Social media users are sharing reports claiming to be quoting Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013. Reuters, however, found no evidence that Putin gave this speech.
The reports (here, here), one of which was posted in 2013 but will be shared again in December 2020, claim that Putin delivered an anti-Muslim speech to the Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) on August 4, 2013. , for which he received a standing ovation of five minutes. The caption says: “This is one time that our elected leaders must heed the advice of Vladimir Putin”.
Putin is quoted as saying: “Russia lives like Russians. Any minority from anywhere, if he wants to live in Russia, work and eat in Russia, must speak Russian and respect Russian laws. If they prefer sharia law and lead the lives of Muslims, we advise them to go to the places where it is the state law. Russia does not need Muslim minorities […] We can learn better from the suicides of America, England, Holland and France if we want to survive as a nation. […] The Russian customs and traditions are not compatible with the lack of culture and primitive ways in which sharia and Muslims exist […] the Muslim minorities are not Russians. ”
Users who shared the post in December 2020 added captions supporting this post, such as: ‘Why would he not say it? […] There is no harm in the honesty of this speech! ‘(here); “What Americans (sic) Should Do” (here); “It is as it should be here” (here); and “Aaaamen !!!!” (here)
On the official Kremlin website, which contains transcripts of all public remarks made by Putin (here), there is no evidence that Putin delivered any speech on August 4, 2013 (here). There is also no report that he made these comments on February 4, 2013 (here) as other Facebook posts (here) claimed.
Reuters searched these transcripts in Russian and English for keywords and phrases from the comments on social media, but found no evidence that Putin quoted the anti-Muslim remarks here.
Reuters found no online news reports related to the alleged speech.
Putin told Russia Today in 2013 that new citizens or those who wanted to become Russian citizens should respect Russian traditions, laws, culture and history, which seems like the second sentence of the speech quoted in the social media reports (here) word. . When he says that, however, Putin does not specifically mention Muslims.
The website of the fact-checking Snopes found a speech delivered by Putin in 2012, expressing the same sentiment about learning Russian and respecting Russian laws (here). Putin said: “We need to create conditions for immigrants to integrate normally into our society, learn Russian and, of course, respect our culture and traditions and obey Russian law. In this regard. “There is also no specific mention of Muslims in the speech. (Here)
PolitiFact also unveiled this alleged speech in 2017 (here).
Reuters has found examples of Putin making positive comments about Islam and Muslims. For example, in 2013, Putin said, “Muslims are Russians, our citizens, and this is their only home” (here). In 2016, in response to a question about the Islamic State, he said he preferred the word Islam not to be used next to the word terrorism (here) and in 2019 he said: ‘Islam and Christianity, like others world religions, are based on fundamental human values of lasting importance – on grace and love for the neighbor, on justice and respect for the individual. ”(Here)
In Russia live about 20 million Muslims and Islam is the second largest religion after Orthodox Christianity (here). The country has waged two wars against Chechen separatists in the predominantly Muslim region of the North Caucasus, which has experienced a long Islamic uprising, where some rebels have declared allegiance to the Islamic State (here, here). Russia has been hit in the past by bombings carried out by Islamic rebels from the North Caucasus, although Moscow has largely crushed their uprising (here, here).
The comments quoted in the social media reports are somewhat in line with a statement falsely attributed to former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, which is being reviewed here by Reuters.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
VERDICT
Untrue. There is no evidence in the official transcripts of Putin’s public remarks or on news sites suggesting that Putin delivered the anti-Muslim speech posted on social media.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here.