2012 Video of US-Canada Military Exercise Falsely Linked To Russia-Ukraine War

The video dates back to 2012 and shows a friendly match between US and Canadian defence personnel.

The joint military training exercise was conducted in Indiana, US.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

A viral video of military personnel participating in a match of tug of war is being shared across social media platforms, claiming that it shows a video of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers competing.

The claim comes amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

We found that the video is ten years old. It dates back to March 2012 and shows American and Canadian defence personnel participating in a modified version of tug of war towards the end of a joint military exercise between the neighbouring countries in Indiana, United States of America.

CLAIM

The three-minute video showing a match of tug of war between soldiers is being shared, claiming to show Russian and Ukrainian soldiers.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source:Facebook /Screenshot)

This post, shared by Facebook page 'Topic News' was viewed around 13 lakh times and shared by over 30,000 users.

More posts with the same claim can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We observed the video and noticed that the people in the video were speaking in English and not Russian or Ukrainian, which would be a more common tongue for people from either countries.

Towards the end of the video, we also noticed that the personnel wore uniform with flags resembling the American and Canadian flags.

(Note: Swipe right to view both photos.)

We spotted the American flag on one of the uniforms.

We spotted the Canadian flag on one of the uniforms. 

Taking a cue from this, we used keywords such as 'US Canada soldiers tug of war video' on Google. The results led us to a YouTube video titled 'One on one soldier Tug of War, Canada vs USA,' that was uploaded on 22 March, 2012.

The video was uploaded in 2012.

(Source: YouTube/Altered by The Quint)

The video's description noted that it showed a friendly, modified match of tug of war between Canadian and American defence personnel before the former departed from Indiana, US after a week-long joint military training exercise in March 2012.

It identified the Canadian soldier as Master Corporal John Celestino of 31 Canadian Brigade Group (31 CBG) who competed against a member of the US National Guard.

We found the same video in an article published by Business Insider on 24 March, 2012, and in an article by Canadian news outlet Windsor Star as well.

Clearly, the video does not show Russian and Ukrainian soldiers participating in a tug of war competition as claimed. The video is ten years old and shows a friendly match between Canadian and American defence personnel.

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