Vladimir Solovyov, Russian state television host and staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine, appeared to be complaining on his show about being drafted into the Russian army.
Solovyov, the host of the Russian State TV show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, is one of the most prominent public figures in the country and has previously called for mass mobilization amid the Russian army’s failures in Ukraine.
More recently, amid reports of drunk, disabled, aging or otherwise unfit men getting called up into the army, the tone of state media coverage of mobilization has shifted, with guests and presenters voicing concerns about the process.
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The Claim
A clip of the host’s speech, with an English translation in subtitles, was retweeted on Twitter by Rick Wilson, the Lincoln Project co-founder, with a caption: “Oh. MY. GOD. Magic.”
In the video, Solovyov says, according to the subtitles: “This man comes to my door and gives me mobilization papers.
“I tell him, ‘What’s your problem? What’s your problem? You know who I am?
“He tells me ‘You’re on the list. Here’s your contract.’
“How many men will be called up on this draft? One million to be drafted.”
The original tweet gathered more than 20,000 interactions, while the Wilson post (archived here) and other retweets gathered thousands more engagements. But was the subbed translation correct?
The Facts
There is no evidence that Vladimir Solovyov has been called up into the Russian army. The video is actually a deliberate mistranslation.
In reality, the discussion in the video is focused on the issues around mobilization and is a general debate about efforts to conscript inexperienced fighters while failing to open a pathway for former recruits willing to sign up and other volunteers to join.
“Look at the conditions for those who are eligible for partial mobilization. Create the same conditions for the volunteers—god knows there are many more of them,” Solovyov tells his guests. “Give them the debt repayment break, give them job guarantees, give them a salary on par with professional soldiers.”
Then Margarita Simonyan, the head of state broadcaster RT and guest on the show, weighs in with a comment on the “millions of security officers and guards” who instead of being deployed to the frontlines are used domestically: “They send seven officers to arrest some old pedophile in a godforsaken village. Are you saying we don’t have enough people [to draft in]?”
The discussion continues, with Solovyov complaining about the lack of vetting for conscription, with notices handed out to people without checking their military service status.
“Because—and I probably shouldn’t say this—I would bring back the generals and lieutenants first?” he says, before being interrupted. He then suggests sending the enlistment officers themselves to the frontline.
Throughout the video, the translation continues in a similarly misleading vein, picking out individual words correctly but twisting the meaning.
As the account description—”We do our part, one meme at the time”—on RealSubtitles hints, it is in fact a parody account with satirical mistranslations subbed into real videos (targeting mostly Russian state TV and officials).
There is no evidence or reporting to suggest that Solovyov, who has continued to appear on Russian television on a daily basis, has been drafted into the army, even as he has become increasingly critical of the procedural aspects of Russia’s “partial mobilization.”
Newsweek has reached out to Solovyov for comment.
The Ruling
Satire.
Vladimir Solovyov did not get drafted into the Russian army. A video clip from his show purporting that he admitted to receiving a conscription notice is misleadingly subtitled by a satirical Twitter account.
FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK