In mid-June 2022, Internet users published a video of the speech of the first President of the Russian Federation in Washington and compared what was said with Vladimir Putin’s speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). We have checked the correctness of such publications.
On June 18 and 19, 2022, similar publications appeared on social networks comparing two speeches by Russian leaders. One of them is the speech of the first President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin in the US Congress on June 17, 1992, the other is the speech of the current head of state Vladimir Putin at plenary session SPIEF exactly 30 years later. Internet users emphasized how rhetoric has changed over 30 years: “Putin ended his speech with words about sovereignty, about self-confidence, about Russia. Yeltsin ended his speech with the words "God bless America." This was the most shameful event in the modern history of Russia.”
Similar publications can be found on VKontakte in public pages "Donbass Media Group Gorlovka (Korsa Division)" (108,000 subscribers at the time of writing this analysis), "Putin's information support" (85,000 subscribers), "Mikhail Sovetsky" (85,000 subscribers), “The Union of Red Groups and All Loyal to the USSR!” (51,000 subscribers) and other communities. The speeches of Putin and Yeltsin were also compared by Telegram channels, among them "Main!" And "Utenkov News" (202,000 subscribers each). Users made similar posts Facebook*, "Zena" and other platforms.
Let's start with the fact that the authors of many similar publications use videos in their posts, posted on YouTube back in 2017. The video shows Boris Yeltsin speaking to American congressmen. The video lasts just over two minutes and really ends with these words from the first president of post-Soviet Russia: “I would like to end my speech with words from songs American composer of Russian origin Irvine Berlin: "God bless America!"
Judging by the logo in the lower left corner, this recording was taken from a broadcast of the American television channel C-SPAN. A full recording of Yeltsin’s speech to the US Congress, which actually took place on June 17, 1992, is available on his website. Video lasts over 52 minutes. For the first two minutes, representatives of both houses of the American parliament stand and applaud the first Russian president. They also greeted many of Yeltsin's statements with ovation.
Judging by the full recording, the first president of the Russian Federation concluded his speech with the words: “I would like to end my speech with words from a song by the American composer of Russian origin Irving Berlin: “God bless America!”... And I’ll add to this: “And Russia!” This formulation, which mentions both countries, is also recorded in the official transcript meetings, report The New York Times and audio recordings, accessible on the Yeltsin Center website.
Thus, the statements of Internet users about Yeltsin’s speech in the American Congress are based on a shortened version of the broadcast from the meeting hall, in which the final remark of the first Russian president is cut off so much that it significantly distorts the meaning of what he said.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Distorted quote
- Did Boris Yeltsin speak? December 31, 1999: “I'm tired, I'm leaving”?
- Is it true that the author of the phrase “Chubais is to blame for everything” is Boris Yeltsin?
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