Did the Russian cities of Vyborg, Petrozavodsk, and Murmansk determine with an awesome majority vote to go away Russia and be part of Finland? No, that is not true: This fictional multipart story is illustrated with an AI-generated picture of “unidentified militants” and a fictional map of “Higher Finland”. The faux information narrative is a twist on an thought from the early 1900s concerning the growth of Finland’s borders. On the finish of the thread the creator admitted that it was not true, saying that it was alarming folks fell for it.
The made-up story appeared in a thread (archived right here) revealed on X on Oct. 7, 2025 by @TallbarFIN. The publish was captioned:
BREAKING!
Unidentified militants took over administrative buildings in russian Karelia and Kola peninsula this morning and arranged fast regional elections.
Votes have been solid in Karelia’s Vyborg & Petrozavodsk, and in Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula which selected to hitch Finland.
The picture included with the publish (pictured under) has within the decrease proper nook, a watermark from Grok, the xAI assistant which might produce photographs from prompts:
Picture supply: Lead Tales screenshot from x.com/TallbarFIN/standing/1975456018357457115.
The thread continues with detailed supporting posts together with voting outcomes from three Russian cities, the map of the brand new borders of Finland after the annexation, and the assertion that the Russian army was not anticipated to withstand as a result of all of the troops are in Ukraine. Within the closing publish (archived right here) the creator says:
Quantity of people that truly thought that is true is extremely alarming.
No surprise russian disinformation works so properly😬
Picture supply: Lead Tales screenshot from x.com/TallbarFIN/standing/1975544252693414106.
A Google reverse picture seek for the map included within the thread (archived right here) returns outcomes posted on 4Chan and Reddit . The Google AI overview identifies the map and explains the idea of “Higher Finland”:
This can be a map depicting the idea of “Higher Finland” (Suur-Suomi), a nationalist and irredentist concept that advocates for the growth of Finland’s borders. The map exhibits a bigger Finland that features territories past its present borders. The commonest idea of Higher Finland consists of territories inhabited by Finns and Karelians, extending from the White Sea to Lake Onega and the Gulf of Finland.
The AI abstract seems to have been drawn from the Higher Finland Wikipedia entry.
Picture supply: Lead Tales screenshot from x.com/TallbarFIN/standing/1975456028419629277.
