'Putin Flees Moscow', 'IRGC in Russia' and Other Media Fakes Debunked

The drama around Wagner PMC boss Evgeny Prigozhin's feud with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, which escalated into an armed rebellion on Friday before calming Saturday, has been met with barely concealed glee in Ukrainian and Western media. But in attempts to outdo each other, some outlets fell into the realm of reporting fantasy as news.

In its statement of support for Moscow on Saturday, Minsk warned that "any provocation, any internal conflict in political and military circles, in the information field and in civil society" would be a "gift to the collective West" for its proxy war against Russia.

Indeed, looking for information on the events on Wagner's mutiny in Western resources makes it clear that for Ukrainian and Western media, the season of "gift-giving" has come early, with newspapers, TV channels and online news outlets engaging in a competition to create the most outlandish fake news stories. Sputnik has dissected a few of them.

'Putin Has Fled Moscow'

British, Polish and Ukrainian media have jumped on rumors that Russia’s president hopped on a jet and flew out of the Russian capital. What’s the source of the information? A Telegram channel run by members of Belarus’s EU and US-backed opposition.

What’s really going on? According to presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Putin hasn’t gone anywhere, and was working in the Moscow Kremlin on Saturday. Not only is the rumor false, but it doesn’t make logical sense, since Prigozhin made clear repeatedly over the past 24 hours that his beef is with the Defense Ministry, not Putin, and that he’s not trying to stage a "coup."

Iran's Crack Troops Ready to Deploy to Moscow

Another fake, this one spread by some major Telegram news channels, cites a seemingly harmless tweet by an Iranian freelance journalist who expressed solidarity with Russia, and said that Iran “stopped the fall of the Syrian government in the interests of our country and people,” and if necessary, will be ready to do the same to help Russia.

‘Creatively interpreting’ his words, Telegram channels somehow concluded that Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is "ready to send its detachments to Moscow to assist the Russian government."

What’s the reality? Tehran has indeed expressed support for Russia – diplomatic support. In a statement attributed to Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani on Saturday, the Islamic Republic said that it considers events in Russia as the country's "internal affair," and stressed that Tehran supports "the rule of law in the Russian Federation." See? Nothing about the IRGC deployments in Russia’s capital.

'Moscow Streets Blocked Off, Riots in Jails'

Another popular piece of fake news, this one spread mostly by UK tabloids and Ukrainian resources, claims that Moscow and its environs have been placed under strict lockdown, or that riots have broken out in the city’s pre-trial detention centers.

What’s really going on? Well, the Federal Penitentiary Service squashed the riot story, and there have been no independent reports of any unrest around the capital’s big two pre-trial facilities, Butyrka and Matrosskaya Tishina from Moscow’s smartphone camera-wielding residents.

As for lockdowns, the police presence in the city has indeed been noticeably increased, but not to the point of blocking off traffic or interfering with people going on with their business in any real way. On Saturday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that there were no restrictions for entry or exit from the city. He did add, however, that Monday would be a non-working day.

Wagner Releasing Prisoners in Rostov to Join Rebellion

Finally, another piece of fake news, again spread by Ukrainian sites, claims that Wagner units in Rostov-on-Don have disarmed the guards of correctional colonies in the southern Russian city and let its prisoners go. The source? “Russian media” including 161.ru, a local news portal.

The only problem? The aforementioned media never made such claims.

Fortunately, the situation surrounding Wagner's mutiny appears to be calming down, with Wagner boss Evgeny Prigozhin announcing Saturday evening that his forces had halted their march on Moscow and would be returning to their home bases after talks reportedly mediated by Minsk.