Pakistani propaganda accounts posted a video featuring Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which he can be seen describing India as merely a trading partner and allegedly saying that India is neither a Russian ally nor a superpower whose advice Moscow needs to follow on relations with Ukraine and the USA.
While posting this video, many accounts copy-pasted the same caption stating: “India is our trading partner, nothing more. We supply oil and India pays for it. This commercial relationship does not give India the right to interfere in our foreign policy or advise us on issues involving Russia, Ukraine, United States, or any other country. Sergey Viktorovich”
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Fact Check
DFRAC team found this video to be digitally manipulated. The viral clip falsely portrays Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov making claims that deeply hurt India-Russia relations. However, he made no such remarks in the original video, which was posted on YouTube on 31st October.
In the original footage, Lavrov dismissed claims that President Putin refuses to meet with Ukrainian President @ZelenskyyUa by emphasing that any potential negotiations must address the foundational issues.
Further, other reputed media channels like The Guardian and DWS News provided information and the whole footage of the media briefing by Levrov on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meetings. He addressed reporters at the G20 ministerial meeting in Atlanta, discussing US-Russia relations, upcoming peace talks regarding Ukraine, and international diplomatic responses.
For further analysis, we uploaded the viral video to AI video detection tools to analyse its frames and determine whether the video is manipulated using Artificial Intelligence. Tools like HiveModeration, DetectVideoAi, and AIVideoDetector indicated that the video was AI-manipulated with 99.4%, 72%, and 62% confidence, respectively.
To gather more information about this video’s authenticity, we spoke with Kumar Aniket, an AI expert. In his statement, he said the continuous speech and unusual facial expressions strongly suggest AI alteration.
Conclusion:
The viral video is digitally altered and falsely attributes anti-India remarks about Russia’s foreign policy to Sergey Lavrov.
| Claim Review | Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described India as merely a trading partner and allegedly said that India is neither a Russian ally nor a superpower whose advice Moscow needs to follow on relations with Ukraine and the USA. |
|---|---|
| Claim By | Social media users |
| Fact Check | Misleading claim |
Sources
- Short video posted by @THEMWORLDNEWS on YouTube
- Full video posted by @dwsofficial on YouTube
- Report by The Guardian
- HiveModeration
- DetectVideoAi
- AIVideoDetector
- Kumat Aniket, an AI expert
