The host of Vesti Nedeli, Dmitry Kiselyov, anticipating the story of Joe Biden's visit to Ireland and the UK, did not miss the opportunity to laugh at the president's blunder:
“Northern Ireland hosted Joe Biden this week. The Prime Minister of Great Britain personally came to meet the American President at the military airfield in Belfast. But Biden dismissively dismissed Rishi Sunak, mistaking him for either a lackey or a porter. Instead of the prime minister, he ended up greeting some general.”
In confirmation of these words, footage was shown in the story of Alexander Khabarov, where Biden actually passes by Sunak and addresses the military saluting him. Khabarov, by the way, immediately explains that this is not “some kind of general”, but the Lord Lieutenant, that is, the representative of the British crown in Northern Ireland, David McCorkell. He is not a general at all, his military rank is colonel. And it was not at a military airfield, but at Belfast International Airport.
These, however, are trifles, although the presenter could first familiarize himself with the plot of his correspondent. More importantly, Biden did not allow this blunder at all. Chicago Sun-Times journalist Rummana Hussain, in an article "The deceptive Biden video is not a diplomatic oversight, but just another rubbish from Twitter" explained :
“I almost got caught in a viral video showing President Joe Biden walking past British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak without speaking to him. Too many of us are being scammed on social media. <…>
When footage emerged of the president getting off his plane on Tuesday, a misleading segment of the video went viral, drawing laughter from some and cringing at others around the world. In the edited video, Biden gently nudges the waiting British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, before saluting the representative of King Charles III and hugging the American ambassador to the United Kingdom. In fact, as seen in the full footage, Biden briefly spoke to Sunak and shook his hand before greeting other dignitaries.
Instead of bothering to study the entire video, many Twitter users, including several journalists, ended up sharing the edited video and concluding that Biden did not recognize Sunak on the runway at Belfast International Airport.
Right-wing Americans suddenly screamed racism, outraged that Democrat Biden had the audacity to snub a swarthy man. Some leftists, also caught in the deceptive footage, were equally perplexed.”
The moment of greeting and handshake between Biden and Sunak is perfectly visible in the Sky News report:
Obviously, the video shown in Khabarov's story was edited by some Biden ill-wisher, most likely a supporter of the Republican Party.
Kiselev was not the first to allow himself to gossip about Biden's "miss" on the Russia 1 channel. This was first done on the April 13 episode of 60 Minutes. But then the Chicago Sun-Times had not yet published its exposure of the fake video, which appeared on April 15, on the eve of the release of "Vesti Nedeli". What in the case of 60 Minutes could turn out to be a conscientious error, in Vesti Nedeli is either an unprofessional approach to fact-checking or a deliberate deception of the viewer.
