Old Video Falsely Shared as Russian President Putin Being Escorted by IAF Jets

The video dates back to December 2017, when Putin visited the Russia-run Hmeimim Air Base in Syria.

A video showing Russian President Vladimir Putin in an aircraft, watching fighter jets from the window, is being shared on social media, shortly after his two-day visit to India on 5 and 6 December 2025.

The claim: The short clip is being shared to claim that Indian Air Force (IAF) jets escorted the Russian president's plane as soon as it entered Indian airspace.

Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here, here, and here.

But...?: The claim is misleading, as the video dates back to December 2017 and shows Putin preparing to land at Hmeimim Air Base in western Syria.

How do we know?: We ran a reverse image search on the section of the video showing Putin, which led us to a report by Argentinian news portal Infobae, which was published on 13 December 2017.

• A translated version of the report mentioned that it showed Putin making "a surprise visit to the Russian military base" in Syria's Hmeimim, where he watched "the escort of the Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets."

• A subsequent keyword search led us to two photos (links here and here) on Getty Images, which were published on 11 December 2017 and showed visuals that were similar to the video in the claim.

• They, too, noted that they showed Putin in Syria, not India.

• Additionally, we also found a press release on the Kremlin's website which mentioned Putin's visit to the Hmeimim Air Base in Syria, where he met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu and Commander of the Russian military group Sergei Surovikin.

• A Facebook page for Russia's cultural center in the United Kingdom had also shared this video as one of Putin in Syria in December 2017, along with a link to a Russia Today report about the same.

The report carried the full video, which can be seen here.

Conclusion: It is evident that an old video of Russian President Vladimir Putin is being shared as a recent video of him in Indian airspace.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)