Authors
Preeksha is a journalism graduate interested in exploring and working on the phenomenon of fake news globally. She desires to work on compelling stories that employ digital journalism to bring forth narratives that matter. She is also a budding researcher, studying the COVID-19 infodemic as a research fellow with the Institute of Economic Growth.
International efforts to de-escalate tensions amid the ensuing war between Russia and Ukraine are underway.
The international community is putting pressure on Russia, from blocking it from the international SWIFT banking system to the UN Security Council’s recent emergency call for a session on the issue.
Meanwhile, misinformation and disinformation regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine are exploding on social media sites.
Newschecker has fact checked many of these claims which can be found here.
Did Putin warn India?
One such image has recently made its way onto social media alleging that Russia’s President Putin has “warned India” against interfering or be ready to face consequences. The claim is being supported using an alleged screenshot of news channel CNN’s coverage of the same.
The users have accompanied their posts with captions like “Day Before Yesterday #Modi had long conversation ( 25 minutes ) with #Putin and the result ”.
The caption hints at the ensuing Ukraine-Russia conflict regarding which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had spoken with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the country’s support on February 26, 2022.
The posts on Facebook accompanied with an image that looks like it has been taken from a news broadcast on CNN and it reads- ‘India Should not interfere, otherwise be ready to face the consequences’.
Screenshot of post by Facebook user ‘Dheeraj Bharti’
The post is being widely shared on Facebook. Some of these posts can be found here, here and here.
Factcheck/Verification
To investigate the veracity of the image in question, we conducted a reverse image search of the image on Google Images.
This led us to a video uploaded on CNN’s official website with same visuals and the exact same special coverage announcement on the right hand side of the page.
Also Read: Old Photos Of Women Ukrainian Soldiers Shared As New
The other details of the viral image in question—the time stamp seen on the top right, the image of the news presenter, and the image of Putin— also matched the video found on CNN’s website.
This video thumbnail however had one difference from the viral image, which was the text below the line ‘Putin’s New Punchline’.
The original video’s thumbnail on CNN’s website reads ‘TOP RUSSIAN OFFICIAL JOKES ABOUT INTERFERING IN U.S ELECTIONS IN 2020’, whereas the text on the viral image reads ‘India Should not interfere, otherwise be ready to face the consequences’
Further, the original video found on CNN’s website is about a top Russian official joking about the Russian interference in U.S elections and not about the current Ukraine-Russia situation.
The 2 minute 26 seconds long video carries the same caption and visuals as the viral image at the timestamp of 1 minute 11 seconds .
These details confirm that the text in the viral image is edited.
Newschecker also found the same image as on the video thumbnail mentioned above posted by the verified twitter account of ‘The Lead CNN’ on November 13, 2019.
The Lead with Jake Tapper is a show on CNN which covers the day’s top stories around the country and the globe, from politics to money, sports to popular culture, as per their website.
Thus verifying that the screenshot circulating in relation to Putin warning India about the situation in Ukraine is edited.
Result: Manipulated Media/ Altered Photo/Video
Conclusion
The image posted by users on Facebook claiming that Putin warned India against interfering in the ongoing events in Ukraine is edited.
The text in the screenshot has been altered to claim that Russian President Putin has warned India.
Our Sources
CNN’s website- https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2019/11/12/lead-frederik-pleitgen-live-jake-tapper.cnn
Twitter profile of ‘The Lead CNN’- https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/1194389231143178241/photo/1
Visual Queues
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Authors
Preeksha is a journalism graduate interested in exploring and working on the phenomenon of fake news globally. She desires to work on compelling stories that employ digital journalism to bring forth narratives that matter. She is also a budding researcher, studying the COVID-19 infodemic as a research fellow with the Institute of Economic Growth.
