Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show An 'Official Statement' Saying That Putin Was 'Assassinated' or 'Hospitalized' in August 2023

Fact Check

  • by: Uliana Malashenko
Fact Check: Video Does NOT Show An 'Official Statement' Saying That Putin Was 'Assassinated' or 'Hospitalized' in August 2023 Not Confirmed

Does a video demonstrate an "official statement" confirming an assassination attempt on Russian president Vladimir Putin? No, that's not true: The clip does not contain any images of such a document, and no credible reports from established media organizations corroborate the claim.

The story appeared in a post published on Facebook on August 20, 2023 (archived here). It stated:

Official Statement- Putin Assassinated in the Kremlin! Russian President Hospitalized!

This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:

image (5).png

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Aug 21 14:29 2023 UTC)

The nearly 26-minute-long video shared on social media did not show any visual evidence supporting the claim. It did not contain any materials from official government websites or scanned copies of the purported statement. Instead, the clip reused archival materials from the frontlines and official events attended by Putin. That was accompanied by a banner placed in the bottom left corner of the video:

Footages are illustration purposes only.

Had the claim been true, it would be front-page news across the globe.

A search for the keywords "Putin," "assassinated" and "hospitalized" across Google News does not generate any relevant results.

The Reuters website showed no articles about it as of August 21, 2023:

Screen Shot 2023-08-21 at 1.40.54 PM.png

(Source: Reuters screenshot taken on Mon Aug 21 17:40:54 2023 UTC)

Meduza, a Russian-language independent outlet operating from Latvia that also maintains the English-language version of its website, didn't say anything about the purported event on August 21, 2023. A search across its website for the phrase "Putin assassinated" led to a July 24, 2023 article about a well-publicized drone attack on the Kremlin. It said that while Russian officials reportedly described the incident as an assassination attempt, Putin wasn't harmed in any way because he was at a different location at the time.

A search for the same words in Russian and Ukrainian across the Unian website, which is a Ukrainian news agency publishing articles in both Russian and Ukrainian, did not return any corroborating results, either.

Results from American government websites only described assassinations of Putin's enemies.

According to the Page Transparency tab, the account that posted the claim is less than a year old. It describes itself as a "gaming video creator," not a journalist, news agency or any credible media outlet:

Screen Shot 2023-08-21 at 1.33.55 PM.png

(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Aug 21 17:33:55 2023 UTC)

Since February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the rumors about supposed assassination attempts on Putin have been persistent on social media. For example, one of the previous widely circulated claims came from an anonymous Telegram channel.

Other Lead Stories fact checks about the war in Ukraine can be found here.

Want to inform others about the accuracy of this story?

See who is sharing it (it might even be your friends...) and leave the link in the comments.:


  Uliana Malashenko

Uliana Malashenko is a New York-based freelance writer and fact checker.

Read more about or contact Uliana Malashenko

About Us

International Fact-Checking Organization EFCSN Meta Third-Party Fact Checker

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

Lead Stories is a:


WhatsApp Tipline

Have a tip or a question? Chat with our friendly robots on WhatsApp!

Add our number +1 (404) 655-4223, follow this link or scan the image below with your phone:

@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Most Read

Most Recent

Share your opinion