Putin’s video digitally edited to claim he called Jesus Black

What is the claim?

A video has been shared on social media claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin said Jesus was Black. The video (archived here) features Putin speaking at a conference, alleging that Russia will proclaim “the guidance of Black Jesus.”

In the video, Putin purportedly states, “From this day forward, let us proclaim our nation under the guidance of Black Jesus, a figure who represents not just a cornerstone of Christian faith but also a symbol of the universal values of love, compassion and brotherhood.” 

We were able to find one iteration of the claim on TikTok using Logically Facts® Accelerate, a tool that enables proactive discovery of fact-check-worthy content on platforms. Archives of such posts can be found here and here.

Screenshot of viral posts. (Source: Instagram/TikTok/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, Logically Facts has found that the audio of the first viral video has been cloned using Artificial Intelligence (AI) over a video of Putin delivering a speech at the Russian Federal Assembly (Russian Parliament).

How did we find out?

The viral video was edited from a Sky News broadcast, and we found the original video on its YouTube channel from an event held on February 29. The video is a livestream of Putin delivering his annual "State of the Nation" address at the Russian parliament. The video includes Putin’s speech translated into English, but in the original video, Putin makes no mention of Jesus. We also found another video of Putin's speech from the same event uploaded by Sky News, and there is no mention of Jesus in it either. We also noted that the viral video's visuals have been slightly modified.

 Comparison between the viral clip and the Sky News video (Source: Instagram/YouTube/Screenshot)

Putin's address is also on the official Kremlin website, and there is no mention of Jesus in the video transcription.

YouTube channel Russian Daily's video included the exact part of Putin’s speech as seen in the viral clip, and Logically Facts found that the original footage shows him talking about developmental programs and strategies for the country in the coming year.

Additionally, we ran the video through itisaar.ai, a deepfake detection tool developed by professors from the Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur. The application classified the viral video as fake. Subsequently, we also ran the transcription text of the viral clip through Hive Moderation, a tool used for detecting AI content, which stated that it was AI-generated. The tool showed that the text contains “99.2 % AI-generated text.”  

The verdict

The audio in the clip has been digitally doctored. Putin has made no such declaration calling Jesus Black. Therefore, we have marked the claim as fake.