Did Putin say: “To forgive terrorists is the work of God, my business is to send them to Him”?

In recent years, a statement of terrorists attributed to the Russian president has been actively distributed on the network. We checked whether this phrase has an attitude towards Vladimir Putin.

Back in 2015, a quote was published by the website of the American television channel Fox Newsas well as Fox & Friends current-show profiles in Twitter And Facebook. In Russian, it is often found on information sites ("Ukraine.ru","Melitopol news tape","Kherson news feed"), In collections aphorismsas well as in the form demotivator. In October 2022, in the days of the 20th anniversary The attack on Dubrovka, the statement actively extended to Telegram - in particular, in the channels "Russia now"(379,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Putin in Telegram"(332 000),"Scott Ritter in Telegram"(275,000) and"Federation"(197 000), in September 2023 - in Facebook And all in the same Telegram.

Putin's most famous statement about terrorists Sounded September 24, 1999, when he, then the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, commenting on the resumed Grozny bombing after the invasions of militants in Dagestan, said: “We will pursue terrorists everywhere. At the airport - at the airport. So, excuse me, we’ll catch me in the toilet, we will soak them in the toilet, in the end. That's it, the question is completely closed. ”

The threat of "torture in the toilet" instantly became Putin's hallmark, although later he Recognizedthat "blurted out, in shape is wrong, but in fact it is true." It is worth noting that, contrary to the assurances of the Russian prime minister about the bombing exclusively basic basins, a few days later the number of dead civilians of Chechnya Hundreds were calculated.

In the fall of 2015, the topic of terrorism was also relevant in Russia. October 31 over the Sinai Peninsula crashed Airbus A321 airliner, which operated from Sharm Esh-Sheikh to St. Petersburg. 217 passengers and seven crew members (almost all - citizens of the Russian Federation) died. The responsibility for what happened was taken by one of the groups controlled by ISIS. On November 16, the head of the FSB of the Russian Federation Alexander Bortnikov at a meeting with the president confirmedthat the disaster occurred as a result of the attack. The next day on the Kremlin’s official website appeared And Putin's statements in this regard. He, in particular, said that they would “find the guilty ones anywhere in the planet and punish”, but he did not say anything about sending terrorists to God.

Nevertheless from the publication Fox News, made on November 17, many concluded that it was then that Putin made a viral statement that became a viral. Not only because of the date, but also because the channel (or rather, the blogger, whose article was posted on Fox News) referred to the Twit of the journalist of the Arab service of the Russian State television channel Russia Today Remi Maaluf.

When Western journalists could not find a statement in any authoritative source associated with Putin, Maaluf Removed your tweet. In return she wrote: “This is the danger of social networks! I took Putin’s quote from the post on Facebook, and it turned out to be false. I apologize. " Indeed, on November 16, a phrase in English Beginning Dive through social networks as a quote from the President of the Russian Federation. In Russian, she was not yet popular, although she spread at least with summer.

But without Putin mentioning, a statement with minor changes was known earlier. In different years, users of social networks attributed it to the nameless Kenyan general, and the Indian army (there is even a photograph of the corresponding poster), and the American military leader Norman Schwarzkopfu, commanding the forces of the International Coalition during the operation “Storm in the desert” in Iraq and Kuwait in 1990-1991. The latter case is the most remarkable because it leaves its roots in 2001, in the first months after the attacks of September 11. Then in the electronic newsletter began to spread story About how General Schwarzkopf was allegedly asked whether it was possible to forgive people who hid terrorists and contributed to them in a different way. He said: “I think to forgive them is the work of God. Our work is to arrange their meeting. ” Then the quote scattered along periodic publications, and the network remained viral for many years (in 2021, one post 373,000 people shared with her on Facebook). However, back in 2003, Schwarzkopf on television denied his authorship, although he said that he was proud of such an attribution.

In 2004, the Anger militant with Denzel Washington in the title role was released. In one of the episodes, his hero, a former intelligence officer, pronounces Almost identical phrase: “Forgiveness is their work with God. My work is to organize a meeting. ”

Thus, a quote about the organization of a meeting of terrorists with God appeared long before the moment that Putin was first attributed, and has nothing to do with him. Judging by the affordable sources, the President of the Russian Federation never pronounced it publicly and, moreover, cannot be considered its author.

Photo on the cover: Wikimedia Commons

Incorrect attribution of quote

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