2015 Photo Shared as Russian Orthodox Priests Blessing a Rocket
The Claim
A photo depicts Russian Orthodox priests blessing the Satan rocket.
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Emerging story
A photo of a large missile atop a truck with priests standing on the side is circulating on social media. Users claimed that these are Russian Orthodox Church priests blessing the Satan rocket. The photo has been retweeted 24,000 times.
Misbar’s Analysis
The Misbar team investigated the claim and found it to be misleading. A reverse image search revealed that the image has been online since 2015, is unrelated to the ongoing invasion, and does not depict the Satan missile.
Victory Parade
Further investigation of the reverse image search result revealed that the photo was originally shared by the Moscow Agency on May 6, 2015, as shown below.
The image caption reads, "rite of blessing of Victory Parade participants and consecration of launchers on Khodynka field." This clarifies the image's context and confirms that, while priests did bless the weapon, it was for a parade and had nothing to do with current events.
Victory Parade
The Victory Parade is held in Russia every year on May 9 to commemorate the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany during World War II. It includes military parades in Moscow as well as more than a dozen other Russian cities. Over 65,000 people will take part in the parade, which will feature 2400 different types of military equipment and 460 planes. This year marked the 77th anniversary of the parade and victory, as depicted in the screenshot below.
Pictured Rocket is not the “Satan”
Furthermore, the pictured rocket is not Satan but the Topol M Missile, which was also used in the parade in 2010, as shown below.
The Misbar team confirms, based on the findings, that the priests blessed the weapon for the Victory Parade in 2015. The image is unrelated to the ongoing invasion and depicts the Topol M Missile rather than the "Satan."
