Video does not show a refugee in Kursk knocking over a speaker

A video circulating on social media (archived here) shows a man approaching a large speaker on the street and knocking it to the ground while the Russian national anthem plays. A police officer is seen chasing the man afterward. The text part of the publication claims, "In Kursk, refugees do not want to listen to the Russian anthem." 

Posted on X (formerly Twitter), on September 23, it has gained over 255 thousand views at the time of writing.

However, this claim is inaccurate for several reasons. The video was filmed several years ago in Podolsk, near Moscow, not in Kursk, and the man in question is a Russian citizen, not a refugee.

A closer look

A search using the Russian terms "уронил колонку гимн россии" (knocked over speaker Russian anthem) yields several news articles describing a very similar incident. 

Results of the Google search by words "уронил колонку гимн россии" (knocked over speaker Russian anthem). Source: Google, screenshot.

The top result is from Russian news outlet Lenta.ru with the headline: "A Russian dropped a speaker playing the national anthem and became the subject of a criminal case." A subheading continues, "A resident of Podolsk dropped a speaker playing the Russian national anthem and became a defendant in a criminal case." 

This report, published on August 22, 2022, features the same video that has been misrepresented in the social media post.

Another source, Podolsk 24 – a news website for the city of Podolsk – states: "Law enforcement has opened a criminal case on vandalism against a 26-year-old resident of Podolsk for damaging sound equipment. This was reported to the Moscow City News Agency by the press service of the Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Moscow Region." 

The article was published on August 23, 2022.

The Podolsk 24 report also mentions that the incident took place near a monument dedicated to those who died in the Great Patriotic War (a term used in Russia to describe the conflict fought during the period from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945 along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of World War II, primarily between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany). By using Google Earth, we can confirm that the event indeed occurred at the Square of Glory in Podolsk.

The Square of Glory in Podolsk (on the left) and the square in the video (on the right). (Source: X/Google Earth/Screenshots)

While there are several war-related monuments in Kursk, Russia, including a Victory Memorial, none look similar to the one pictured in the video.

The verdict

The events in the video, showing a man knocking over a speaker playing the Russian national anthem, took place in Podolsk in the summer of 2022. The individual involved is a Russian citizen. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.