Russian President Vladimir Putin was reported to have been arrested after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him over war crimes in Ukraine. A slew of images on social media showing Putin being detained has gone viral on social media. However, it must be noted that the pictures that have gone viral showing him being arrested are fake.
The latest pictures come days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 17, issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of abducting Ukrainian children and transporting them to Russia. ALSO READ | FACT CHECK! Modi Government To Give Free Recharge Under 'Free Mobile Recharge Scheme'? PIB Refutes The Claims; Here’s The Truth
The Russian leader could risk arrest if he travelled to any of the court’s 123 member countries. However, the fake claims appear to have flouted the internet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin could be arrested on war crimes charges after a warrant was recently issued by the International Criminal Court. But online images showing the Russian president being arrested are fake. https://t.co/TMYb5PzFGz
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) March 29, 2023
"Putin has been arrested. Breaking news," read the caption of a March 26 Facebook post. The post featured a video with three images of Putin being arrested and another of him sitting in a prison cell.
The artificially generated photos are being used by netizens on social media to falsely claim the president’s arrest. PolitiFact fact-checked the claims in a tweet and wrote, “Russian President Vladimir Putin could be arrested on war crimes charges after a warrant was recently issued by the International Criminal Court. But online images showing the Russian president being arrested are fake.”
The images also included a watermark of a user, which was traced to a TikTok video from March 22. The user wrote, "funny picture" next to the video, adding three laughing emojis.
The pictures were red-flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its NewsFeed.
Putin’s arrest would ultimately generate widespread news coverage, and there has been no news reports about the alleged event. ALSO READ | EXPOSED! Vivek Agnihotri LASHES Out At Fact-Checkers For Revealing The Truth Behind The Kashmir Files Winning The Dadasaheb Phalke Award
Meanwhile, according to the Russian government website, Putin is moving ahead with business as usual.
Image Source: Twitter