Vladimir Putin “orders destruction of all COVID-19 vaccines in Russia.”

A recent blog post claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin “ordered the destruction of all COVID-19 vaccine stockpiles on Russian soil” because of “an undeniable connection” between the vaccine and “a sudden surge of HIV infections in vaccinated persons.”

“Putin orders destruction of all COVID-19 vaccines in Russia,” the March 4 post’s headline says.

But that’s incorrect. 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

We found no credible news reports or other sources to corroborate this post’s claims. 

Plus, Real Raw News has a disclaimer saying it contains “humor, parody and satire,” though the author has defended his stories as truth. PolitiFact reporting has found the website regularly publishes false, fantastical stories authored by someone using a pseudonym.

COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain HIV, as some people have claimed, nor cause AIDS.

And on March 5, a day after the publication of this blog post alleging that Putin was destroying all COVID-19 vaccines, the country’s health ministry announced on Telegram that it had recently sent more batches of the Sputnik V vaccine to Moscow and other regions that had reported low stockpiles.

We rate this post Pants on Fire!