Fact check: Russian ad with picture of Joe Biden features Embassy phone number, not dementia facility

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·2 min read

The claim: Image shows Joe Biden in ad for Russian dementia facility

A March 11 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a Russian ad plastered on a streetside with President Joe Biden's photo on it.

"Russian dementia care facilities are using Biden on their poster," reads text within the post.

The Facebook post was shared more than 300 times in six days, while the original Truth Social post from "Students for Trump" founder Ryan Fournier garnered more than 600 shares in that same time. Similar versions of the post have been shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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Our rating: False

The poster isn't advertising a Russian dementia care facility. It provides emergency contact information for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Ad lists phone number for US Embassy

The ad features a picture of Biden hugging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his Feb. 20 visit to Kyiv. The Russian text on the ad translates to "Attention is important for older people," according to the Russian search engine Yandex.

USA TODAY was unable to verify the origin of the ad, but the phone number listed doesn't belong to a dementia care facility. It's an emergency contact number for the American Citizen Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.

Jenny Palmer, a spokesperson for the embassy, told USA TODAY in an email that while the poster shows the embassy's phone number, the organization didn't make it and has no knowledge of the poster's origin.

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USA TODAY reached out to the users who shared the post for comment.

The claim has also been debunked by PolitiFact.

Our fact-check sources:

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Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim Biden featured in Russian dementia facility ad

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