Doctored video of Russian and Indian leaders spreads online

Published on September 4, 2025 at 08:22
3 min read
By Sammy HEUNG, AFP Hong Kong

Chinese social media users have circulated an edited clip with a false claim it shows Russian President Vladimir Putin laughing at Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for eating with his hand as the pair met at a summit in Tianjin in eastern China. The video was in fact stitched together using unrelated footage taken years ago.

"Putin cannot help but laugh in secret after seeing Modi eating with his hands," reads a simplified Chinese Douyin post shared on September 1, 2025.

The post, which has been shared over 5,400 times, includes a 13-second clip showing Modi eating with his hand, before cutting to Putin laughing in a dining room.

Screenshot of the false post captured on September 2, 2025, with the red X added by AFP

The false claim surfaced as more than 20 national leaders -- including Modi and Putin -- attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin on the day (archived link).

Russian state media reported the pair spent nearly an hour talking "face-to-face" in Putin's armoured presidential car before an official meeting.

The summit came days after India was hit by a sharp bump up in US tariffs on its goods as punishment for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil (archived link).

It also spread on YouTube, Weibo, video-sharing site Bilibili, and Chinese blog site Wan Yi.

A reverse image search on Google found Indian broadcaster Sansad published the clip of Modi eating in a video report on February 19, 2020 with a caption saying it shows him visiting the Hunar Haat festival in New Delhi (archived link).

The video in the false post matches the 0:38 mark of the Sansad report.

His Instagram page also shared a photo of himself eating at the fair on the day (archived link).

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and a photo posted on Modi's Instagram page

Further reverse image searches on Google and TinEye found the clip of Putin eating in a report from Vietnamese news site Dan Tri on December 25, 2015 on Putin's meeting with Modi during a visit to Moscow (archived link).

The clips were retrieved from footage published by the Russian state-run video agency Ruptly, which begins with Modi and Putin sharing a laugh in a dining room.

The video then cuts to Putin laughing, while a female interpreter can be heard translating his remarks into Hindi: "He says these look like cones but are in fact chocolates. So when the photo comes, it'll look like I have served you a pine tree."

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the Ruptly video

Subsequent reverse image searches on Google and TinEye led to photos showing a similar scene published on the official website of the Russian Presidential Executive Office on December 23, 2015 (archived link).

AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about Putin and Modi here and here.

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