such jokes,” thought one.
Another retorted: “Now his right hand is healed, and then what?” He broke his left? I do not understand anything.”
The third confirmed that the right hand was seen to be plastered.
Screenshot from Facebook/Social Networks users began to doubt whether Leonidas Volkov was really injured
A similar discussion boiled over on the account of another Facebook user. She mocked L. Volkov’s photo with G. Landsberg that “the MFA pulled out the hammer with their own hands.”
Commentators speculated on how many times the opposition player might have been hit, where the arm and leg were actually injured, which limb was broken, and that most likely everything happened according to a pre-prepared script.
It was not himself who took the picture with G. Landsbergis
These deductions have no basis. They were born without delving into the publicly released information and the photos themselves, which were hotly discussed by netizens.
The morning following the attack, following being released from the hospital, L. Volkov revealed more details regarding the crime on his Telegram channel.
The man said that the attacker wanted to make schnitzel out of him, so he attacked with a hammer for beating meat.
According to the oppositionist, he was stabbed regarding 15 times in his left leg. That she was injured can be seen from the published photos – her lower leg was injured, the cuff of her jeans was torn off – she was heavily bloodied.
L. Volkov himself was surprised that his arm was broken during the attack, with which he was probably trying to defend himself, although his leg was hit the most. She was in pain, but it was possible to walk.
Instead, a plastered hand can be seen on the screen. In this post, the cast is on the left limb.
However, during the meeting with G. Landsberg, the hand on the right side was plastered. In other words, the left one, which, when sitting in the driver’s seat, is closer to the window, so it was the one that got hit.
L. Volkov’s tightly bandaged left hand can also be seen in this picturewhich was published on her Instagram account the day following the attack by one of the chairmen of the board of the Anti-Corruption Foundation founded by A.Navalno Marija Pevčich.
The picture doesn’t really add up, but that can be easily explained. Someone took a picture of the opposition and the minister, as they are both seen standing at full height. This shot is what we would see when talking to L.Volkov. The left arm is broken, so when another person looks from the front, it would be on the right side.
And for the post on the Telegram channel, L. Volkov filmed himself as if taking a selfie, so the image came out as a mirror. Therefore, it seems that the other, right hand, is plastered.
15min verdict: missing context. Discussions regarding L. Volkov’s injuries are misleading. The man said that the assailant hit his leg with a hammer, but he was surprised that it was not her that broke, but his arm. And not the right one, as some internet users explain, but the left one. It can look like this in the selfies taken by the opposition member himself.
The publication was prepared in 15 minutes in partnership with Metait aims to stop the spread of misleading news on the social network. More regarding the program and its rules – here.
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2024-04-01 00:56:04