Gazeta.ru called the Soviet soldier who raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag a "foreign agent"...

Gazeta.ru called the Soviet soldier who raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag a "foreign agent." He was likely confused with a Meduza journalist

The website of the outlet Gazeta.ru labeled Soviet soldier Alexey Kovalyov, who is shown in Yevgeny Khaldei's well-known photo series "Victory Banner over the Reichstag," as a "foreign agent," [Verstka] noticed.

The article in question was published in 2020 and is titled "Banner over the Reichstag: Who Raised the Red Flag" (after this news item was published, the label was removed from the article, but it was preserved in the web archive). It briefly recounts the events that took place during the Battle of Berlin and is devoted to the raising of the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.

"In the well-known photograph by war correspondent Yevgeny Khaldei, however, it is not Berest with Yegorov and Kantaria who are depicted, but soldiers of the 8th Guards Army Alexey Kovalev (recognized in the Russian Federation as a foreign agent), Abdulkhakim Ismailov, and Leonid Gorychev," Gazeta.ru writes.

The same passage of text is also inserted into another article on the outlet's website titled '"I Came Back Alive": How Kantaria Raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag.' In it as well, Kovalyov, a soldier of the 8th Guards Army, is marked as a "foreign agent."

Most likely, Gazeta.ru's website confused journalist and former head of Meduza's investigations department Alexey Kovalyov, who was declared a "foreign agent" on December 27, 2024, and soldier Kovalyov. Apparently, this kind of labeling on the outlet's website happens automatically after a person is added to the "foreign agents" list.

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