Punctuation set in first two paragraphs.
A Russian video saying forced vaccinations are attacks has been circulated on English-speaking social media accounts as an example of an authentic operation. However, the clip was taken from a fictional YouTube series and is meant to look satirical.
The sketch shows armed men and a Russian official invading houses and offices to vaccinate people in military attacks. It was posted on Facebook on March 3 with the caption: “The NWO (New World Order) is here” (here). On Reddit, another user shared the clip in a post titled: “They are forcing COVID-19 vaccinations in Russia.” (here).
The video has also been viewed more than 194,000 times since 1942 on World Star Hip Hop, a video sharing site. It contains the caption: “Masked special police burst into homes, claim coercive vaccinations in Russia” (here).
But despite being shared in a serious connection on English-speaking accounts, the video is a parody. The original three-minute clip was posted on February 22 by a YouTube account called “BARAKuda” and is the latest installment in a fictional online series that follows the activities of his main character, a politician named Vitaly Nalivkin, around his city Ussuriysk. (here).
The Moscow Times reported in 2019 that the series was created by a former journalist who wants to make fun of the way local authorities are responding to citizen issues. It is said: “Meet Vitaly Nalivkin, a false politician who solves Ussuriysk’s very real problems.
“Nalivkin’s slapstick solutions (such as installing air fresheners in the city to improve air quality) are less about their effectiveness than highlighting the lack of action by the authorities” (here).
Other videos from the YouTube channel, with 645,000 subscribers, show Nalivkin destroying monuments, capturing drug addicts and destroying concrete slabs (here).
The video referred to in this investigation shows Nalivkin conducting a forced COVID-19 vaccination campaign to speed up the uptake and protect Ussuriysk from the disease. At the end of the parody grip, the success of the campaign is celebrated to get locals to visit vaccination points – and it appears that Ussuriysk has administered the most vaccines. As a result, a character playing an official concludes that the forced strategy will be rolled out across Russia.
VERDICT
Satire. The video is a clip taken from a fictional comedy sketch, not a real vaccination campaign in Russia.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work here to check out social media posts.