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Multiple photos have been shared thousands of times on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Reddit with a claim that they show Russian President Vladimir Putin's house in Sochi, Russia. The claim is false: the pictures show a design concept of a house created by a Russia-based architect — not a real building. Two pictures of a building appeared on April 4, 2021, in this Twitter post, which has been shared more than 5,000 times. The tweet reads: Putin’s house in Sochi, Russia designed by Roman Vlasov #EvilBuildings. Screenshot of the misleading tweet, taken on April 13, 2021 Vladimir Putin is the current President of Russia. Sochi is a resort city in southwestern Russia. The pictures and other images of the building have been shared more than 11,000 times since they appeared here , here and here on Facebook; here on Instagram; and here on Reddit, alongside a similar claim. The photos have also been shared alongside a similar claim in other languages, such as in Malaysian here and here , in French here , in Japanese here , in Czech here and in Spanish here . The posts were shared shortly after Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny released this documentary on his YouTube channel about a palatial property on the Black Sea coast near Gelendzhik , Krasnodar Krai, Russia, which he claimed belongs to Putin. State-run Russian media dismissed the claim and billionaire Arkady Rotenberg, a Putin ally, said that he owns the property and plans to turn it into an apartment hotel, as reported by AFP here . Prior to that, other media, such as Reuters and the The New York Times , reported that Putin’s official residences are located in Novo-Ogaryovo , west of Moscow, and potentially Sochi as well. The claim in the misleading posts, however, is false. A reverse image search on Google found the pictures were posted here , here and here on January 25, 2021, on the Instagram account of Russia-based architect and designer Roman Vlasov . All three posts have a caption that reads: PUTIN HOUSE or a story about what his villa might look like By @_vlasov_roman_ . The captions also include hashtags #design and #concept, indicating the images did not show a real building. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Roman Vlasov (@_vlasov_roman_) When contacted by AFP, the architect confirmed in an email on April 8, 2021: I am the author of this project and that the work was just a concept. In my instagram account there is a description for this work, he wrote. And it says that this is my vision of the house of the President of my country, Vladimir Putin. I have not written anywhere that this house is his property. Below is a screenshot comparison of the pictures from the misleading post (L) and the genuine pictures (R): Screenshot comparison of the pictures from the misleading post (L) and the genuine Instagram pictures (R)
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