Cyber Awareness

MEA Fact-Checks Viral Post Claiming Jaishankar Criticised Russian Minister

By HT News Desk

The Ministry of External Affairs’ fact‑checking unit on Tuesday debunked a viral social media post that falsely attributed remarks to External Affairs Minister EAM Jaishankar. The post claimed that Jaishankar had expressed disappointment over the Russian minister’s “sarcastic” response to his appeal for peace between Russia and Ukraine. The fabricated clip and accompanying captions suggested that Jaishankar had called on both countries to understand that war brings only economic hardship and destruction. The ministry shared screenshots of the post, all marked with a “fake” or “AI‑generated” stamp. The clip was actually taken from the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, U.S., on 30‑31 October. In the original video, Jaishankar said that India had discussed three aspects of the Ukraine conflict with Russia, Kyiv and European countries: protecting civilian shipping and seafarers from attacks, restoring grain exports from Russia and Ukraine, and energy, which he described as the most complicated. He added that he had spoken with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the Ukrainian side, and that coordination was also happening with the United States.

Separately, the Indian Army’s fact‑checking wing issued a warning last week against social media accounts that circulated a video of Chinese commercial vehicles at Nathu La in Sikkim. The Army clarified that the footage shows JAC‑branded Chinese commercial vehicles at the designated India‑China border trade point and that the video is being misrepresented as evidence of a Chinese military intrusion.

The fact‑checking units urged users to be cautious of malicious posts on social media platforms.