Putin Deepfake Puts Russia on Edge

(RepublicanDaily.org) – A Deepfake of Russian leader Vladimir Putin has reportedly sent the Russian Federation into a national state of fear.

Reportedly, Russian state media aired a Deepfake of Putin that was declaring martial law over citizens. A declaration of a state of emergency was broadcast across Russian TV channels with the caption that the message was an emergency notice.

Russian Federation authorities announced to the public that a video message from Putin, expressing an emergency state, was not real. A Kremlin spokesperson attested that there was no such broadcast and that the video the public saw “was a hack.” Rather, it had been created by Deepfake technology by hackers and was disseminated in Russia.

Deepfake Putin was seen on the video message telling villagers in the towns bordering Ukraine to be prepared for heavy artillery fire from the Ukraine line. The message told Russian citizens of the area to evacuate and seek shelter deeper in Russia.

The incident with Deepfake technology was reported by a hacked Russian TV station to have lasted “40 minutes.” After the incident, the Kremlin released a message explaining that the video was fake. The video had begun to gather circulation on social media.

At the time of this report, no one had yet claimed responsibility for the attack, including any group from Ukraine or invested in Ukraine’s defense effort.

However, even though, at the time of this report, no group had come forward claiming responsibility for the false broadcast, the Russian Federation accused the hackers of inciting a “provocation.”

In the war between Ukraine and Russia, deep fake technology has been used in the past to exacerbate and drive conflict. Earlier in the current era of the Russian-Ukraine conflict, a deep fake was reportedly created showing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky calling on Ukrainians to “lay down arms,” but was later debunked. In July 2014, a fake story aired in Donbas showed a woman describing the crucifixion of a small boy by “Ukrainian nationalists.” The claims were discovered to have been a “complete fabrication.”