Romanian fans did not chant Putin’s name during football match with Ukraine

The authenticity of the “Putin” chants by Romanian fans is called into question, especially given their show of respect for Ukraine at the beginning of the match, as was noted by Mythdetector. The German newspaper “Bild” specifies that at the beginning of the match, approximately 40 thousand Romanian fans chanted “Ukraine” for some time as a sign of respect and solidarity. According to the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security of Ukraine, the chant derives from the well-known Ukrainian song “Putin Khuylo” but the second word was intentionally omitted, making it seem like the chants were simply calling out “Putin”. This fake video was also covered by the Romanian media 

We are fact-checking a post on Facebook claiming that Romanian fans were chanting the name of Russian President Vladimir Putin during the football match with Ukraine.

In the European Football Championship, Romanian fans were chanting “Putin! Putin!” during the match against Ukraine. The final score: Romania 3-0 Ukraine. The Ukrainians are very cross because of this, says the post.

On the 17th of June 2024 in Allianz Arena in Munich, as part of the tournament of the European Football Championship, the group phase match between the teams of Romania and Ukraine took place, with the final score of 3:0 for the Romanian team. 

After the match, a video of Romanian fans who, supposedly, were chanting Putin’s name started circulating on social media, as well as some other Russian state media. Even the British tabloid The Mirror shared an almost identical story. 

In their analysis, Mythdetector cited the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security of Ukraine, a governmental body fighting Russian disinformation, commented on the video. According to the Centre for Strategic Communication, the distributed video is fake since the content is digitally altered by adding the chants after the fact.    

According to the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security of Ukraine, the chant derives from the well-known Ukrainian song “Putin Khuylo” but the second word was intentionally omitted, making it seem like the chants were simply calling out “Putin”. This fake video was also covered by the Romanian media. Even though they could not lip-reading because the footage shows the fans facing away from the camera, they nevertheless concluded that the movements, shouts, and rhythm of the fans were unsynchronized, pointed out the Mythdetector. 

The voice was, most probably, taken from a 2021 video when Ukrainian fans on the match between Ukraine and Austria were singing ”Putin Khuylo”. 

The authenticity of the “Putin” chants by Romanian fans is called into question, especially given their show of respect for Ukraine at the beginning of the match, as was noted by Mythdetector. German newspaper “Bild” specifies that at the beginning of the match, approximately 40 thousand Romanian fans chanted “Ukraine” for some time as a sign of respect and solidarity. 

The fabricated video showing Romanian fans, allegedly, chanting the name of Putin was also confirmed by the fact-checking organization Open, reports the Mythdetector. In addition, Open talked to a fan who was present at the specific match where the footage was made and he confirmed that such a thing never happened. 

Due to all of the above-noted facts, we assess the claim that Romanian fans chanted the name Putin during the football match with Ukraine as incorrect. 

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