Numerous messages in Chinese on social networks claim that the Russian president allowed his son to participate in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
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A video circulating on social media reportedly shows Russian President Vladimir Putin sending his son to the front lines in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
The Chinese post on
The leaders of the supposed “aggressor countries”, for their part, are content to hide their children, according to the message.
The attached video shows Vladimir Putin pinning a medal on the shirt of a young man in military uniform, before shaking his hand.
Many other posts on social media such as TikTok, Facebook and X make similar claims about sending Mr. Putin’s supposed son to war, almost all in Chinese.
However, they are completely misleading because the video was poorly subtitled.
The only thing true is the reference to Mao: he actually let his son Mao Anying fight in the Korean War, where he was killed in action by an airstrike in 1950.
A reverse image search on a frame from the video brings us to photos of Putin posing with the same man at the same event, revealing his true identity.
This photo of media russe Ria Novosti Mediabankfor example, refers to the man as the senior lieutenant Stepan Belov.
The video and photo show Mr. Putin awarding him the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, during a ceremony organized in December 2022 to reward outstanding Russians in various fields.
The Kremlin also published on his website a video from the same event, where we see Belov receiving the same title.
Various information and websites indicate that Mr. Belov was born in 1996 in Oktyabrsky, in the Republic of Bashkiria, in eastern Russia.
EuroVerify was unable to determine whether he had any personal ties to the Russian president, but there is no evidence he is his son.
Mr Putin’s family is largely shrouded in mystery, but he has previously confirmed he has two daughters.
Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova were targeted by sanctions American, British and European in 2022, in response to the war led by Moscow in Ukraine.
ADVERTISEMENTThe media have long reported that Vladimir Putin has other secret children from previous marriages and extramarital affairs, but none of this information has ever been proven or confirmed.
