A video of missiles being transported to Moscow ahead of an annual military parade has been falsely shared in posts claiming nuclear weapons were being moved on orders from the Russian president. Vladimir Putin after he warned the West against sending troops to help Ukraine. The footage was in fact filmed before Putin warned of the ‘real’ risk of nuclear war in February 2024.
“Vladimir Putin ordered a nationwide transfer of nuclear weapons!” read the simplified Chinese caption of a video about X shared on February 29, 2024.
It shows military vehicles driving down a highway at night. They appear to be carrying missiles and feature a Russian flag and the flag of the Army’s Strategic Missile Forces (archived link).
The clip was shared after Putin warned of a “real” risk of nuclear war if the West sent troops to fight in Ukraine, which has been at war since Russia invaded in February 2022.
“The consequences for potential interventionists will be much more tragic,” he said in an annual address to the nation from Moscow.
The video was shared in similar posts on TikTok and Chinese video sharing platform Bilibili.
However, the video circulated before Putin’s nuclear warning.
Military parade
A reverse image search and keyword searches on Google revealed that the video was posted to Telegram by the Russian Ministry of Defense on February 27 (archived link).
According to the Telegram messageThe video shows Yars missiles deployed in the Ivanovo region arriving in Alabino, near Moscow, ahead of a military parade on Red Square.
The annual Victory Day parade on May 9 commemorates the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Soviet Union in World War II and has become Russia’s most important holiday.
In a defiant speech at the parade, Putin reiterated that his nuclear forces were “always” ready.
Less than a fortnight later, Moscow announced that tactical nuclear weapons exercises would begin close to Ukraine, in what it said was a response to Western “threats.”
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in the fake messages (left) and in the Russian Ministry of Defense Telegram post (right):
The same video was shared by Russian television channel Vmeste-RF, while footage from the clips was also published by state news agency RIA (archived links here and here).
According to Russian state news agency TASS, personnel and military equipment of the Teikovo missile formation in the Ivanovo region have been taking part in military parades on Red Square since 2008 (archived link).
The Russian Ministry of Defense has also previously published images of the transport of military equipment to the Victory Day parade (archived link).
