Several states have called for Russia to be assigned the “state sponsor of terrorism” status, though the Biden Administration has for now pushed back against those plans.

And with Dutch investigators reportedly mulling a Nuremberg-style trial for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the Moscow leadership for their alleged crimes against Ukraine, the Russian leader’s past statements may come back to haunt him.

The Claim

A 2014 video from a Vladimir Putin press conference has been shared on Twitter and Reddit, with one of the most prominent posts coming from the Advisor to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Anton Geraschenko.

“This video is from 2014. Putin talks about a live shield made of Ukrainians in case of war,” Gerashchenko wrote.

“Now, with ‘forced evacuation’ of Ukrainians from Kherson and ‘forced mobilization’ on occupied territories we see that he has been preparing for this madness for a long time.”

The tweet, posted on October 19, received nearly 300,000 engagements, including 6,200 likes.

The Facts

The video of the interview is genuine and was recorded in March 2014 during Putin’s press conference in his presidential residence in Novo-Ogaryovo.

The conversation centered around the recent events in Crimea, which was taken over by “men in green,” groups of soldiers without insignia that Russia initially denied being connected to, claiming they were instead members of the local resistance opposing the “Kyiv coup.”

Putin would later go on to admit that the insurgents did in fact receive support from the Russian military, while the consensus among Western defense ministries was that the operation was organized and carried out under the Kremlin’s direct supervision and involvement.

Among other prominent claims during the interview, which is fully transcribed on the Kremlin’s official website (archived here), was that Russia does not plan to annex Crimea and that it is “not planning to and will not go to war with the Ukrainian people.”

Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia not long after the interview, on March 21, 2014. Russia then launched its efforts to foment conflict in the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine, which has been simmering for the following eight years.

In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, resulting in a protracted war that continues today.

Returning to the clip used in a tweet, it comes toward the end of Putin’s interview, where he is asked about the potential for a direct military conflict between the two nations.

“There is a Ukrainian army, after all,” a reporter clarifies.

“Listen to me carefully,” Putin responds, translated from Russian. “I want you to understand me clearly—if we do take a decision [to involve the military], it will be only to protect the Ukrainian people. And let anyone among [Ukraine’s] servicemen try to shoot their own people, behind whom we will stand. Not in front of them, but behind them. Let them try to shoot women and children! I want to see who would give such an order in Ukraine.”

It is not clear whether the Russian president meant that Russian troops would be ‘hiding’ behind the civilians, used “stand behind” in a metaphorical sense, or simply a gaffe, but as it stands the quote is translated and attributed correctly.

The video of Putin’s response has widely circulated on Russian and Ukrainian-language channels and pages since 2014, including on YouTube and VK.

Newsweek has reached out to the Kremlin for comment.

The Ruling

True.

The video of Putin saying Russian troops would “stand behind the people,” and dare Ukrainian troops to “shoot their own people” is genuine. The statement was made during his 2014 press conference.

While it is unclear if he implied using them as human shields, he did specify “not in front of them, but behind,” further supporting that interpretation.

FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK