On January 23-24, posts spread on Threads (1, 2) and Facebook (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) claiming that U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Russian President Vladimir Putin and reminded him of the fate of well-known dictators. The posts include a video dubbed in Russian, where the 47th President of the United States says:
“Putin is a strong leader; I respect that, but he is playing a bad game, and that always ends badly. We all remember the stories of Saddam, Ceaușescu, and, of course, Gaddafi, who had a crowbar inserted into his backside – a horrible death. Yes, this is exactly how it ends.”
It should be noted that the footage features the logo of the Russian state media outlet Russia-1, and some accounts claim that this video first aired on that channel.
The video in which Donald Trump allegedly threatens the Russian president is not real and was created using artificial intelligence. There is no open-source information confirming that Trump made such a statement. Moreover, the video cannot be found on Russia-1.
Myth Detector could not find any information in open sources that would confirm that Trump indeed threatened Putin and advised him not to share the fate of Saddam Hussein, Ceaușescu, and Gaddafi. The claim, as well as the video itself, is only circulating on social networks.
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Where Did the Video Originate?
The earliest version of this video featuring the U.S. president was found on Telegram. Specifically, on January 23 at 20:43, it was uploaded to the Ukrainian Telegram channel “БАЗА, це Хʼюстон” (“Base, this is Houston”).
At 21:05, the same channel posted the video again, without the Russian translation and with the caption: “We present the original address from Trump so that you don’t think it’s a deepfake.” Despite this claim, Ukrainian sources assert that the video was created using artificial intelligence, and its original source is “БАЗА, це Хʼюстон,” which generates content using its own AI tools. This is confirmed by the description of the channel. In particular, it says that the channel “responds to news using creative technologies” and produces congratulatory videos featuring famous personalities, donating the proceeds from these activities to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Additionally, the channel’s description includes a link to its website, where the homepage states: “We make awesome deepfakes.” The website even allows users to order custom deepfake videos.
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Did the Video Air on the Russian Channel?
Myth Detector also attempted to verify whether the video was actually broadcast on Russia-1. To do so, we watched all news segments aired on the channel between January 19-23, but this footage was not found anywhere.
In the video circulating on social media, a scrolling text at the bottom of the screen announces an upcoming program, stating: “Dear viewers! Watch the special edition of ‘Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov’ at 22:20.”
Solovyov’s program airs several times a week in the evening under the title “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov.” However, on Sundays, it is referred to as “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov,” suggesting that if Trump’s video had aired, it would have been on a Sunday broadcast. However, the video was not aired on the TV channel’s news segments on either January 12 or January 19.
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