Vladimir Putin delivered fresh warnings to the West over its involvement in Ukraine during his State of the Nation address on Thursday, the Russian president evoking Cold War sentiments of nuclear annihilation.
Putin, who spoke for more than two hours to delegates in Moscow, said Russia’s “strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness”, stating there was a genuine risk of nuclear war if Western nations send troops to Ukraine, as suggested by French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week.
However, footage from the address was used to suggest that Ukrainian sympathizers could have been in Putin’s audience, with observers noticing one delegate wearing a pin badge that looked suspiciously blue and yellow.
1tv.ru
The Claim
A post on X, formerly Twitter, by pro-Ukrainian account @Maks_NAFO_FELLA, posted on February 29, 2024, viewed 169,500 times, showed a photo of one of the delegates at Vladimir Putin’s State of the Nation address, wearing what looked like a Ukrainian flag pin.
User @Maks_NAFO_FELLA wrote alongside: “Our spies are at Putin’s speech)))”
The Facts
The intent of this comment seems to be in jest, juxtaposed by the expression of the man at the front of the shot, who Newsweek has identified as Sergey/Serhiy Tokar, a sergeant in the Russian military who has reportedly fought in the Donbass.
Whatever the intent, the person behind Tokar is not wearing a Ukrainian flag pin.
Newsweek has identified that man, who can be seen later on in footage from the summit, as Boris Seregeevich Khokhryakov, Chairman of the Council of the Duma of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra.
As Chairman of the Duma, Khhokhryakov leads the regional government of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yygra, a federal subject of Russia in Tyumen Oblast, Western Siberia.
A profile photo of Khokhryakov on the Duma’s website, and other higher-quality photos show the pin he wore at the summit was green and blue, matching the colors of the Duma’s flag and crests. The green may have appeared yellow perhaps due to lighting at Putin’s federal address or a trick of the camera.
A reverse image search of the pin revealed wording on top of it reads “Дума Ханты-Мансийского автономного округа — Югры”, the Russian spelling of Duma and its region.
In any case, however improbable it may have seemed to begin with, Khokhryakov’s pin does not depict the Ukrainian flag.
Putin’s threat of further nuclear escalation comes after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested earlier this week that NATO members could send ground troops to Ukraine.
NATO allies including the U.S. ruled out doing so after Macron’s suggestion. U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday that President Joe Biden was “crystal-clear” in his opposition to sending U.S. or NATO troops to Ukraine, a move that could obligate the strategic alliance to fight Russia and spark the beginning of a world war.
The Ruling
False.
Although the claim may be meant as a joke, the pin seen in the video from Putin’s address is not of the Ukrainian flag.
It is the flag of the Duma of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug-Yugra, a regional government in Western Siberia. The person wearing the pin was Boris Seregeevich Khokhryakov, Chairman of that Duma. Other images of Khokhryakov show the pin’s coloring is green and blue.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.