Claim:
Amid the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a screenshot, purportedly of a CNN show, is doing the rounds on social media. The news ticker reads: “India should not interfere, otherwise be ready to face the consequences,” and the quote is attributed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The investigation:
The Hindu did a reverse image search using Google lens, which led us to a CNN web page containing the original clip, which was taken from the show, ‘The Lead with Jake Tapper’, dated November 12, 2019. We compared the clip with the viral post and established that the news ticker had been digitally altered. The original text read, “Top Russian official jokes about interfering in U.S. elections in 2020.” The official being cited was Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister.
We also searched for the image using other tools like Google reverse image search and Yandex, and landed at the same CNN web page containing the original video.
We also checked if there were any news reports about the claim made in the viral post. There were none. In fact, in his first press conference since taking charge as the new Ambassador of Russia, Denis Alipov appreciated India’s position on the Russia-Ukraine crisis at the UN Security Council.
When contacted, Bridget Leininger, Senior Director of Communications at CNN, said, “This screenshot is fake, or doctored by someone else.”
Conclusion:
The image is fake. A clip from a CNN show dating back to 2019 has been morphed to falsely link it to the crisis in Ukraine.
