No, there is no 'official statement' about Putin being assassinated | Fact check
The claim: An ‘official statement’ declares Putin was assassinated
An Aug. 19 YouTube video shows footage of Russian President Vladimir Putin at meetings and events along with various clips from the war in Ukraine.
"Official Statement: Putin Assassinated in the Kremlin! Russian President Hospitalized!" reads the video's title and caption.
A version of the video was posted on Facebook and shared more than 100 times before it was deleted.
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Our rating: False
There is no statement from the Kremlin, the White House or any other official source that claims Putin has been assassinated.
Putin alive, attending international event virtually
There are no statements from the Kremlin or the White House announcing that Putin was killed. There are likewise no credible news reports about such a development.
Rather, Putin is alive and has been conducting domestic government business, according to an Aug. 21 press release from the Kremlin.
The Kremlin also stated the Russian leader would be appearing via video conference at the BRICS international summit. BRICS, the economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is meeting in South Africa from Aug. 22-24.
Putin's recorded remarks were shared at the summit on Aug. 22.
He opted out of attending the summit in person due to a standing arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court over his alleged role in the abduction of children from Ukraine.
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The YouTube video itself doesn’t mention anything about an assassination. Instead, the 25-minute video claims Putin has lost the support of his allies, the Russian military and others.
It’s similar to other videos that Paste BN has debunked that pair false captions with videos of politicians or cable news programming, a type of misinformation known as "false framing." Experts say it is effective since many users watch the videos on social media with the sound off and don’t realize the caption doesn’t match the audio track.
Paste BN reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
- Kremlin, Aug. 21, Meeting with Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov
- International Criminal Court, accessed Aug. 21, About the Court
- International Criminal Court, March 17, Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova
- Reuters, Aug. 18, BRICS summit 2023: Dates, who's attending and what's on the agenda?
- Reuters, Aug. 22, Putin says BRICS works for 'global majority'
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