00:00Did pro-Russian supporters fly a Putin hot air balloon in Berlin?
00:08German social media users have been widely sharing a picture
00:12that they say shows supporters of Russia flying in a hot air balloon
00:16emblazoned with the face of President Vladimir Putin in Berlin.
00:20In the photo we can see Putin against the colours of the Russian flag,
00:24with the balloon flying over the Brandenburg Gate and the Fernsehturm, or TV Tower.
00:29One of the users sharing the picture appears to affiliate themselves with the far-right AFD party,
00:35adding captions that say that political sympathisers of Putin were responsible for the balloon,
00:40which was flying in full sight of the Reichstag.
00:43They also say that the police couldn't do anything about it because of the passengers in the basket,
00:48and that passers-by applauded and showed their approval of it.
00:51Many appear to have been taken in by the claims,
00:53with hundreds of shares and thousands of likes for this one post alone.
00:57However, the image is fake and has been digitally manipulated,
01:01and there are several clues showing us why.
01:03Looking closely, the balloon and basket appear more akin to illustrations
01:07rather than something you'd see in a photo,
01:10and its dimensions in comparison to its surroundings also look off.
01:14Additionally, we can compare the picture with Google Maps' street view imagery of the Brandenburg Gate.
01:18When put side by side, we can see that not only is the TV Tower unusually tall in the fake,
01:24but it's also in the completely wrong location compared to real life.
01:28There are no trees around, as the real photo shows,
01:32and the central pedestrianised zone is non-existent in the fake picture.
01:36Finally, there have been no official sightings or media reports of the supposed flight.
01:41A balloon of such magnitude and showing support for such a controversial figure
01:45would surely have garnered far more attention.
01:48For more investigations and fact-checks, head to euronews.com.
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