An audio message allegedly sent by Alexeï Navalny's mother to the wife of the opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who died on February 16 in Kharp, a Russian town located beyond the Arctic Circle where the maximum security prison where the dissident politician is being held. phrase for “extremism”. In the audio, the dissident's mother accuses his wife of not really supporting him, of not going to visit him in the Arctic prison, preferring to walk on the “red carpets” that Western institutions would have rolled out for him . In reality, the audio in which Navalny's mother accuses Yulia Navalnaya is fake, most likely generated by artificial intelligence. Furthermore, there is a reason why Navalnaya did not return to Russia to visit her husband, and the veracity of the audio was denied by the same Russian channels that shared it. Let's see everything in detail.
For those in a hurry:
- The transcript of the audio was widely shared on social platforms.
- The audio is most likely generated by artificial intelligence.
- The veracity of the audio was denied by the same Russian channels that shared it.
- It is true that Navalnaya has not visited Navalny as of 2022, but only because if she went to Russia she would be arrested.
Analyzes
Let's see a screenshot of one of the messages being checked. In the description we read the following text, accompanied by an audio file in Russian, which is said to be the message sent by Lyudmila Navalnaya to Yulia Navalnaya.
Several Russian media published an appeal from Alexei Navalny's mother to his wife. Navalny's mother accuses Yulia Navalnaya of never visiting her husband in prison during the two years of his detention, despite the fact that there is no ban on entry to Russia, that she is not wanted by the police and that no criminal proceedings have been opened against her in Russia. Lyudmila Navalnaya also criticizes Yulia for the fact that it was she who forced Alexei Navalny, who had just come out of a coma while in Germany, to go to Russia. The appeal also raises the question of inheritance and division of the Navalny family. In fact, says Navalny's mother, Yulia and Alexei have not lived together since spring 2021. Below is the full transcript of Lyudmila Navalnaya's call: “Dear Yulia Borisovna Abrosimova [nome da nubile di Yulia Navalny – n.d.a.] Now I want to turn to you: you saw my son for the last time in February 2022. You were not banned from entering Russia, no criminal proceedings were initiated against you, but in two years you never came to find him. In fact, since spring 2021, she is no longer married to my son and appears in public with other men. It was She who forced him to come to Russia when he had just come out of a coma and had poor judgment. She forced Alexei to hand over his entire estate to her. You have even disinherited your son who, for this reason, no longer speaks to you, you have even influenced your daughter against your son. For me, it was strange and incomprehensible to see her smiling at the Munich conference, a few hours after Alexei's death, while she spoke on his behalf. She took ownership of his voice after his death. She didn't stop even out of decency, she didn't even observe the mourning. She immediately began speculating about his death. He is a despicable and base person. I despise you and I forbid you from speculating about my son's name, from insulting your son.
The photo out of context
The same text is also circulating, associated with a photomontage claiming that Navalny's wife has already started dating another man since the death of her husband. In addition to the photomontage, a photo is circulating of her with the man on what appears to be a beach. In reality, the insinuation is unfounded, given that the photo used is from 2021 and the man is a Navalny supporter known to the family.
The dubious article in the Russian press
First, according to Facebook posts, the audio was released “by Russian media.” However, a search with the keywords “call from mother Navalny Yulia Navanaya” and “audio message from mother Navalny Yulia Navanaya” in Russian – respectively “обращение к маме Навального Юлии Навальной” and “ау диопослание маме Навального Юлии Навальной » – produces very few relevant results. on major Russian newspapers also present online.
The only article that addressed the issue at the time of writing appears on Zen, a Russian news aggregator owned by the social network VK. The article was written by an individual who identifies himself as Shevkin AV, known on the platform as “the Observer.” Although it adheres to Russian propaganda – to the point of defining Yulia Navalnaya as “a new Western political project aimed at destabilizing Russia” – the article treats the audio and the alleged call in a questionable manner. He then concludes by saying that the information in the audio and Facebook posts “could be false.” The Observer was right, because the audio in which Navalny's mother accuses Yulia Navalnaya is false.
The denial of the Russian media
Where the alleged call circulated a lot was on Telegram, there and on VK, it was shared on February 22 by the channel Tsargrad Television, a Russian television channel known for its pro-Kremlin inclinations and close to the positions of Orthodox Russia. The same day, Tsagrad denied the information contained in the audio. Russian journalist Maxim Kononenko also spread the content, but he also later apologized, explaining that the information was false. Tsargrad writes:
“Navalny’s mother’s appeal” to Yulia Navalnaya turned out to be false. We published it with great doubts. Many channels presented this call as fact, because credibility was generated by the fact that the events listed in the “appeal” were facts that Navalny's own widow had nothing to object to. Could such a call appear? Definitely yes. Navalnaya's behavior has long caused confusion, even among fans of the prisoner himself. Instead of coming to the colony at least twice, Yulia preferred to walk the red carpet at the Oscars; Instead of trying to help her husband with lawyers, appealing and protesting, Yulia preferred to be photographed against the backdrop of waves with Chichvarkin*. So it's no surprise that all of this ended up angering Navalny's mother.
Why Yulia Navalnaya didn't go to see Navalny
It is true that Navalnaya and Navalny had not seen each other since February 2022, when they met during one of the many hearings the dissident had to attend over the years. How come? After his most famous poisoning, that of 2020, the couple lived for a while in Germany, until Navalny returned to Russia in 2021, where he was immediately arrested. At the time, Russia todayreported a Russian news channel for foreigners in the hands of the Kremlin, as recalled by Washington Postthat even if his wife had set foot in the country, she would have suffered the same fate as the dissident.
Audio generated with artificial intelligence
Finally, the alleged audio presents the classic signs of those generated with a voice synthesizer. Tools that, with the advent of artificial intelligence, are now capable of imitating anyone's vocal timbre with different levels of precision, provided you have enough material to learn. Here you can see an advertising video of one of these services in which the cloned voices of Barack Obama, Joe Rogan, Steve Jobs and other famous personalities are imitated. Generally, the more audio material the AI can train on, the better the end result will be.
Navalny's mother certainly does not have a strong online presence like that of the characters used in the ad. And indeed, there are traces in the audio of Navalny's mother. The voice changes in volume and tone, taking on a metallic sound.
Compare the voice in the Telegram message broadcasting the fake audio with that in Yulia Navalnaya's tweet. The fake audio:
Conclusions
An alleged audio message in Russian is circulating in which Navalny's mother accuses Yulia Navalnaya of leaving Putin's opponent alone. The transcript of the audio was widely shared on social platforms. In reality, the audio in which Navalny's mother accuses Yulia Navalnaya is fake, most likely generated by artificial intelligence. The veracity of the audio was denied by the same Russian channels that shared it. It is true that Navalnaya has not visited Navalny as of 2022, but only because if she went to Russia she would be arrested.
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