Two AI-generated videos falsely showing India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov making controversial statements have gone viral on social media. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has flagged both videos as fake and cautioned users against sharing such misleading content.
The first video falsely claims that Jaishankar expressed disappointment over a sarcastic response from a Russian minister during discussions on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It also suggests that the Russian official asked India to resolve its own issues with China before offering advice.
However, the original footage shows Jaishankar speaking about discussions held during a G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Atlanta. He addressed civilian shipping, grain exports and energy-related concerns in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. No sarcastic exchange with a Russian minister is mentioned.
The second manipulated video falsely portrays Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as saying that India’s trade relationship with Russia does not give New Delhi the right to comment on Moscow’s foreign policy. The original footage, however, shows Lavrov discussing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s willingness to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
MEA Issues Fake Alerts
The MEA Fact Check unit issued separate warnings on November 3, identifying both videos as fake. The Quint’s WebQoof fact-check also found that the clips contained AI-generated audio and altered visuals.
The videos were examined using tools including Hiya Deepfake Voice Detector, DeepFake-O-Meter and Hive Moderation. The latter flagged both clips as 99.4% likely to contain AI-generated speech.
The incident highlights how AI-generated videos can manipulate public statements and create misleading narratives around international relations. Users are advised to verify political and diplomatic claims through official sources before sharing viral videos.
