The quote that circulated online was correctly attributed to Hill. At the time of this writing, Snopes could not independently verify whether the U.S. had carried out the swap Hill said Russia wanted in 2019 or whether such a deal made the Trump administration's January 2026 capture of Maduro possible.
Following the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro by US forces in January 2026, a video of military aircraft flying in formation surfaced in social media posts falsely claiming it shows Russia evacuating its diplomats' families from its South American ally. The footage in fact first circulated in October 2025 and corresponds to photos and videos of a US military drill in California marking the founding of the Marine Corps.
After Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded a trip to India in December 2025, AI-generated images were shared in posts claiming they showed him at religious sites with the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and firebrand Hindu monk Yogi Adityanath. There were no official reports of Putin travelling to the sites, nor were they listed on an itinerary shared by India's Ministry of External Affairs.
Does a viral picture of what looks like an Israeli passport confirm that Volodymyr Zelenskyy became an Israeli citizen before he became president of Ukraine? No, that's not true: The image got the spelling of his last name wrong. The machine-readable text on the bottom of the first page didn't fit the internationally standardized form, either.
The video showing Volodymyr Zelensky near Kupyansk was not staged. The president's visit to the frontline city on December 12, 2025, was documented by official announcements, footage from the scene, and coverage by independent media, while OSINT analysts independently confirmed the location through geolocation. The clip promoted by propagandists as evidence of a "hologram" or green-screen effect is unrelated archival material from 2022, originally produced for a technology demonstration, and has no connection to Zelensky's address from the field.
Claim: A viral notification claims India asked Russia to replace S-400 systems destroyed in a conflict with Pakistan in May 2025.
Fact: There is no credible evidence supporting this claim and the notification had clear discrepancies and has been debunked by PIB
As Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in India for defence and trade talks on December 4, an old video surfaced in social media posts falsely claiming it showed New Delhi sending fighter jets to escort the leader's plane. The footage was published by Russian state news agency Sputnik in December 2017 and shows Putin's plane being escorted by Russian jets en route to Egyptian capital Cairo after a visit to Syria.
The viral image showing Vladimir Putin posing with the Bhagavad Gita on a plane is AI-generated and not real.
French Decree No. 2025-1030 - the document Russian outlets point to as proof of Paris allegedly greenlighting a private military company for Ukraine - does nothing of the sort. Instead, it outlines rules for civilian economic operators conducting training and technical missions as part of international military cooperation, with no connection to PMC deployment.
Claim: The viral video shows Indian Air Force fighter jets escorting Russian President Vladimir Putin's aircraft as he enters Indian airspace during his recent visit to India.
Fact: The video is from December 2017 and shows Russian Su-30 fighter jets escorting President Putin's aircraft during his visit to the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria. Hence, the claim is FALSE.