A Facebook user posted a video claiming that the Russian flag was displayed on the U.S. Embassy building in Moscow “as part of a cultural exchange”.
In reality, Russian citizens themselves projected the flag onto the U.S. Embassy building during a protest concert by SHAMAN, a singer with pro-Kremlin sentiments who supports Russia’s war in Ukraine.
On July 19, 2024, the Russian singer wrote on his Telegram channel that the U.S. blocked his YouTube channel only because the singer is Russian, so he was preparing for a response action. “No one can ban our songs,” the singer stated in an attached video message and announced a protest concert at the U.S. Embassy.
For information, YouTube and the music platform Spotify have recently blocked the channels of SHAMAN and other performers who openly support Russia’s war in Ukraine. These steps followed the decision made by the European Union last month. The decision envisaged imposing sanctions on pro-war musicians for performing in occupied Ukraine and “participating in state-funded propaganda events”.
On the evening of July 19, hundreds of people gathered in front of the embassy, chanting pro-Russian slogans and singing SHAMAN’s songs. Additionally, they projected a giant image of the Russian flag onto the U.S. Embassy building, as evidenced by videos posted by concert attendees (links 1, 2, 3, 4).
The musician came into the spotlight against the background of Russia’s war in Ukraine when the Russian authorities promoted representatives of the cultural sphere to spread their offensive, anti-Western messages in society. The singer is an ardent supporter of Vladimir Putin and has held concerts for Russian soldiers in the occupied territories of Ukraine multiple times.
Thus, the claim that the Russian flag was projected onto the U.S. Embassy building “as part of a cultural exchange” is false.
