The key facts

  • The fake decree on the 'special levy' contained errors in the document details and did not match official wording
  • The second fake was an AI-generated video urging people to take children out of the region over its alleged unpreparedness for attacks
  • The authorities stated that no evacuation orders were issued and passed the information to law enforcement

Two fakes in one day

Residents of the Leningrad Region were targeted with two fake materials: a forged decree by the governor introducing a monthly 'special targeted levy' for the maintenance of social and household facilities, and a video in which, on behalf of the regional leadership, people are urged to leave immediately and take their children away, allegedly because the region is unprepared for a new wave of attacks. The spread of both fakes was reported by the press service of the regional administration, as reported by Life.ru; the fakes urging people to leave the region were also reported by Gazeta.Ru, citing the regional government via the Max messenger.

What the authorities said

The regional government stressed that the decree on the 'special levy' was never drafted or signed: the authors of the forgery made errors in the document details and used wording that does not match official documents. The second fake, according to the administration, is a video created using artificial intelligence. 'This is a cynical and planned information attack. The goal is to sow panic, fear and chaos', the administration said. The authorities assured that no evacuation orders were issued, the region's security systems are operating normally, and the situation is being monitored by the operational headquarters. Residents were urged not to forward such messages and to verify information only through official channels; information about the forgeries has been passed to law enforcement to identify the authors.

Context

The fakes emerged against the backdrop of reports of power outages: according to Life.ru, on the morning of November 9, after an overnight drone attack, five settlements in the Vsevolozhsky District, including Vaganovo, Kokkorevo and Borisovo, were left without electricity; 114 transformer substations went offline, and the outages affected fewer than a thousand residents. Power engineers needed about six hours to fully restore the electricity supply. Sources do not claim any connection between this incident and the spread of the fake materials.