Old, unrelated clips shared as recent footage of Russian ships entering Red Sea

By: Rohith Gutta
April 8 2024

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Screenshot of a social media post claiming that the video shows Russian naval fleet entering the Red Sea. (Source: TikTok/Modified by Logically Facts)

What is the claim?

A video of ships entering what appears to be high seas is being shared on social media platforms with the claim that it shows visuals of the Russian naval fleet entering the Red Sea. This video is interspersed with photos of Putin and people who appear to be Russian military officers. Archived versions of posts sharing the video can be accessed here, here, and here.

Screenshot of a viral social media post. (Source: TikTok/Modified by Logically Facts)

These visuals are being shared in the context of the Russian naval fleet entering the Red Sea to deal with Houthi rebels after the rebels attacked Russian ships in retaliation to Israel’s military action in Gaza, as reported by Bloomberg. 

However, old videos have been stitched together and shared with the misleading claim that they show Russia’s recent maneuvers in the Red Sea.

What did we find?

Several clips from videos captured at different periods have been put together to create the viral footage. For convenience, we have broken down the viral video into six parts.

Part 1

The first clip, which runs for the first two seconds in the viral video, shows four helicopters hovering over a vessel at sea while another vessel is tethered to the banks.

A reverse-image search of the keyframes led us to a video uploaded by CNN on September 9, 2016. The video report, a live broadcast from Crimea, mentions that these are visuals of Russia’s military drill in Crimea, which it had occupied two years earlier. We can see the now-viral visuals in this CNN video running from 0:09 to the 0:11 timestamp. 

Part 2

This clip runs from the 0:02 mark to the 0:05 timestamp in the viral video, showing three helicopters hovering around two vessels sailing parallelly. 

A reverse image search of these frames led us to a video uploaded by the Ministry of Defense, Russin Federation, on November 27, 2016, on YouTube. The video description says this shows footage of Marine’s Day celebrations held the same day. It further says that Marine’s Day is celebrated every year on November 27. The now-viral visuals can be spotted in this video around the 0:06 timestamp. 

Part 3

This part runs from the 0:06 timestamp of the viral video. It shows two ships coming from the opposite direction while appearing to be videographed from a third distant ship. These visuals are repeated near the 00:21 timestamp in the viral video.

A reverse image search of these frames led us to a 2:21-second video uploaded by the Ministry of Defence, Russian Federation, on October 23, 2021, on X (formerly Twitter). The post's description says this is a video of a joint naval patrol by the Russian Federation and People's Republic of China (PRC) warships in the Western Pacific region conducted between October 17-23, 2021, for the first time. In this video, we can spot the Russian and Chinese flags on the ships. The viral clip can be spotted between the 0:01 and the 00:08 timestamps in this video.

Part 4

This part runs around the 0:09 mark of the viral video for two seconds. This clip is of a single vessel traveling an expanse of what appears to be high seas. We found that this video, too, is from the 2021 video uploaded by the Russian defense ministry, of the joint naval patrol by Russia and China. The now-viral visuals can be spotted from the 01:35 mark. 

Part 5

This part runs from the 00:11 to the 00:13 timestamp of the viral video and also shows a series of ships traveling in a row on what appears to be the high seas. These visuals are repeated around the 00:30 timestamp. We found that this footage is, too, from the 2021 Russia-China joint naval patrol in the Western Pacific region and runs between the 1:10 and 01:18 mark in this video.

Part 6

This part runs around the 0:13 timestamp of the viral video. The clip shows a single big vessel traveling in open waters, and this footage is also taken from the 2021 joint patrol conducted by Russia and China. The viral visuals can be spotted near the 01:18 mark here. 

The verdict

Old clips of naval exercises conducted by Russian ships have been clubbed together to claim they show Russian vessels entering the Red Sea in March 2024. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.