Numerous Chinese-language posts across social media platforms are spreading a narrative that the Russian president has allowed his son to fight in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
A video is going around on social media which allegedly shows Russian President Vladimir Putin sending his son to the front line in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
The Chinese-language post on X says that, just like China’s Chairman Mao Zedong before him, Putin has sent his son off to war, in an act which shows he’s truly defending his country.
The leaders of the supposed “aggressor countries” meanwhile just hide their children away, according to the post.
The video attached shows Putin pinning a medal to the shirt of a young man in a military uniform, before shaking his hand.
There are lots of other posts across social media such as TikTok, Facebook and X making similar claims about Putin’s supposed son being sent to war, almost all of them in Chinese.
They’re completely misleading, however, as the video has been miscaptioned.
The only true thing is the reference to Mao: he did 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 of a frame from the video takes us to photos of Putin posing with the same man at the same event, revealing his true identity.
This photo from the Russian outlet Ria Novosti Mediabank for example names the man as Senior Lieutenant Stepan Belov.
The video and photo depict Putin awarding him the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, at a ceremony in December 2022 dedicated to presenting awards to outstanding Russians in various fields.
The Kremlin also posted a video of the same event on its website, naming Belov in the same way.
Various news reports and websites state that Belov was born in 1996 in Oktyabrsky, in the Republic of Bashkortostan.
EuroVerify has been unable to ascertain if he has any personal links to Putin, but there’s no evidence out there that he’s his son.
Putin’s family is largely shrouded in mystery, but he has previously confirmed that he has two daughters.
Katerina Tikhonova and Maria Vorontsova were targeted by US, UK and EU sanctions in 2022 in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
There have long been media reports that Putin has additional secret children from previous marriages and extramarital affairs, none of which have been confirmed.
