In one of the cringiest episodes of Russian pro-war propaganda so far, a group of activists touted Moscow’s supposed devotion to its “new territories” in Ukraine earlier this week with a video that showed widows of troops who fought for the Kremlin being presented with fancy fur coats.
But as with so many other parts of Russia’s war show, some of the women in the video now say the whole thing was a cheap trick.
The 50-second video—just the latest installment of tacky gifts gleefully presented to families in exchange for their war dead—was shared on social media by Miroslava Reginskaya, the wife of the notorious former leader of pro-Russian troops in Donetsk, Igor Strelkov. (It was also hyped by propagandist Yevgeny Skripnik, who previously made headlines for videos of himself handing out cash to Russian war widows.)
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“At such moments, you can feel that we are one family,” one of the Russian activists can be heard saying in the clip.
“Moscow gave out fur coats to the widows and mothers of troops in Donetsk!” one Russian-language channel titled the video on YouTube, calling the fur coats “humanitarian aid.”
The 13 widows are shown obediently holding up their new fur coats for the camera as they all gush over the “unexpected” gifts. “We received such unexpected help today, we are very grateful to you,” one woman says.
“Not everyone thinks that they will have such an opportunity,” she adds, before all 13 break out in a chorus of “Thank you so much!”
The widows now say the “poor quality” furs were taken back right after filming, however.
“One of the women in the video confirmed to us in writing that she and at least three other women had the fur coats taken away right after the video was filmed. At first they were told that the fur coats were of poor quality and promised that they would get new ones. But after numerous calls [to the organizer], the women were told there was a mistake and that the fur coats were meant for other people,” the activist group Feminist Anti-War Resistance said in a statement on Telegram on Thursday.
At least one of the women also reportedly vented about the incident on social media.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many—if any—of the women were actually widows of pro-Russian troops killed fighting on the Kremlin’s behalf. They reportedly said they were enlisted for the video at work, where they were told they’d get “expensive presents from Moscow” if they took part in filming.
Russian authorities have repeatedly sought to boost support for the war by showing off similar “gifts” presented to the families of those killed in action.
In July, Russian state media sparked widespread mockery online with a segment featuring the father of a dead Russian soldier who showed off the new Lada he said he was able to buy with the state payout he got for his son’s death.
