Russia Fakes a Trump Snub of European Leaders
1. Pro-Russian Sources Spread AI-Generated Fake Image of European Leaders Mocked by Trump at Zelensky Meeting
By Hope Talbot
What Happened: Pro-Kremlin sources are sharing an AI-generated image purporting to show European leaders as a “coalition of those in waiting,” being forced to wait in a White House corridor with their heads down, mocking them as powerless petitioners supposedly snubbed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Context: On Aug. 18, 2025, Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders met at the White House to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war. Following the talks, pro-Kremlin accounts circulated an image portraying the European leaders as being sidelined, forced to wait outside of the meeting.
- The purported image of the European leaders spread on Telegram, X, and the Pravda network of Moscow-based news sites. It pictured French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. They have their heads bowed and look somber.
- An Aug. 19, 2025, article from the Pravda network included the photo and stated, “European leaders — a coalition of those in waiting — sit in the corridor, waiting for their meeting with Trump.”
- A post from the anonymous X account @SprinterObserve, which NewsGuard has found to repeatedly spread false content about the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, included the photo and stated, “Humiliated and insulted in the White House corridor. Waiting for the master.”
Actually: The image is fake, according to a NewsGuard analysis using AI detection tool Hive, which determined with 99.8 percent certainty that the photo is AI-generated.
- See NewsGuard’s previous tutorial on how to spot AI-generated media here.
Zooming out: Pro-Kremlin sources often seize on high-profile meetings involving European leaders to spread false claims. For example, as Reality Check reported in March 2025, Russian state media previously shared a video falsely claiming to show Macron, Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz with a bag of cocaine and a coke spoon on a train ride to Kyiv.
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2. Russia Targets Armenia Via an Imposter European News Outlet
By Eva Maitland
What Happened: A Russian influence operation is targeting Anna Hakobyan, the wife of Armenia’s Prime Minister, with the baseless claim that she stole $3.4 million from a children’s cancer charity. It’s Russia’s latest effort to destabilize an Eastern European country that is tilting toward the West and away from Moscow’s influence.
A Closer Look: Hakobyn is married to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is critical of Russia and encourages cooperation between Armenia and Ukraine.
- An Aug. 13, 2025, article on EULeaks.eu, an imposter site linked to Russia that presents itself as a news outlet focused on European issues, stated, “A corruption scandal has erupted within Armenia’s [children’s cancer} City of Smile Foundation… A recent audit revealed that from 2018 to 2025 Anna Hakobyan, has siphoned over $3.4M out of the foundation through a network of shell companies.”
- The “EULeaks” article spread across X, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, Facebook, and YouTube.
- For example, an Aug. 14, 2025, X post by @IvankaNews_, a self-described fan account for U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, stated, “Wife of Armenian PM accused of draining $3.4 million from children’s cancer fund.” The post gained 180,000 views and 200 likes in one day.
See the “EULeaks” video below:
Actually: The claim is baseless. The false narrative appears to be the work of the Russian influence operation Storm-1516.
- In an Aug. 15, 2025, email to NewsGuard, a City of Smile spokesperson said the claim is “categorically false” and that “Hakobyan never had any access to financial resources of the Foundation.”
- Prime Minister Pashinyan’s press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, told NewsGuard in an Aug. 15, 2025, email, “The article you referenced is entirely false and constitutes disinformation. EUleaks.eu is a non-transparent website that has already published multiple unverified and misleading claims.”
Tricks of Our Trade: Indeed, EULeaks.eu, the site where the false claim originated, is not an authentic news outlet. The site began publishing in late July 2025 and was registered anonymously. In addition to publishing false claims, the website appears to rewrite stories from credible news outlets using AI in an attempt to appear authentic.
- See NewsGuard’s previous tutorial on how to spot deceptive news websites designed to spread pro-Russia false claims here.
Storm-1516 isn’t the only influence operation targeting Armenia. On Aug. 15, 2025, the Russian malign influence campaign known as Matryoshka (a reference to Russian stacking dolls) published a fake NewsGuard video claiming that “Editors at NewsGuard and Reporters Without Borders began receiving threats from individuals linked to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.”
Actually: NewsGuard never published any such report, nor has it received any such threats from Armenia.
See the fake NewsGuard video below:
- For more on the Matryoshka campaign and its previous attacks on NewsGuard, see NewsGuard’s Aug. 6, 2025, commentary. And for NewsGuard’s report on Russian propaganda campaigns targeting Moldova’s upcoming September 2025 parliamentary elections, see here.
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3. No, Rabies is not a “Mild Virus” that “Dies When Washed with Soap”
By John Gregory
What happened: An animal-rights activist in India is spreading the false claim that rabies is just a “mild virus” that can be killed by washing with soap. Health experts say that’s dangerously wrong.
Context: The claim surfaced days after India’s Supreme Court on Aug. 11, 2025, ordered that all stray dogs in Delhi be rounded up and moved to shelters, following numerous reports of dogs biting children.
A Closer Look: The claim originated with comments made by animal-rights activist Ambika Shukla in a video shared on the X account of an Indian news organization called The Red Mike on Aug. 13, 2025. Text in The Red Mike’s post translated Shukla’s comments in Hindi to English, as “Rabies is a mild virus, it dies when washed with soap.” The video gained 641,000 views, 2,500 likes, and 1,300 reposts in two days. NewsGuard independently verified The Red Mike’s translation of Shukla’s remarks in Hindi using a translation software.
- The video of Shukla’s remarks was also posted on The Red Mike’s Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube pages. The Aug. 15, 2025, video on The Red Mike’s YouTube page, which has 1.1 million subscribers, was viewed 1,700 times in five hours.
See the video below:
Actually: Rabies is a viral disease most often spread to humans by dogs. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states on its website that the condition is nearly always fatal to humans once symptoms such as fever start to appear, which can be weeks or months after exposure.
- The World Health Organization’s recommended post-exposure procedures for rabies do include washing wounds with soap and water. However, the WHO also recommends “immediate vaccination” if a person has even minor scratches from an animal suspected of having rabies, meaning rabies cannot simply be washed away with soap.
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4. How to Debunk an Image of a Fake News Headline Using Google Search
This video is part of a series offering readers tips on how to spot false claims spreading online. Each short tutorial breaks down real-life examples of deepfakes and other fabrications and outlines the tools you can use to spot falsehoods in your social media feeds. We hope you will share these videos with family and friends who need these tips to avoid falling for false claims.
Today’s tutorial shows how to use Google’s advanced search operators to check whether a news headline circulating online actually exists on an authentic website.
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