This Video Does Not Show a Russian Choir Getting Arrested for Singing About Peace
The Claim
The clip depicts the arrest of a member of the Russian Army Choir for singing about peace in Saint Petersburg.
News posted on
Emerging story
Social media users have circulated a video claiming that it depicts the arrest of a member of the Russian Army Choir for singing about peace in Saint Petersburg, the Russian president’s hometown.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar has investigated the claim and found it to be misleading. The video is old and was recirculated in a misleading context.
Using Google Image Reverse Search, our team found that the Russian state-controlled media RT posted a longer version of the video from another angle on November 6, 2015. The video depicts the choir singing in front of shops before getting attacked.
RT uploaded the video with a caption that reads: “Russian Army choir detained for Writing on the Wall. Not for vandalism, but for singing the new Bond theme.” RT added that the video “could be a viral fake to promote a movie, but there is a possibility of a police raid, as copyright laws in Russia become stricter every day.”
RT News also posted screenshots of the video on November 6, 2015. The RT News article explained that five members of the Russian Army Choir were singing Sam Smith’s “Writing On The Wall,” the theme song for the James Bond spy film “Spectre,” when they were suddenly “attacked” in a St. Petersburg shopping center.
Other websites also posted the video on November 9, 2015, mentioning that it depicts a “Russian Army choir abducted while singing 007 Spectre theme song.”
Based on our investigation, the video is old and captured in another different context. It is unrelated to the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
