A screenshot of a news bulletin purportedly telecast by the ‘CNN’ news channel is being shared on social media claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin had threatened India not to interfere in their ongoing conflict with Ukraine. The purported ‘CNN’ graphic features Putin’s picture with a quote, “Putin’s New Punch Line: India Should not Interfere, otherwise be ready to face the consequences”. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Russia threatened India not to interfere in their ongoing dispute with Ukraine.
Fact: The image shared in the post shows an edited version of an old ‘CNN’ news report published in November 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin did not make any such statement threatening India not to intervene in their ongoing dispute with Ukraine. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the screenshot shared in the post, similar graphic visuals were found in a video published by the ‘CNN’ news channel in November 2019. ‘CNN’ published this video with the title, “Russian interference in U.S. elections now comedy fodder for Kremlin”. The original ‘CNN’ graphic features Vladimir Putin’s picture with a statement, “Putin’s New Punch Line: Top Russian official jokes about interfering in US Elections in 2020”.
‘CNN’ journalist Jake Tapper had tweeted this news report on 13 November 2019. On comparing the visuals, it can be confirmed that the image shared in the post shows an edited version of the old ‘CNN’ news report published on Russia’s involvement in the 2020 US Elections.
Amid the ongoing dispute with Ukraine, Russia threatened the US and other western countries that they will face consequences never seen in history if they intervene in their conflict with Ukraine. But neither Vladimir Putin nor the Russian Government had made any provocative statements against India in their ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
To sum it up, a morphed ‘CNN’ news bulletin screenshot is shared as evidence of Russian President Vladimir Putin having threatened India not to interfere in their ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
