A viral video on social media (here, here, and here) claims to show Russian President Vladimir Putin stopping his walk in reverence of the Indian national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana,” which was played. He is seen asking those beside him to stand as well, after which the entire crowd also rose in respect. Let’s verify the truth behind the video in this article.
Claim: The video shows Russian President Putin stopping his walk in reverence of the Indian national anthem, as it was played.
Fact: The video showing Russian President Putin stopping his walk in reverence of the Indian national anthem is edited. In the original footage from the Luzhniki Sports Palace in Moscow on 23–24 September 2011, during the Congress of the All-Russian Political Party “United Russia,” Putin is seen standing while the USSR national anthem was played, not the Indian national anthem. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
A reverse image search of keyframes from the viral video led us to several social media posts (here, here, and here) featuring a smaller version of the same video, but in high resolution, in which the Indian national anthem was not played; instead, the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) anthem was heard.
We observed that at the beginning of this version of the video, a billboard in the background of the stage had (translated from Russian to English) “Congress of the All-Russian Political Party United Russia 23–24 September 2011, Moscow” written on it.
We also noticed that www.1TV.RU is displayed in the bottom-right corner of the video. Taking a clue from this, we conducted a keyword search on Yandex, which led us to a news report (archived) published by 1tv.ru news on 24 September 2011 featuring the full video of the gathering. According to reports, the video is from the Luzhniki Sports Palace in Moscow, Russia. The Congress of the All-Russian Political Party “United Russia” was held there on 23–24 September 2011, where President Dmitry Medvedev proposed Vladimir Putin as the party’s candidate for the 2012 presidential election, while Putin suggested that Medvedev lead the party’s list in the State Duma elections and later take the post of Prime Minister.
We also came across several media reports covering the event, which can be seen here, here, and here.
To sum up, the viral video is edited, and Russian President Putin is seen standing in respect while the USSR national anthem was played, not the Indian national anthem.
