Between February 26, 2022 and March 1, 2022 a video of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin made rounds on Twitter. With subtitles of the zoom recording, president Putin appears quoted to be calling out America’s President Joe Biden for wearing a mask at a Zoom call.
It reads, “first I would like to address the elephant in the room. Why is Joe Biden wearing a mask? Look at him. Like seriously, who wears a mask to a Zoom call?”
Comrade Putin 🤣🤣 speaking to Joe Biden's face, saying his afraid even on Zoom. Why is he wearing a mask. Joe Biden #BidenIsADisgrace Putin & Trump #RussiaUkraine pic.twitter.com/eIAJ6PcsGS
— ThembaTheGhost (@Betsowriter) February 28, 2022
With alternating cuts of both presidents, it goes on to ask whether he is “afraid that we’ll give him COVID via internet connection?”
This 30-second long video doesn’t stop there. The subtitles further read, “when is this guy going to ever get a clue. I mean I am embarrassed for him.”
The video equally circulated on Facebook. However, on Facebook, this Zoom recording was uploaded on April 25, 2021, over a year ago.
Background
For a while now, Russia and the United States have had similar interests in nuclear security, counterterrorism and space exploration. These same nations have also had a longstanding conflict, the worst being the recent Ukrainian invasion by Russia. This according to Reuters was a move president Biden warned against but the Russian government ignored.
Verification
Looking into this video, president Biden was not the only head of state wearing a mask to this summit.
This two-day summit had over 40 world leaders in attendance. Among them was Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. From this video uploaded on YouTube by RT, a Russian state-controlled television network, Putin’s speech addressed efforts it is making in resolving impacts of climate change. He pledged for climate cooperation on cutting coal and petroleum emissions.
He does not raise any comment or concerns about Biden or any other head of state donning a mask at an online meeting as alleged.
Referring to the Kyoto Protocol on the Paris Climate Accord, President Putin held that part of the work being done by Russia is to “stimulate lower consumption of fossil fuels and to regulate their consumption.”
Verdict
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin did NOT call out the US president for wearing a mask to a Zoom call. Subtitles added to this video are DOCTORED.
This story was produced by Africa Uncensored in partnership with Code for Africa with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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