2014 image shared as electricity shortage in Moscow after 'Western sanctions'

What's being claimed?

An image of the Kremlin in darkness is circulating on social media alongside claims it was taken when Moscow faced an electricity shortage due to Western sanctions. One Facebook user shared the image with the caption, "Moscow remains dark due to severe electricity shortage — rosZMI The reason is difficulties in servicing foreign turbines at russian thermal power plants due to Western sanctions (sic)." Archived versions such posts can be found here and here.

Screenshot of the viral image shared online. (Source: Facebook/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim is misleading. The image of the Kremlin is from 2014 and is unrelated to sanctions imposed by Western countries.

Here are the facts

Through a reverse image search, we found the same image on the Russian news website Gazeta, published on March 29, 2014. The caption reads, "A view of the Kremlin during the power outage as part of the Earth Hour event. (Translated from Russian)." It was attributed to TASS, Russia's state-owned media agency. 

Gazeta reported that on March 28, 2014, Moscow and other Russian cities participated in the worldwide "Earth Hour" campaign by turning off their building lights. Every year in March, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) organizes an environmental movement called "Earth Hour" to conserve energy and raise awareness for environmental issues.

Screenshot of the Gazeta article published in March 2024. (Source: Gazeta)

We found other images of the Kremlin building and other buildings during the 2014 Earth Hour event on Getty Images. TASS reported that around 400 buildings and structures were turned off during this campaign. Russia participated in this event for the first time in 2013. Russia did not participate in the event in 2023 as the WWF branch in Moscow was designated as a "Foreign Agent" by the WWF.

Power outages in Russia

In July 2024, the Russian city of Krasnodar faced an electricity outage due to a heatwave. Politico reports that Russia may face electricity disruptions due to cryptocurrency mining — crypto mining is energy-intensive, and mining farms have been using the country's free energy capacity. Russians living overseas frequently utilize cryptocurrency to get around Western sanctions. A draft report by Russian power system operators notes that Russia may face an electricity shortage in the future due to challenges in maintaining imported machinery, like gas turbines for thermal power plants, due to Western sanctions. There are more than 16,000 sanctions on Russia imposed by the U.S., U.K., EU, Canada, Japan, and others since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The verdict

A ten-year-old image of the Kremlin participating in the Earth Hour event was shared with a misleading claim that power was cut due to an electricity shortage. The image is unrelated to sanctions imposed by Western countries.