Fabricated news article frames Duterte's arrest as obstacle to Russia-Ukraine ceasefire

"Friends don't abandon friends," reads part of the caption to screenshots of a purported news article shared on Facebook on March 17, 2025.

The screenshots were shared on the verified page of a candidate for May's mid-term elections (archived link).

According to the supposed news report, titled "Putin Refuses Peace Talks Over Duterte's ICC Detention in Ukraine Negotiations", Russian President Vladimir Putin said he "will not sit at a table to discuss peace while a leader who stood with us is shackled by a court that serves Western interests".

An image appearing to show Duterte and Putin shaking hands accompanies the purported article, which is followed by a Wikipedia entry for its supposed author.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post, captured on March 27, 2025

The post circulated after Duterte was arrested and transferred to The Hague to face a crimes against humanity charge stemming from his "war on drugs" that claimed the lives of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs (archived link).

Duterte once called Putin "his hero" and made two official visits to Russia during his presidency (archived here and here)

Putin also has a standing arrest warrant issued by the ICC in 2023 for crimes related to his country's war against Ukraine (archived link).

Similar posts were shared elsewhere on Facebook, and were also translated into Tagalog.

"Thank you President Putin for this. We owe you this one. That's why from the start I truly admire you because you have the same goal as Father Digong," read a comment on one of the posts, using a nickname for Duterte. 

Another comment read: "Thank you president Putin. The Filipino people salute you."

'Fabricated news article'

The journalist whose byline appears at the bottom of the purported article, Abby Martin, told AFP she did not write it (archived link). 

"No, I did not write this article nor have I ever written anything similar," she said on March 26. "It appears that the entire thing is AI-generated." 

A review of the purported article also shows it contains several factual inaccuracies.

For example, it claims Putin made his remarks during a press conference in Moscow with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Saturday, March 15.

But Putin's joint press conference with Lukashenko, where a US-Ukraine plan for a 30-day ceasefire was discussed, in fact took place on Thursday, March 13 (archived here and here).

Moreover, a check of the joint press conference's official transcript shows there was no mention of Duterte or the ICC proceedings (archived link). 

The image of Putin and Duterte shaking hands that accompanies the article also appears to be AI-generated and bears the watermark for X's AI chatbot Grok (archived link).

Siwei Lyu, director of the University at Buffalo's Media Forensics Lab in the United States, told AFP there are also other elements in the image that suggest it was created by AI (archived link). 

"There are visible artifacts around the handshake and noticeable issues with Putin’s eyes, which appear unnatural. The thumb also looks distorted, further suggesting signs of digital generation," he said on March 27.

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Screenshot of the image in the fabricated news article, with visual discrepancies highlighted by AFP

Duterte's arrest on March 11 has spawned a flood of misinformation, some of which AFP has debunked here.