Russian propaganda continues to exploit the topic of fake covers of Western publications, which mock Ukraine or the Ukrainian leadership in the form of caricatures. For example, the other day, the cover of the French humorous publication Charlie Hebdo actively went viral in the Russian segment of Telegram – such a post was spread by one of the top Russian propaganda channels “Ukropsky Fresh” (https://surl.li/kcqnza), the anti-Ukrainian resource “Drugaya Ukraina” (https://surli.cc/blivly), as well as the Kremlin’s top propagandist Solovyov (https://surl.li/ksrqfa). Further in the material about why it is fake.
Fake
As already noted, Russian propaganda actively exploits the topic of mocking Ukraine, Ukrainians and the leadership of the Ukrainian state through fake covers of famous Western publications. This time, the cover of Charlie Hebdo magazine has been falsified.
The cover, which was distributed by Russian propaganda Telegram channels, depicts a caricature of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is allegedly lying in a coffin. The cover contains a humiliating inscription, namely: “A political corpse is taking its last breath,” and the phrase “Ukraine is an independent state” is supposedly flying from the image of Zelensky himself.
However, Charlie Hebdo did not publish such an issue of the magazine with such a cover. This is stated in the information on the publication’s website.
Thus, the fake cover allegedly contains the magazine’s release date – March 20, 2025 and the serial number of the magazine – 1705.
However, Charlie Hebdo did not publish a magazine on March 20 with such a number. The last issue of the magazine that was published was No. 1704 for March 19, 2025 (https://surl.li/qgqsaf). The content of the cover is also different – the real first page shows a caricature of French President Emmanuel Macron and the message – “Macron: He needs a good war”.
In another period, a magazine with an anti-Ukrainian cover could not be published either, because the magazine’s frequency of publication is once a week. So, the previous 1703rd issue was published on March 12, 2025 (https://surl.li/srmwfu), and the 1702nd – on March 5, 2025 (https://surli.cc/tefpcg).
In addition, the upcoming issue of the magazine cannot contain a caricature of the president of Ukraine either – both the original cover and the fake one have an image of the announcement of the next issue of the magazine and its cover in the upper corner. And it has a completely different picture.
Accordingly, it can be stated that the publication in Russian Telegram channels of the cover of Charlie Hebdo magazine with a caricature of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a fake. It was falsified based on the real cover of the publication, which was published on March 19, 2025.
In terms of content, this fake is aimed at humiliating and discrediting the Ukrainian president, who allegedly has no political future, and his dreams of an independent Ukraine are unattainable.
