False Claims About Russian Military Exercise Near USA's Florida Go Viral

This video dates back to 2018 and is being falsely shared as recent.

Fact-check: An old video is being shared to claim that it shows Russian military activity 150 km off Florida coast.

(Photo: The Quint)

A video showing four missiles launching from a weapon system placed in an ocean is going viral on social media.

The claim states that it shows Russia conducting marine exercises with nuclear submarines just 150 km away from the coast of Florida, United States.

Some context: A fleet of Russian warships arrived in Cuban waters on Wednesday, 12 June, ahead of planned military exercises in the Caribbean.

• This move comes amid the heightened tensions between Russia and the US over the war in Ukraine.

An archive can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archives of similar claims can be seen here and here.)

What's the truth?: This video, which dates back to 2018, shows a Russian test missile launch in the White Sea, on Russia's northwest coast.

How did we find out the truth?: We performed a reverse image search on the keyframes on the viral video on Google, which led us to a YouTube video shared by Voice of America on 23 May 2018.

• The viral video also carried the logo of VOA. The details stated that it shows a Russian nuclear-powered submarine successfully test-firing four intercontinental ballistic missiles.

• The description added that the Russian navy said thesubmarine-launchedd the Bulava missiles in a single salvo from a submerged position in the White Sea, and the missiles launched reached their practice targets on the opposite side of Russia, the Kura shooting range on the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.

We also found reports carried by Defense News and attributed to the news agency The Associated Press stating that this exercise was the first simultaneous launch of four Bulava missiles, which can carry multiple nuclear warheads and have a range of up to 9,300 kilometers.

The reports dates back to 2018.

(Source: DN/Screenshot)

Conclusion: An old video is being shared to claim that it shows Russian military activity 150 km off Florida coast.

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