Russian President Vladimir Putin has supposedly warned that World War III will start if recent tensions between Iran and Israel escalate.
This is false. An X (formerly Twitter) post from an account set up as a Putin parody is being falsely attributed as a genuine statement from the Russian leader.
The posts, such as this one, refer to the Iranian drone and missile attack on Israel on April 14.
Social media users claim Putin posted: “IRAN attacks ISRAEL. … If USA directly attacks IRAN, Russia and China will declare support for Iran. If and When this happens we can officially say World War III has started.”
Posts with similar or identical text are being shared widely on Facebook, such as here, here and here, as well as on X, as seen here and here.
However, the X post being quoted comes from an April 14 post on an X account clearly marked as a parody of Putin.
The account’s user name is “Vladimir Putin (parody)” and is described as “commentary on world politics”. It frequently posts about Israel, US political figures Joe Biden, Donald Trump, Michelle Obama and others.
But when being shared, many posts either omit the source is a parody account or imply it is a legitimate statement from Putin.
There is a President of Russia X account which has the grey checkmark, indicating an official government account. However, it has not posted since March 2022.
There are also Russian Kremlin accounts on Instagram and Telegram, none of which have made the statement being attributed to Putin about World War III.
The Russian president has actually called for an easing of tensions in the Middle East and spoke to Iran’s president on April 16. The Kremlin has said Putin “expressed hope that all sides would show reasonable restraint”.
The Verdict
The claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned World War III will start if the US attacks Iran is false.
A bogus statement on an X account labelled as a “parody” of Putin is being shared on social media as a legitimate statement from the Russian leader.
Putin has called for restraint by all sides in the Middle East.
False – The claim is inaccurate.
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