Photo of Ukrainian grandmother "beaten up by thugs" is fake
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Photo published on the website Lenta.ru ... in 2009.
The photo above, widely described as showing an old woman being beaten up by Ukrainian nationalist thugs as she tried to put flowers at the foot of a Lenin statue, is being circulated on Ukrainian, Russian, and even French social networks and blogs. Supposedly taken in Lviv, in western Ukraine, the photo has enraged many Internet users who see this as an example of anti-Russian sentiment.
However, as Ukrainian Internet sleuths have rightly pointed out, the Lenin statue in Lviv no longer exists. It was the first Lenin statue in Ukraine to fall, shortly before the country gained independence more than two decades ago.
Moreover, the photo being circulated was first published online back in 2009. The Russian news website Lenta published a series of photos, showing different angles of the same scene. It turns out that this was a piece of street theatre put on during a nationalist, anti-immigrant rally in Lviv.
Another angle of the same scene, published on the Russian website Lenta.ru.