Video of Russian figure skater Ivan Bukin is being shared with a false narrative - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 23, 2023
A social media post accompanying a video of an ice-skating performance, reportedly performed in the World Figure Skating Championships, held in Helsinki is being widely shared with a claim that the male dancer seen in the video is Babo, and he is blind since childhood. The post further elaborates that his mother died in the same fire accident which left him blind. Through this article let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Visuals of a blind ice skater’s performance.
Fact: The viral visuals are extracted from the 2017 ISU World Figure Skating Championships footage, available on YouTube. The original footage clearly identifies the viral dancers as Russian figure skaters Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. The male dancer Ivan Bukin is not blind and there are no reports claiming that he met with any fire accident in his childhood as claimed in the viral post.  Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The male dancer seen in the viral video is not Babo but Russian ice-skater Ivan Bukin, and he is not blind. Upon observation of the viral video, we can see boards saying ‘2017 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, Helsinki, Finland’. Taking a cue from this, an internet search with relevant keywords led us to a lengthier version of the viral video on the official YouTube channel of International Skating Union.
According to the description associated with the video on YouTube, the visuals are from 2017 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, held in Helsinki. Further the video identifies the viral couple as Russian figure skaters Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin.
Comparison of few screenshots of the viral video with that of video posted on YouTube channel of International Skating Union establishes that the viral video excerpt is extracted from this YouTube video. Further, there are no reports mentioning he is blind and attributing any fire accident incident as claimed in the viral post to Ivan Bukin.
Some interviews and performances of Ivan Bukin can be seen here, here, and here. Even his body language in these videos clearly suggests that he is not blind.
To sum it up, video of Russian figure skater Ivan Bukin is being shared with false information.