Putin’s Declaration of War Against Ukraine Taped Days Earlier: Reports

The Russian newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of war broadcast on Thursday was recorded on Monday, amid his statements of troop withdrawals and a desire for a peaceful diplomatic solution.

“You can verify this by downloading the video from the Kremlin website and checking its properties,” the newspaper tweeted. 

The Novaya Gazeta cites the metadata associated with Thursday’s broadcast as proof the video was created on Monday at 7 p.m. 

Lending support to the claim that Putin was planning war while talking peace is that air traffic controllers in Rostov were ordered to “shut down flights along the border of Ukraine beginning Tuesday.” 

Also, the Moscow-based Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) noted that Putin wore the same suit and tie at a Monday meeting with the Russian Security Council as he did for the declaration of war broadcast purportedly recorded on Thursday. 

“This suggests that a large-scale invasion of Ukraine was planned for February 22, but was postponed for reasons unknown to us,” CIT tweeted Thursday.

However, not all agree with the claims in the Novaya Gazeta paper. Aric Toler, journalist and “analysts” for Bellingcat, a Netherlands-based investigative news agency, tweeted that the Gazeta piece cited metadata for the “wrong video” and argues Putin’s address was “apparently” filmed Thursday.

Toler tweeted: “This is the wrong video,” and substantiated his claim by noting the declaration of war broadcast was 28 minutes long, whereas Monday’s broadcast was 55 minutes.

Disagreeing with Toler’s assessment is The Financial Times Moscow bureau chief, Max Seddon. He tweeted a side-by-side image of Putin from his “rambling speech” Monday and his war declaration on Thursday.

“Quite possible this was pre-recorded, especially given the separatist letters were dated Tuesday,” Seddon tweeted. “He’s wearing the same outfit, down to the tie.”

Polls show that the majority of Americans do not believe President Putin or President Biden are honest and trustworthy. Sadly, the same is true for Congress, the Media, and Dr. Anthony Fauci. 

When leaders lie, trust is broken, reputations are tarnished, and efforts to engender unity, service, and sacrifice are compromised. As the world stands on the brink of war, perhaps humanity can demand more—demand better from those tasked to guard our welfare and make decisions in the best interests of the global community.