What was claimed
An image shows Vladimir Putin and other leaders sharing a selfie at a global summit.
Our verdict
False. The photo is an AI-generated fake.
AAP FACTCHECK - A Russian embassy is sharing an image that appears to show Vladimir Putin taking a group selfie with other world leaders at a global forum, but the photo is an AI-generated fake.
The image includes an invisible digital watermark revealing it was made using artificial intelligence (AI) software.
Some of the leaders shown in the fabricated photo were also not at the event.
The image was posted to Instagram and X by Russia’s embassy in South Africa, and purports to show Putin surrounded by nine other global leaders at a BRICS summit, a forum of major emerging economies.
“#BRICS is a Superpower,” the post reads.
The 18th BRICS summit was held in India from September 12-13 and, according to the official guest list, was attended by senior politicians from more than 20 countries.
Among the leaders listed as attending were Putin, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, Chinese president Xi Jinping, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian, Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto.
The world leaders appeared together in a genuine group photo published on X on September 13 by the official BRICS 2026 account.
However, the group selfie posted by the Russian Embassy in South Africa is fake, and two people in the image were not even at the summit.
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, seen on the left of the image behind Putin, did not travel to India for the event and was instead represented by Brazil’s minister of foreign affairs, according to the official guest list.
UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, seen at the back of the image behind da Silva, was also not at the summit.
UAE was instead represented by Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to the guest list.
This was also stated in a press release from the Abu Dhabi media office.
OpenAI’s verification tool confirms the image was AI-generated using OpenAI software.
A similar BRICS group selfie is also being shared on social media, but is also fake.
The second image purports to show Putin surrounded by seven world leaders, including five of those seen in the AI-generated photo shared by the Russian Embassy in South Africa.
However, the image not only includes da Silva and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who were not at the event, but also former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in 2024.
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan also appears in the image, despite not attending the event.
Mr Erdogan is not listed on the official guest list and does not appear in the official photos from the event.
Turkey is not a member or partner country of BRICS. It requested to join the group in 2024 and was offered partner status that year, according to a Reuters report, but this has not yet progressed.
OpenAI’s verification tool confirms the second group selfie was also made using its AI-generation software.
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