MEA fact-checks Prashant Bhushan after he shares fake video of Russia’s Sergey Lavrov criticising India

The MEA has called out a fake video shared by Prashant Bhushan that falsely showed Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mocking S Jaishankar during a G20 event.
MEA fact-checks Prashant Bhushan for spreading Fake News (Image via X and The Indian Express)

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Tuesday, 3rd November, fact-checked Supreme Court lawyer and former AAP leader Prashant Bhushan after he shared a manipulated video showing Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticising India over internal affairs and oil purchases. Official clarification from the Ministry of External Affairs followed a denial by the Russian Embassy, confirming the clip was entirely fabricated.

Bhushan shared the video on social media, presenting the purported exchange as a “tight slap” on India. However, government fact-checking agencies clarified that the clip had been digitally altered and contained fabricated audio and captions. 

The fake video shared by Bhushan shows Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticising India over internal affairs and oil purchases. The MEA Fact Check unit issued a warning on X, stating, “Fake Alert!!! The video of the Russian Foreign Minister being used in this post is fake!”

The Russian Embassy in New Delhi also called out a social media account named ‘South Asia’ for circulating AI-generated fake content related to India-Russia relations. Urging people not to share such material, the embassy said, “Please stop copying silly AI fakes.”

Prashant Bhushan’s recent ‘bloodshed’ remark and history of peddling fake news

Notably, Prashant Bhushan was recently in the news after making remarks about bloodshed during a discussion on street protests and revolution. During an X Spaces audio discussion on 11th October, the Supreme Court advocate spoke about the possibility of a revolution, saying, “The only way to get back power is revolution.”

He further said in Hindi, “Problem ye hai na ki dekho, aur hamare paas options kya hain? Options toh yehi hain ki bhai hum revolution ke through kuch kara lein. Ab us revolution mein toh bahut khoon kharaba hoega.”

Days later, on 15th October, Bhushan reiterated his position while speaking to reporters and said that the protests were aimed at regime change. “There will definitely be a regime change. We all want a regime change. Is there anything wrong with that?” he said.

Previously, the former AAP leader has also been involved in anti-Hindu Delhi riots. In December, 2019, a secretive meeting was held in a basement in Jangpura involving key accused of the Delhi riots like Yogendra Yadav, Sharjeel Imam, and Umar Khalid to hatch a plan for implementing disruptive ‘Chakka Jams’ at the registered office address of Prashant Bhushan himself. 

The former AAP leader has a history of spreading misinformation through his social media posts. In one instance, he shared a claim that Dev Bhoomi Uttarakhand University would award 50 internal marks to students for attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally. The notice he shared was later found to be fabricated.

In 2023, Bhushan shared a video of a father-daughter duo singing a Bollywood song and falsely claimed that they were from Manipur and belonged to the Kuki and Meitei communities, amid the ethnic violence in the state. He also previously shared a purported news report from a publication called ‘Dainik Ujala’, which claimed that Reliance Jio had purchased cheap phones from China instead of manufacturing them in India. Fact-checks found that the publication and the claims in the report were not genuine.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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