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A viral video circulating on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube features footage that purportedly shows Finnish tanks headed for the Russian border. However, it turns out that the footage actually shows the transporting of tanks taking part in a military exercise in the western part of the country, far from the border with Russia.
If you only have a minute
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Internet users have been sharing a viral video that falsely claims Finland is sending tanks to its border with Russia, to the east.
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In reality, the video footage shows tanks being transported by train to a military exercise currently wrapping up in the country’s west.
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Visual clues in the video enabled us to geolocate the scene, confirming that the train was actually travelling from east to west, away from Finland’s border with Russia.
Fact check in detail
This video, which was posted in French on Facebook on May 4 and garnered 12,000 views, shows a train transporting a dozen tanks.
English-speaking users shared other versions of the video on Facebook (like this post in English from May 4) and Twitter (like this one posted on May 3) and YouTube (like this one, posted May 3).
In recent months, tensions have been escalating between Helsinki and Moscow. After the fall of the USSR, Finland did not join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and remained officially neutral.
However, when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 of this year, public opinion in Finland swung towards joining NATO,…
Source : france24
