FACT CHECK: Did The Israelis Destroy A Russian Submarine?

Elias AtienzaAugust 11, 2022

A video shared on Facebook claims the Israeli military destroyed a Russian nuclear submarine.

Verdict: False

There is no evidence to suggest the Israeli military destroyed a Russian submarine.

Fact Check:

Relations between Russia and Israel have become strained amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to The Times of Israel. Russia’s Egyptian embassy criticized Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid for his comments about Russian war crimes in April and called out Israeli military operations in Gaza, the outlet reported.

The Facebook video, viewed more than 38,000 times, claims the Israeli military recently destroyed a Russian nuclear submarine. The video’s caption reads, “10 minutes ago! Israel Sestroyed (sic) the Russian Nuclear Submarine Kazan,” with the first minute of the video talking about the alleged incident. (RELATED: Are Russia And Azerbaijan At War With Each Other?)

However, there is no evidence a Russian nuclear submarine has recently been attacked by any country. Check Your Fact searched the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s website, press releases and social media accounts but found no mention of a recent strike against Russia. A search of press releases and social media posts from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs also failed to yield any results related to a Russian nuclear submarine being destroyed. There are no credible news reports about the alleged attack and the Facebook video offers no evidence to corroborate the claim.

While there is no evidence the two countries have fought each other recently, Russia did allegedly fire on Israeli jets returning from a mission over Syria in May, according to The Times of Israel. The missiles reportedly failed to lock onto the targets and did not present a major danger to the Israeli jets, the outlet reported.

Check Your Fact has reached out to the Israeli Ministry of Defense for comment and will update this article if a response is provided.