Russian propaganda invents service for registering same-sex marriages for Ukrainian military in Europe

Propagandists fabricated screenshots, not taking into account legislation

Russian Telegram channels have spread a message falsely claiming that Ukraine has introduced a new service for the military: the registration of same-sex marriages in Europe. This was allegedly done so that in the event of the death of one of the partners, the other could legally receive benefits from the state. The message falsely claims that this service is provided by the Ukrainian organization Insight LGBTQ NGO. The propagandists shared screenshots of the organization's alleged Facebook ads.

This is a fake. There is no information about this service on the official resources of LGBTQ NGO. The fake advertisement contains phrases typical of the Russian language and a grammatical error. The images used by the propagandists to create the fake appeared online in 2021.

In addition, in a comment to Ukrinform, representatives of the organization said that such an “advertisement” was a fake.

 “Insight NGO provides free legal advice, including on countries where such marriage can be registered. It is important to note that Ukraine does not currently recognize same-sex marriages, meaning that same-sex marriages registered abroad will not be automatically recognized in the country. To obtain legal recognition of same-sex marriage in Ukraine, one must go to court and then rely on the benefits that marriage provides," Insight LGBTQ NGO added.

Dmytro Badrak