Video of military band from Uzbekistan shared as Russian troops dancing prior to war.

As tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine, a video is circulating in social media. In the video people with military uniform are dancing. It is claimed that the video shows Russian soldiers dance in preparation for war

However, Fact Crescendo found the claim to be false. The video is from Uzbekistan and has no connection with current war situation between Russia and Ukraine. 

Viral Post on Social Media:

The viral video along with the claim can be seen below. The video of troops performing a kind of military dance is being claimed to be of Russian troops boosting their morale before commencement of war with Ukraine. Over the last few months, there have been tensions after Russia deployed thousands of its troops on their border with neighbouring Ukraine. Russia was upset with Ukraine over its decision to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance led by the United States of America (USA). Thus, the whole situation became a reason of confrontation between the USA and the Russian Federation. To know more about the situation, please read this explainer.

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Is this video related to the current situation between Russia and Ukraine? Let us find out.

Fact Check- 

First, we divided the viral video into different key frames. After that we did Google Reverse Image search of these key frames. We found the same video uploaded on a YouTube channel “Satellite in Russia” on 26^th April 2018. The caption with the video says, “In honour of the upcoming Day of Memory and Honour, a musical and patriotic action of the Ministry of Defence of Uzbekistan is being held in the Tashkent metro. Military musicians, dressed in soldier’s uniforms, perform songs of the Great Patriotic War.”

After closely watching the above video, we saw a portrait on the wall. After running various keywords, we found the image of same portrait in Alamy website. The caption with the image says that the portrait is of Alisher Navoi who was one of the founders of Uzbek poetic tradition at the Tashkent underground Metro in Uzbekistan. 

Embassy of Uzbekistan also mentioned on its website that on the occasion of Memory and Honor Day, military-patriotic campaigns were organized by Ministry of Defense on all lines of Tashkent Metro.  Uzbekistan which was a part of the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or simply the Soviet Union, celebrates May 9^th as Memory and Honor day to remember the contribution of the country in the Second World War. The defeat of the Axis powers by USSR had decisively turned the second world war in the favour of the Allied Forces. Gulkin University’s website claims that, “During the difficult years of the war, the country (Uzbekistan) lost more than 450,000 sons”.

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found the claim made about the viral video to be false. The video is from Uzbekistan and has no connection with current tensions between Russia and Ukraine.