FACT CHECK: Video Claims To Show Africans Joining Russian Army

A video shared on Facebook claims to show Africans joining the Russian military.

Screenshot/Threads

Verdict: Misleading

The video shows Angolan troops in Siberia. They are not joining the Russian military.

Fact Check:

Ukraine is increasing its production of long-range drones and has been hitting Russian oil refineries and other locations in Russia, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Social media users are sharing a video of black men in military fatigues, claiming it shows Africans joining the Russian military. One user wrote, “Huge group of African[s] join the Russian army.”

This claim is misleading. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the video, while taken in Russia, shows Angolan military cadets in Omsk, which is located in Siberia.

A longer version of the video was posted to YouTube in February 2018. The video is titled “Angolan soldiers danced on Cathedral Square in Omsk.”
 
“Military personnel from South Africa congratulated Omsk residents on Defender of the Fatherland Day,” reads the video description.

There are other indicators that these are Angolan troops. The flag carried by the man is red and black and appears to have a bladed weapon in the center, matching the Angolan flag. The men in the video also appear to have the flag of Angola on their jackets.

This celebration was covered by Russian and other media outlets in February 2018. Defender of the Fatherland Day is the annual celebration of the Russian Armed Forces, according to Wikipedia.

AFP Fact Check also debunked this claim. (RELATED: Facebook Post Falsely Claims The U.S. Delta Force Arrested Klaus Schwab)