Old Photo Shared as Putin Getting Baptized and Receiving Orthodox Church Blessing Ahead of Ukraine Invasion
The Claim
The photo was taken from a recent news article where Putin appears getting baptized in holy water and receiving the blessing of the Orthodox Church priests ahead of the Ukraine invasion.
News posted on
Emerging story
Facebook and Twitter users have recently shared a photo with a news article claiming to show Putin getting baptized in holy water and receiving the blessing of the Orthodox Church ahead of his Ukraine war declaration.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s team investigated the circulated claim and found it misleading. The photo was shared earlier than claimed by Getty with a number of other photos on Jan. 19, 2018. The photos then showed Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrating Epiphany by taking a dip in icy waters to honor the birth and baptism of Jesus. The photo was taken by the AFP’s Alexey Druzhinin.
A video posted by the YouTube channel On Demand News on Jan. 19, 2018, shows Putin honoring Jesus by dipping himself in Lake Seliger at the time.
The claim started to circulate following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s use of the Orthodox Church teachings to justify his war on Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church views both countries as following the same church. In AD988, Vladimir, King of Russia, was the first to convert to Christianity. He summoned the whole city of Kyiv to the banks of the Dnieper for mass baptism. In 2019, the Ukrainian Church separated from the Russian Church and declared its independence. However, Putin and the Russian Church did not accept this declaration because Orthodox Christians view Kyiv as a holy city comparable to Jerusalem, according to religious historian Diana Butler Bass.
Translated by Ahmed N. A. Almassri
