Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
Amid reports of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s poor health since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, news footage claiming that Vladimir Putin is healthy and visiting the BRICS international summit in South Africa is going viral on social media. The video shows Putin’s delegation arriving at an airport and being escorted to a convoy. Newschecker found the news footage to be from 2018, shared as recent.
The video has been shared on Facebook by user Ipob Filipina who has 4,700 friends and 6,739 followers on the platform. The video of the news footage has garnered 82 shares and 46 likes and has been shared along with the caption ‘PRESIDENT PUTIN VISITED SOUTH AFRICA’.
Newschecker found similar claims along with similar captions on Facebook.
Fact Check /Verification
We started our investigation by conducting a reverse image search on the key-frames of the video and found a longer version of the video uploaded on Youtube on 26th July, 2018 on the official channel of SABC.
According to the video, Vladimir Putin was visiting the 10th BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg in South Africa in 2018. Putin attended the gathering along with the leaders of the other member states.
BRICS is an alliance of states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Upon conducting a keyword search with the words “BRICS 2022”, Newschecker found an article by the Business Standard uploaded on 23rd June, 2022. According to the article the five participating nations, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa met virtually earlier this year in Beijing, China, for the 14th meeting of the summit.
The last offline BRICS Summit was the 11th BRICS Summit held in Brazil in 2019, which was attended by Vladmir Putin and PM Narendra Modi among others. A press release of the event can be seen here.
A press release by the Prime Minister’s Office dated June 24, 2022, confirming PM Narendra Modi’s participation in the 14th BRICS Summit can be read here.
Conclusion
Newschecker’s investigation reveals that news footage from the BRICS Summit from 2018 where Vladimir Putin had visited is being shared as a recent video of Putin visiting South Africa.
Result: Missing Context
Our Sources
Youtube video by SABC Youtube channel on 26th July, 2018
Business Standard report, 14th BRICS summit to review current global issues, reach key agreements, 23rd June, 2022
Tweet by BRICS_10 on 26th July, 2018
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
