The Video Doesn’t Show Chinese Immigrants Fleeing from Russia

Photo: A screenshot from the video

The video shared in the post we are fact-checking does not show Chinese immigrants fleeing from Russia following Putin’s offer of citizenship to foreigners fighting for Russia. It shows people traveling from Russia for New Year’s holidays. The video appeared a few days before Putin’s Decree on 4 January, which puts on the fast track the procedure for obtaining citizenship for foreigners who will join the Russian Army. In addition, Putin did not threaten to send illegal immigrants to Russia to fight in Ukraine

We are fact-checking a post on Facebook (screenshot here) claiming that Chinese immigrants are rushing to leave Russia since Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to send them to the front lines in Ukraine.

Putin knows how to deal with illegal immigrants. Putin threatened to send all illegal Chinese immigrants to the front lines in Ukraine. Airports are noting a sudden rise of flights back to China, states the post.

The post also shares a video from the social network Х (formerly: Twitter), which also suggests that immigrants are fleeing so that they will not be sent to the front lines. The post on Х says:

Putin threatened to send all illegal Chinese immigrants to the front lines in Ukraine. Airports have registered a sudden rise in the number of flights back to China.

On 4 January 2024, Putin signed a decree that allows the foreign citizens fighting for Russia in Ukraine to receive Russian citizenship, Reuters reported. The measure is an incentive for foreigners with military experience to join Russian military efforts.

Nevertheless, the video in the fact-checked post can be found on the social networks before 4 January 2024, when Putin signed the Decree. This video was released on 30 December 2023 on Douyin, the Chinese counterpart of TikTok, specifying that people were traveling out of Russia for the New Year celebrations. In a description of a different video from the same location, the user says that it showed Heihe river port in China, Reuters informs.

Russia’s effort to attract foreigners to join its Army is not something new, either.

Putin first allowed a speedy citizenship process for foreigners who signed contracts with the Russian Army in September 2022. At the time, immigrants who had been registered for at least one year and were involved in active military activities for at least six months, were eligible to apply for citizenship without being obliged to have lived in the country for five years in a row with a residence permit, states US Today.

In May 2023, Putin eliminated the requirement for foreigners to participate in six-month active hostilities before applying for citizenship. Putin’s Decree from 4 January sped up the process even more by declaring that decisions on the applications should last just one month, instead of the usual three months.

From the above-noted, we can conclude that the video shared in the fact-checked post is not showing Chinese immigrants fleeing from Russia after Putin’s offer of citizenship to foreigners who will fight for Russia. It shows people travelling from Russia for New Year’s holidays and the video appeared online a few days before Putin’s Decree from 4 January that sped up the road to citizenship for foreigners who will join Russia’s Army. Also, Putin did not threaten to send illegal immigrants to fight in Ukraine. Hence, the post is assessed as untrue.

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