AI-generated video falsely claims Putin called Dr. Yunus government illegal
“A false mass uprising has been staged in Bangladesh, militant forces have destabilized the country, and Dr. Yunus has formed an illegal government and taken power.” A video with these claims, with the face and appearance of Russian President Vladimir Putin, recently spread on Facebook. However, Dismislab’s fact-check shows the video was created using artificial intelligence.
In the circulated video, Putin is heard saying, “We have strict surveillance on Bangladesh. We’ve learnt that a false uprising has been staged in Bangladesh. In the name of the entire student movement, Bangladesh’s militant forces have destabilized the country. We have learnt that Dr. Yunus is sitting in power by forming an illegal government. In short, we wanna see a free, fair and participatory election in Bangladesh with the participation of all parties.”
The caption of the post made the same claim. One user commented, “What is done is done. If the President of Russia, Dadavai, reinstates the registration, the Awami League can hold the election. The election will take place on time. Make sure no one stages a militant drama again. Muslims around the world trust you. You harm no one. Bengal’s tiger.” Another wrote, “We are requesting your help, sir. Yunus’ forces are destroying Bangladesh.” The post has been viewed by more than 1,50,000 users and shared more than 3,000 times.
Verification shows that the real voice and speech pattern of Vladimir Putin do not match the voice heard in the video. A reverse image search of the video’s key frames shows that Putin’s image and the background match his photo on Wikipedia. Also, no news outlet has reported any such statement from Putin about Bangladesh.
Further checks using the AI content detection tool Hive Moderation also indicate a high likelihood that the video was created with AI.
Therefore, the video is not real. An old photo of Putin was used to generate the video with artificial intelligence.
