Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived for a two-day visit to India and received a warm welcome from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Against this backdrop, a video showing fighter jets guarding Vladimir Putin’s aircraft went viral on social media. Sharing the video, users claimed that the video shows IAF jets escorting President Putin’s aircraft through the Indian skies. A user wrote, “Indian Air Force fighter jets escorted President Putin’s plane through Indian skies. A glorious symbol of trust, partnership and decades-old friendship.
India-Russia relations have stood the test of time, from the 1950s to defence, space, energy and strategic partnership.
Today’s moment shows that the partnership between the two countries not only has a history but also a future.
Long live India-Russia friendship.”
Facebook Link | Archived Link.
However, as we investigated, we came to know that the claim was false. The video is old and unrelated to Putin’s visit to India. Here’s the fact check.
Fact Check
We started our investigation by taking screenshots from the viral video and conducting a reverse image search. This led us to a YouTube channel where a video similar to the viral video was uploaded on 25 December 2017.
The description of the video read, “Vladimir Putin and the presidential plane accompanying him”
This makes it clear that the viral video is old.
Moving forward, we found a report published on December 17, 2017, that contained an image similar to the screenshots from the viral video.
According to the report, the video shows the SU-30 fighter plane escorting President Putin’s plane in Syria.
The video credit was given to the Russian state-controlled international news network RT
Please read here.
Taking this clue, using relevant keywords, we found the video uploaded on the X handle of RT on December 12, 2017.
The tweet read, “Watch footage of #Putin looking on as a #SU30SM fighter jet escorts his presidential plane during his recent trip to #Syria”
A report published on the RT website on December 11, 2017 read, “Everyone is fascinated by watching another plane in full flight from a window seat, and it looks like the Russian president is no exception.
As Vladimir Putin prepared to land at Khmeimim air base in western Syria for an unannounced visit – his first to Syria – he was met by an escort of Su-30 fighter jets, and craned his neck to get a better look from inside his plane. The base has been a hub for Russia’s military operations in Syria for the past two years.”
Other similar videos can be seen here and here.
This makes it clear that the viral video is old.
Conclusion
From our investigation, we can say that the claim is false. The viral video doesn’t show IAF jets escorting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aircraft through the Indian skies. The video is old. It shows the Russian fighter jets escorting President Putin’s plane during his visit to Syria in December 2017.
Title:Old Video Of Fighter Jets Escorting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Aircraft Going Viral Linking To His India Visit.
Fact Check By: Debanjana BaishyaResult: False
