Recently, a video went viral on social media purporting to show Russian mobile installations with nuclear weapons near the border with Finland. We checked whether the content of this video corresponds to viral publications.
April 4, 2023 Finland officially became 31st member of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO). Soon after this, Internet users began to distribute a video recording allegedly made in Vyborg, located approximately 40 km from the Finnish border. The viral video shows the movement of some military equipment in a residential area, on which flag Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN RF).
On Telegram, the video was most widely shared with the following caption: “After Finland joined NATO, mobile nuclear weapons installations were noticed in the border Vyborg.” Channels wrote about thisLive broadcast"(637,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Putin on Telegram"(229,000), "Truthfulness"(213,000), "Scott Ritter on Telegram"(175,000), "Ostashko! Important” (and twice: 118,000 And 107,000), "What happened?"(105,000), "Ivan Utenkov"(100,000), Perepichka News (93,000), "Cartridge"(91,000), "Truth of Russia" (63,000) and "Kedmi's thoughts"(51,000). Channel "Ukraine.ru"(95,000 views) clarifies that a Yars mobile strategic missile system was spotted in Vyborg. Channel authors have a different version "Staff Correspondent"(96,000 views), "DPR 🅉 info 🇷🇺" (55,000) and "Russia now"(49,000), where it is believed that an eyewitness filmed the movement of the RT-2PM Topol intercontinental mobile missile system. At the same time, some publications spoke ironically about those who doubt the authenticity of the description of the video: “Maybe they are preparing for the parade? Or is the video from last year? And in general, this is not Vyborg? (we hear sounds of panic from the other side of the border).”
The viral post also went viral Twitter And "VKontakte", where is the most popular there was a version that the video shows “Topol-M”. So, in the public “I am for Putin | SVO / ZOV" post dialed over 16,500 likes with 142,000 views. The least popular option is that the Sarmat missile system was filmed in Vyborg (examples here, here And here).
On the license plate of the car in the foreground of the viral recording, region 33 is indicated, which corresponds Vladimir region. The fact that this is not the Leningrad, but the Vladimir region was confirmed by fact checkers, specializing on geolocation. They established that the video was filmed in the city Kolchugino on intersection Pobeda and Mira streets, as can be seen from the five-story building with specific green balconies and the Magnit chain store located across the street. Filming location located approximately 1000 km from Vyborg.
To identify military equipment captured on video, the fact-checking project “Myth Detector” contacted with weapons specialist Giga Inashvili. According to him, the video shows the RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system with maximum range 12,000 km. The specialist clarified that such a system is not intended to strike close targets (in other words, it makes no sense to specifically bring it to the Russian-Finnish border). Journalists confirm this Snopes, as well as military experts Michel Yakovleff and Stéphane Delory interviewed by the project Les Observateurs France 24 TV channel.
Experts note that the RS-24 Yars complexes are capable of launching nuclear warheads. However, there is nothing unusual in the movement of a column of such equipment along Kolchugin. On the Internet you can find many videos of similar missile systems driving through the city, moving to Moscow in preparation for the Victory Parade on Red Square or returning from the parade. Inashvili also believes that the complexes caught in the video were probably preparing for the May 9 parade.
For example, on YouTube as early as May 13, 2015 posted a video entitled “Return of equipment from the parade in Moscow through Kolchugino,” where the column moves near the same house that was captured in the video that went viral in 2023. Another video from eight years ago, filmed in the same place, posted and on VKontakte. We also managed to find a video with the movement of similar equipment along Kolchugin for 2012, 2016 And 2022 years.
Neither we nor our foreign colleagues were able to determine the original source of the video, so the exact date of filming is not known. This could be an old recording or one filmed this year. For example, at the end of February 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defense reportedthat a convoy of the Yars PGRK is marching from the Ivanovo region to the Moscow region in preparation for the military parade on Red Square. The route passed through the Vladimir region.
The earliest publication of a video mentioning Vyborg among those that “Verified” was able to find is appeared April 6, 2023 at 10:57 Moscow time on VKontakte, on the page there are users named Vladimir Dervenev. A couple of hours later the same entry uploaded supporter of the National Liberation Movement (NLM) Irina Ershova, while her video was later added to fast public “NOD event Z official page” for April 5, having edited the original publication.
Cover photo: screenshot “Verified” / social networks
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