By: Ishita Goel J
December 4 2023
Speech made by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Victory Day Parade in 2021 has been wrongly linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
What is the claim?
A short clip of Vladimir Putin speaking from a podium has been shared with the claim that the Russian President announced support for Palestine. The video shows military personnel saying, "Hurrah, hurrah!" after Putin's remarks. The text "Putin Announced Russia Will Openly Help To Palestine (sic)" has been overlaid on the video (archived here). Various users shared the video on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook (archived here and here) with the caption, "Vladimir putin announced Russia will openly help to Palestine, No one can stop us (sic)…"
Screenshots of the viral posts on X and Facebook. (Source: Facebook/X/Modified by Logically Facts)
What are the facts?
We found that Putin did not say anything signifying Russia's support for Palestine in the short viral clip. Logically Facts translated Putin's remarks made in the speech captured in the short clip. The Russian President had said, "Glory to the victorious nation! Congratulations! Congratulations on the Great Victory Day!" He made no reference to Palestine in the speech originally delivered in Russian.
Through reverse image search, we found that the clip is from the Victory Day Parade held on May 9, 2021, in Moscow. On its YouTube page, Komsomolskaya Pravda, a Russian newspaper, had posted a longer version of the viral video on May 9, 2021. According to the description, the video showed the celebration of the 76th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, which traditionally takes place in the famous Red Square of Moscow every year to commemorate the occasion. The viral clip runs from the 37:05 mark to the 37:21 timestamp of the YouTube video.
Further, we found the transcript of Putin's speech from the event published on the President of Russia's website on May 9, 2021. On reading the transcript, it can be noted that Putin didn't mention Palestine or anything about providing any support to its people. There is also no mention of any entities relating to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Logically Facts has previously debunked social media posts falsely claiming that Putin warned the U.S. against interfering in the Israel-Hamas conflict that started in early October.
The verdict
An old video of Putin has been shared with false context, claiming he announced Russia's support for Palestine. Putin was speaking at a Victory Day Parade held in 2021. Therefore, we mark the claim false.