Old, unrelated video shared as Putin traveling to the funeral of Iran's President Raisi

By: Emmi Kivi
May 23 2024

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Source: X/Facebook/TikTok/Modified by Logically Facts

Context

The funeral ceremonies of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi commenced on May 21, a few days after the deadly helicopter crash near the country's border with Azerbaijan. The ceremonies are scheduled to last several days and began in Tabriz, the largest city in Iran's northwestern East Azerbaijan province, where the helicopter crashed. 

A video of Russia's President Vladimir Putin supposedly traveling to Iran for the funeral was circulated on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. The video shows Putin on board a plane, glancing through the window at the fighter jets escorting him. 

A post on X (formerly Twitter) that picked up more than 845,000 views shared the video with the caption, "Update: Russian President Putin travels to Iran on Thursday for Raisi funeral. Putin's jet will be escorted with 4 Russian Sukhoi 35 flight jets all the way to and from Tehran!" 

Other online users shared the video to speculate that, "Rumors Are Circulating That They Are Planning To Assassinate Vladimir Putin As He Travelz By Plane To The Funeral of The Presidentog of Iran."

However, Logically Facts found that the video dates back to 2017 and is unrelated to the funeral of the Iranian president.

In fact

A reverse image search of some of the video's key frames led us to multiple results dating back to December 2017. They included a post on X (formerly Twitter) with similar visuals to the viral footage by RT, a state-controlled Russian media and news network. The post, published on December 12, 2017, was shared with the caption, "Watch footage of Putin looking on as a SU30SM fighter jet escorts his presidential plane during a recent trip to Syria." 

The viral clips appear to show footage from Ruptly, a subsidiary of RT. With these added clues, we found extended footage of the viral clip published on YouTube and by ScanNews. The visuals of these videos published in December 2017 match those of the viral clip. 

ScanNews video, published on December 12, 2017, with matching footage to the viral claim. (Source: Facebook)

According to Russian media, Putin visited the Khmeimim airbase in western Syria on December 11, 2017, before visiting Cairo, Egypt.

During the visit, Putin met the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, and ordered the withdrawal of the Russian military group from Syria back to their permanent bases.

The Chairman of Russia's State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, will be attending the funeral of the Iranian president, according to a transcript issued by the Kremlin on May 21. In the transcript, President Putin stated to Volodin, "President Raisi's death is truly a great loss, first of all, for Iran and the Iranian people. Please convey my sincere condolences in connection with this tragedy." 

On May 21, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that a Russian delegation would not attend the funeral ceremony for the Iranian president as an international presence had not been envisioned.

After reports of Raisi's deadly helicopter crash, Logically Facts has covered and refuted multiple accounts of unfounded speculation, misattributed footage, and false claims across social media platforms.

The verdict

The video does not show Vladimir Putin traveling to Iran for President Raisi's funeral. The footage was captured in 2017 and shows Putin flying to the Khmeimim air base in western Syria. According to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral. Therefore, we marked the claim as false.