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Fact-Check | AI-Generated Images Shared To Claim Russian President Vladimir Putin Suffered Heart Attack


What about the news report?: We searched for the article on The Moscow Times’ website but did not find the one seen in the viral screenshot.

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The website did not contain any articles with the same headline.

(Source: The Moscow Times/Screenshot)

  • Next, we looked for news reports and updates on the official website of Kremlin but found no credible information about Putin suffering a heart attack.

  • On the contrary, according to Kremlin’s website, he attended a meeting with Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova on 15 May.

What about the pictures?: A keyword search in Russian led us to a tweet thread carrying similar visuals.

  • The thread was uploaded by a user named Misha Petrov. It was uploaded on 22 March.

  • Petrov clarified that the images were generated by AI tool Midjourney.

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The tweets were posted in a thread by Petrov.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot)

  • On checking the user’s account, we found several posts which carried AI-generated images, including one showing Putin getting arrested.

Other noticeable errors: In the first image, one can see Putin’s hair blurred while his face remains in focus.

  • The second image’s full version uploaded by Petrov shows multiple pictures of Putin, one standing and the other one lying on the ground.

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Both images have several noticeable discrepancies.

(Source: Twitter/Screenshot/Altered by The Quint)

Conclusion: Social media users are sharing AI-generated images of Russian President Vladimir Putin to falsely claim that he recently suffered a heart attack.

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The post Fact-Check | AI-Generated Images Shared To Claim Russian President Vladimir Putin Suffered Heart Attack first appeared on The News And Times – thenewsandtimes.com.