In the light of the ongoing Russia – Ukraine conflict, a video of Russian President Vladimir Putin avoiding his Presidential motorcade and walking alone is being shared with a claim that the incident happened recently after a press conference. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Recent video of Russian President Putin avoiding his Presidential motorcade and walking alone after a press conference.
Fact: These visuals show a 2013 incident, wherein the Russian President Vladimir Putin walked along the streets of St. Petersburg after attending his Judo coach Anatoly Rakhlin’s farewell ceremony. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
These visuals date back to 2013 and have nothing to do with the current situation. YouTube search with relevant keywords yielded a 2013 news report which reported the same visuals. As per this report, these visuals show Russian President Vladimir Putin walking along the streets of St. Petersburg after attending his Judo coach Anatoly Rakhlin’s farewell ceremony.
Although there are recent reports of Putin making televised statements (here and here) in view of the ongoing military attack on Ukraine, there are no reports of him walking alone in the streets.
To sum it up, old video of Putin walking alone on the streets is passed off as a recent one.
