Did Russia offer sanctuary to California residents who lost their homes in the Los Angeles fires? A viral X post by Jackson Hinkle—a regular purveyor of Russia-related misinformation—claims so.
“BREAKING: RUSSIA has offered shelter & sanctuary to Californians whose livelihoods were DESTROYED in the LA wildfires,” reads the post, which had more than 500,000 views on X as of January 15. Included with the post are images of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a burning building.
The Russian goverment has made no such offer. A single Russian governor said that he would welcome California fire victims to the region of occupied Ukraine he oversees, but only if they don’t support the government in Kyiv.
On Monday, Vladimir Saldo, the governor of the Russian-occupied Kherson oblast region of Ukraine, told TASS—a Russian state-controlled media outlet—that the region would accept any Americans who lost their homes in this month’s California fires. “Despite the ongoing, blatantly anti-Russian policy of the United States, we fully understand that natural disasters don’t care who you are or what you do,” Saldo said, according to Russia Today, a Russian state-controlled network that translated the statement into English. “The California fires have left many ordinary residents homeless. Therefore, our region is ready to welcome any American citizen who has lost their home and livelihood.”
That offer comes with a caveat, applying only to Californians who haven’t supported Ukraine since Russia invaded its borders in February 2022. “Naturally, this applies only to those who have not financed the Ukrainian army or supported the current Kiev regime, which has caused far more civilian casualties through its actions than the fires in LA,” he reportedly said.
Russia has made similar offers to foreigners in the past. Last August, Putin signed a decree allowing foreigners who reject the “destructive neoliberal ideological attitudes” of their home countries to apply for temporary visas to live in Russia.
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