Claim 1: Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad died in a plane crash. Claim 2: A video shows the ousted president’s plane engulfed in flames after a crash. Fact 1: Assad did not die in a plane crash. Instead, he was granted asylum in Russia, along with his family, on humanitarian grounds, news reports confirmed on […]
Claim: Russian President Vladimir Putin posted a video on X saying that countries would choose sides after World War III starts. Fact: The now-deleted X account was a Putin parody account. Further, the video with the post has been shared out of context. On 14 April, X user @Brics_Dolllar, a verified parody account of Putin […]
Claim: A video shows that Imran Khan decided against standing up for Benjamin Netanyahu as he entered the room at an international summit. Fact: Netanyahu never attended the SCO CHS meeting, which took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in June 2019, since Israel is not a part of the organisation. The claim that Khan did not […]
Claim: A photo shows Russian President Vladimir Putin reading a book by Imran Khan titled ‘Pakistan: A Personal History’. Fact: The photo is doctored. In the actual photo from June 2016, Putin can be seen reading a different book. Fact or Fiction? On 6 January 2023, a social media user Mahnoor Malik, shared a photo […]
Claim: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin refused to meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2022. Fact: There is no truth to the claims as Vladimir Putin and Shehbaz Sharif met on the sidelines of the SCO Summit 2022 on 15 September 2022. Photos and videos from the two leaders’ […]
Claim: A photo being shared on social media shows Russian President Vladimir Putin watching the news of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) victory in the recent by-elections in Punjab, Pakistan. Fact: The photo doing the rounds on social media is doctored. It is actually from 26 January 2022 when Putin held a meeting with […]
Claim: An image is being shared on social media with the claim that it shows an anti-US protest staged in Russia in support of ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan. Fact: The image is doctored. The photo is in fact of a 2021 protest in the Russian capital Moscow against the detention of opposition leader Alexei Navalny. […]
Claim: Russian model who criticised President Vladimir Putin in January 2021 on social media has been found dead. Her remains were found in a suitcase on 13 March 2022. Fact: Model Gretta Vedler has been found dead a year after she went missing following her anti-Putin remarks on social media. Her death does not appear […]
Claim: Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to embarrass a Japanese delegation by bringing his dog to a recent official meeting. Fact: The video is not recent but from 2016, showing Putin meeting two Japanese journalists along with his dog at the Kremlin. Fact or Fiction? On 11 March 2022, Facebook user Imran Lashkarani shared a […]
Claim: Photos depict French President Emmanuel Macron after an 8 March 2022 call with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the invasion of Ukraine. Fact: The photos do depict Emmanuel Macron but were not taken on 8 March 2022. Fact or Fiction? On 8 March 2022, Visegrád 24 tweeted photos of French President Emmanuel Macron, claiming […]
Claim: Russian President Vladimir Putin told the media that he would “visit Pakistan to sign a major oil pipeline deal”. Fact: Vladimir Putin did not tell the media he will visit Pakistan to sign an oil pipeline deal. Fact vs Fiction On 27 February, a video of Vladimir Putin speaking to the press in Russian […]
Claim: A photo shows former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Sehar Kamran alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fact: Kamran is not currently in Russia. While Kamran did take a selfie with Putin in 2018, a doctored photo of the two is currently going viral. On 23 February 2022, Twitter user @Zakr1a shared a photo of […]