Does a video show Russian President Vladimir Putin warning Israel to cease attacking Gaza? No, that's not true: The video splices portions of a televised address from June 2023 where Putin spoke about the Wagner mercenary group, prior to the Hamas-Israel conflict in October.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) where it was published by @771111jin on TikTok on Oct. 26, 2023 under the title "강력하게 경고한다" and "이스라엘나 당장 공격 멈춰라 죽고싶지아는면" with Russian and Israeli flag emojis. As translated by Lead Stories staff:
Strongly warning Israel to immediately stop its attack, if (Israel) does not want to die.
It should be noted that the video also includes Chinese text and captions. The translation according to Google Translate says:
WARNING: Put down your weapons immediately
Vicious massacre of innocent people in Gaza
Strong warning to Israel to lay down its arms and immediately stop devouring the land and killing the people of Gaza.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Oct 31 22:59:38 2023 UTC)
Putin has compared Israel's blockade of Gaza to the siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany during World War II, while also saying that Israel had the right to defend itself. He further cautioned that the Israel-Hamas war could spread beyond the Middle East.
However, the TikTok video of Putin's remarks is mistranslated or misinterpreted. The clip can be traced to June 2023, and it does not include any mention of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Putin accused former Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin of treason on June 24, 2023 in a televised address visible on the Kremlin's website following a rebellion staged by the mercenary group. He vowed to "neutralize" the uprising during the address, according to reporting by The Guardian, which also shared a portion of the address on YouTube.
Visible similarities in the June 24, 2023 televised address and the TikTok video include the brown background, the spotted necktie and the distance between Putin and the flag of the President of the Russian Federation.
The Indian Express shared the full address transcribed into English on YouTube on June 24, 2023, which does not show any mention of Israel, Hamas, Gaza or Palestinians regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict. At least four portions of the address can be matched to the TikTok video, but at different timestamps, which indicate that several sections of the televised speech were spliced together.
For example, the audio of Putin at the 1:12-1:18 timestamps of the YouTube video is identical to that of the 1:06-1:13 timestamps of the TikTok video.
Similarly, Putin's remarks at the 2:01-2:08 timestamps of the YouTube video match the 0:51-0:58 timestamps on TikTok as well.
The audio at the 2:09-2:18 and 3:40-3:48 timestamps on YouTube can also be heard at the 0:29-0:36 and 0:20-0:28 timestamps on TikTok, respectively.
