Last fakes of the week
15 January 2026
Old videos instead of fresh rallies: what is wrong with reports of support for Maduro
In early January, Radio Minsk and the ZhS Premium Telegram channel aired videos presented as recent rallies in support of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro following his detention. Host Aliona Radouskaya spoke of tens of thousands of people at rallies in Caracas, while the authors of the Telegram channel claimed that the Belarusian independent media ("the fugitives' media dumps") were circulating old videos. The Weekly Top Fake team fact-checked these materials and found that the footage used...
misrepresentation, Venezuela, Radio Minsk, Evening political channel, Telegram channel ZhS Premium (Yellow Plums), Alena Rodovskaya, protests, politics.
14 January 2026
"A massive amount of cash." While spinning tales of Western plans to attack Belarus, Ryhor Azaronak exaggerated European defense spending
Commenting on the U.S. operation in Venezuela, CTV host Ryhor Azaronak claimed the West is preparing an attack on Belarus as Poland and Lithuania ramp up their military budgets. On air, he cited military spending figures for Belarus' neighbors and compared them to Belarusian expenditures. The Weekly Top Fake team fact-checked these figures and determined the scale of Azaronak’s error.
misrepresentation, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, CTV TV channel, Belarus Today, Ryhor Azaronak, armament.
29 December 2025
“Money is only enough for the bare essentials.” CTV overstated the number of poor people in Lithuania
One-fifth of Lithuania’s population views its financial situation as very poor, a CTV news anchor said, citing sociological research. The Weekly Top Fake team set out to see whether she reported the figures accurately.
misrepresentation, Lithuania, CTV TV channel, economy, statistics.
27 December 2025
Azaronak mixed up tons and dollars and overstated the profitability of Belarusian agriculture
Ryhor Azaronak claimed in his livestream on CTV that thanks to Alexander Lukashenko, the profitability of Belarusian agriculture is above 100%. We found that he had confused all the indicators and drawn the wrong conclusions.
misrepresentation, Belarus, CTV TV channel, Ryhor Azaronak, economy, agriculture.
26 December 2025
“Utility bills are going through the roof — up roughly fivefold.” How much did Lukashenko exaggerate the rise in EU utility costs?
Alexander Lukashenko claimed that utility payments in the European Union have increased fivefold because countries are spending more on defense. The Weekly Top Fake team set out to see just how wrong he was.
misrepresentation, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, RTR-Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, economy, utility bills.
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