On September 23, a video was published on Facebook in which Russian President Vladimir Putin is allegedly speaking about the return of Abkhazia to Georgia. In the circulated video, Putin supposedly says that Russian tourists in Abkhazia are being robbed, beaten, and killed, and that their patience has run out, claiming that Abkhazians should be punished and that Abkhazia should be returned to Georgia.
The video circulating on social media, in which Vladimir Putin discusses returning Abkhazia to Georgia, is a video fabrication. Putin has not made any statements about returning Abkhazia to Georgia. The video was likely generated using artificial intelligence, utilizing footage from one of Putin’s speeches.
The video, which was shared on Facebook, includes the TikTok logo and the username of the person who originally posted it on social media. TikTok user david.gugu shared the video of the Russian president on September 18, and it appears that he is the creator of the circulated video.
The video was likely generated using artificial intelligence and uses footage from Putin’s speech in February 2024, where he announced a new national project called “Family.” At the event, Putin stated that having large families should become the norm and a philosophy of public life.
On david.gugu‘s profile, there are various videos of both entertainment and political content, including other AI-generated videos featuring figures such as Stalin (1,2), Ilia Tchavtchavadze, and Eduard Shevardnadze.
This same account has also spread another fabricated video of Vladimir Putin, in which the Russian president supposedly says that Abkhazia has always been and is a part of Georgia, and therefore, its financing should be ensured by Georgia.
It is likely that the author used footage from the 2023 Valdai conference to create this video, where Putin discussed the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and emphasized Russia’s role in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
In 2019, the Russian president accused Georgia of occupying and committing genocide in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Vladimir Putin: “In 1918, Georgia occupied Abkhazia. The occupiers acted brutally, and in 1919-1920, they were even harsher in Ossetia. This is essentially what we would call genocide today.”
Earlier, in 2017, Putin met with separatist Abkhazia’s president Raul Khajimba and declared that Russia was a reliable guarantor of Abkhazia’s security and independence.
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