Chinese influencer with 380,000 followers who posed as Russian soldier fighting in Ukraine war exposed as imposter on the make
- Bogus soldier shared ‘first-hand’ experiences of war and claimed to be in ‘life-and-death’ battle with Ukrainian army
- Online sleuths out Mandarin speaker as a fake on the make and social media platform Douyin bans his account
An influencer in China who claimed to be a Russian soldier fighting in the war in Ukraine has been exposed as a fraud, igniting fierce debate on mainland social media.
The influencer, known by his online alias “Pavel Korchatie”, gained more than 380,000 followers on the short video app Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, where he shared his “first-hand” experience of the war in Mandarin, according to news portal HK01.
His videos typically started with a greeting to viewers in Mandarin – “Hello, friends from China” – followed by his personal stories from the war, which inspired many social media users to cheer on the Russian troops.
In one video, he was shown standing in front of a power plant boldly claiming to have captured Ukrainian prisoners.
“We are currently engaged in a life-and-death battle with the Ukrainian army,” he said.
He also boasted about fighting US Navy Seals, shooting down US military drones, and even taunted the US military by saying: “We blew up your tanks, let’s see if you are still tough.”