Claim: Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to embarrass a Japanese delegation by bringing his dog to a recent official meeting.
Fact: The video is not recent but from 2016, showing Putin meeting two Japanese journalists along with his dog at the Kremlin.
Fact or Fiction?
On 11 March 2022, Facebook user Imran Lashkarani shared a video with an Urdu caption claiming that by meeting a Japanese delegation along with his dog, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a clear message, including through his body language and style of diplomacy, that Japan is just a trained dog of the United States.
The caption of the post also states that signs of embarrassment are evident on the faces of members of the Japanese delegation and Putin’s message is for all the countries presently standing with the United States.
In the three-minute 42-second video clip, Putin can be seen entering a room at the Kremlin along with his dog. The two Japanese men look awkwardly as the dog barks. A camera crew can be seen filming the interaction.
The proliferation of the video with the misleading caption appears linked to Japan’s announcement that it will impose financial sanctions on Russia in connection with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
Multiple pages also picked up the claim, including here, here, here, here and here, among others.
The video was also shared on multiple groups, including here, here, here and here.
Soch Fact Check concluded that the video dates back to 2016 after coming across this video posted by media outlet Euronews on 15 December 2016 on YouTube. The same scenes from the viral video also appear in this shorter video titled, “Putin’s dog gives Japanese journalists an earful.”
Soch Fact Check took screenshots from the viral video mentioned above and compared it with screenshots from the 2016 video. As can be seen in the graphic below, it appears that the location in the videos is the same based on the architecture of the room and the people present.
Other media outlets and agencies including CNN and TASS also reported the meeting in 2016.
CNN’s report notes that Putin brought his dog Yume to an interview with Japanese journalists at the Kremlin in 2016.
The American broadcaster quoted Putin telling the journalists, “You were right to take caution. Yume is a no-nonsense dog. There are many people here, with camcorders running, lights shining and cameras clicking. She is being a guard dog.”
Virality
According to a CrowdTangle analysis conducted by Soch Fact Check, the search term “روسی صدر پیوٹن جاپان” turned up 254 posts on Facebook which received a total of 1,357 interactions over the seven days leading up to 18 March 2022.
On Facebook, among the pages that shared the video, Lyari Walay’s video gained 9,000 views and 248 likes and Islamic Society of Pakistan’s video received 2,500 views and 46 likes.
Meanwhile, Mera shehar’s video is doing 1.13x times better than other similar posts on Facebook with 850 views.
The oldest post in the search period was shared by Imran Lashkarani on 11 March 2022.
The posts published by various pages on Facebook share the same caption, indicating that the caption was reshared word-for-word.
Conclusion: The video in question does not show a recent meeting between President Putin and a Japanese delegation. The meeting took place in 2016 and is not connected in any way to Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine.