What was claimed
An image of gridlocked cars shows a traffic jam of people leaving Crimea over fuel shortages.
Our verdict
This is incorrect. The image does not show people fleeing Crimea. We matched it to a video posted by an Armenian news outlet on 19 April, showing a traffic jam in Armenia.
An image of gridlocked cars on a motorway has been shared with misleading claims it shows a traffic jam of people leaving Crimea over fuel shortages.
The picture has been shared on Facebook with the caption: “Exodus…. The traffic jam to leave Crimea on the last road out has turned into a parking lot, with cars starting to run out of fuel.”
It shows one side of a road filled with queueing traffic, with very few vehicles travelling in the opposite direction.
Although there have been fuel shortages in Russian-occupied Crimea in recent days amid attacks by Ukraine, and reportedly huge queues of cars on the Kerch (Crimean) Bridge, this picture does not show those events.
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We matched the image to a moment in a video posted by an Armenian news outlet, with a description stating it depicted a traffic jam in Armenia behind a motorcade for the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Additionally, the video was posted on YouTube on 19 April, months prior to the current fuel shortages.
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