The Russian television channel NTV on March 12 published on its website an article entitled “In Western Ukraine traffic police is virtually paralyzed,” illustrating the story of its program “PE”, entitled “Chaos on the roads of Western Ukraine videotaped”: http://www.ntv.ru/novosti/857477/
In the story, a journalist complains “the regions whose people were at the core of Maydan, after the coup, are forced to deal with everyday problems on their own. Structures face difficulties as they are left without control, but the situation on the streets is even more striking”.
“As noted by the residents themselves, the number of offenses and accidents has risen. But official information is not available, as there is no one to collect statistics. When an accident happens, people spend hours waiting for help”- assures us the leading Russian TV channel.
NTV has learned that traffic problems became the main topic of Internet discussions.
However, even with such an abundance of alleged outrages Russian journalists could hardly provide any confirmation of their claims. At the beginning the video shows the scattered shots with militia inspectors on Ukrainian streets, obviously old and probably taken from YouTube. On some of them snow can be seen, which has long gone in Ukraine.
Shot by the NTV program. In the background snow can be seen, which has long gone in Ukraine.
The voiceover refers to some information from some local residents, who complain about the increased number of accidents. The lack of data about it in official reports is explained by the fact that in Ukraine there is no authority left to complete these reports – the Government allegedly is not functioning.
However, we are particularly interested in the video that NTV used as the basis for the story – it depicts a big traffic jam. Some cars are trying to squeeze past the traffic jam using the opposite lane. Behind the scenes we can hear the voice of the author, who is really disturbed by the behavior of the motorists.
In the beginning of this story in the upper left corner we can see the date – February 23, ie. the day after the escape of Viktor Yanukovych. The road on which video was shot has nothing to do with Western Ukraine. It is the area between Kyiv and the Yanukovych residence called Mezhygirya. The traffic jam happened because there were many people who wanted to see the house of the person, who ruled the country for four years and was the cause of this deep crisis.
The DVR frame used in the NTV story. At top left corner the date can be seen – February, 23. Click on the picture to enlarge.
The author of the video, who was referred in the story as a “witness”, is a journalist of the Ukrainian TV Channel 1+1 Kostyantyn Andriyuk . Here is the original Andriyuk’s video used in the program on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAnsxFtjV2E
He wroteon his Facebook page, commenting on this NTV story: “Here’s what the world came to! NTV does both, quoting and polishing with dirt! I honestly expected that it could be used against us, but couldn’t in the million years expect this! I do not even know now how to fight against such TV killers! I am ready to sue but who do you contact? Please, advise me, if you know, I am ready to go as far as the international court!”
Team StopFake thanks Kostyantyn Andriyuk and Reuters journalist Sergiy Karaziy for help in creating this material.
