In fact, the photo has nothing to do with reality. The image being circulated was generated with artificial intelligence, while the actual Martin Luther King memorial in Anchorage remains untouched.
Several pro-Russian outlets shared the fabricated picture, showing a plaque under King’s bust that allegedly read: “MLK was also Ukrainian! He had a dream of free Ukraine!” Russian propagandists presented it as supposed disrespect toward the national heroes of other nations — another attempt to stir resentment by manufacturing a scandal that never happened.
In reality, the story is entirely manufactured. The photo promoted as evidence was generated by artificial intelligence — a telltale yellow tint, blurred background, and other hallmarks of neural network imagery give it away. The actual Martin Luther King monument in Alaska looks nothing like the doctored version. The irony, of course, is that the same Russian outlets feigning outrage over the supposed “desecration” of a Black civil rights leader are the ones that routinely push racist tropes to stoke division in Western societies. Their sudden “concern” for honoring American heroes is less about respect than about exploiting any pretext to advance propaganda.
Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska did not go unnoticed. Several hundred protesters — Americans as well as members of the Ukrainian diaspora — gathered to chant pro-Ukrainian slogans and spotlight the issue of children abducted from Ukraine by Russia. The Native Movement, an Alaska-based Indigenous rights group, denounced the venue choice: “The decision to host Putin, a war criminal, on Alaskan soil is a betrayal of our history and the moral clarity demanded by the suffering of Ukraine and other occupied peoples.” The group urged Trump not to sign any peace agreement with Putin, stressing that hosting the Russian leader on Alaskan soil amounted to legitimizing a war criminal.
The demonstrations, however, remained peaceful, with no incidents of violence or vandalism reported. Similar disinformation has circulated before — including false claims that Trump was forced to deploy National Guard troops to Alaska in response to supposed large-scale Ukrainian protests.
