CNN clip on Russia’s ‘military moves in America’s backyard’ ran in 2018, not during Ukraine invasion

Social media users have resurfaced a years-old CNN clip about Russia’s encroachment on the United States as though it reflected a new development in the Ukraine invasion.

The short clip, which received millions of views across Facebook and other platforms, shows a 2018 segment from "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," an evening news program. 

In the segment, CNN correspondent Brian Todd reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin had deployed two bomber planes called blackjacks to Venezuela for a military exercise over the Caribbean. "Putin making military moves in America’s backyard," the on-screen chyron read. 

The segment aired on Dec. 11, 2018, not in relation to the ongoing conflict involving Russia and Ukraine, according to a capture available on the Internet Archive. The segment is on CNN’s website, as well as on the network’s YouTube channel.

But in the days since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the same segment has been shared out of context on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms, as though it just ran. "Russia deploys two nuke bombers in US backyard, Venezuela," said one Feb. 28, 2022, Facebook post, which drew nearly 2 million views to the video and was shared more than 15,000 times.

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stated on November 10, 2024 in a Threads post

“NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says that ‘if Trump surrenders Ukraine to Putin, he will personally expel the United States from the alliance.’”

A Feb. 28, 2022, Facebook post sharing the outdated CNN clip was widely circulated.

The posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) 

We rate those posts False.