(Editor’s note: Video featured in this article contains offensive language)
A clip has been circulating online purporting to show Russian television presenter Vladimir Solovyov complaining that he had been drafted into the Russian army following President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization order. The subtitles printed on the clip are fabricated, however and appear to have been created by a satirical profile.
The clip appears to be footage from the Russian show ‘60 Minutes,’ with subtitles printed across the lower-third of the video (here).
The first section of subtitles reads: “This man comes to my door and gives me mobilization papers. I tell him, “What’s your problem? What’s your problem? You know who I am? He tells me “You’re on the list. Here’s your contract.”
Although some were aware of the satirical nature of the subtitles, others were duped into thinking that the subtitles were authentic.
One individual shared the clip via Twitter and said: “Wow Ruzzian state TV... Gets real” (here). Other examples of the footage with fabricated subtitles can be found (here), (here) and (here).
The subtitles are fabricated, however.
In reality, Solovyov and Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia Today, can then be heard discussing ways to raise morale for troops, such as improving the offer to volunteers.
Solovyov is heard saying: “Now see what conditions there are for people who fall under the partial mobilization? Make the same conditions for volunteers! You’d have even more volunteers! Because, for them: a credit for vacation days, for them, guaranteeing their jobs, which is a problem for volunteers. For them: the same salaries as contract soldiers.”
The account ‘RealSubtitles,’ where the clip appears to have stemmed from, has a description that clearly notates that the account is satirical: “We do our part, one meme at the time” (archive.is/wip/5Txv3). The profile routinely prints false, satirical subtitles onto Russian news reports.
Reuters contacted the account on Twitter but did not immediately hear back.
VERDICT
Satire. The clip doesn’t show a Russian news anchor complaining about being drafted into the army and instead, fabricated subtitles were burned onto the clip.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.
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