Misleading claim about Putin proving Jesus was from Africa

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Mohamed Dauda kamara

Claim: A Sierra Leonean Facebook page, Zainab Natural Remedy, posted a video alleging that Putin has proven that Jesus was from Africa. 

Verdict: Misleading! DUBAWA found no evidence that Putin proved Jesus was from Africa. Also, the claim was formed from an unrelated video posted by Daily Mail World during Putin’s unexpected visit to Kherson in 2023. 

Full Text

In July 2025, a Russian news outlet, Meduza, reported that the Russian Supreme Court had imposed a ban on what they described as “international movement of satanists.”

Meduza further reported that Russian prosecutors had said the “international movement of satanists” is based on an extremist ideology deeply derived from hatred and hostility toward traditional religious faiths. The ideology is said to be tied to radical nationalism and neo-Nazism. 

According to Politico, in November 2023, Russia has also imposed a stringent ban on non-existent “international LGBT movement,” including another Supreme Court ban on fictitious movements like the “Columbine international youth movement,” and the “anti-Russian separatist movement.”

However, a Sierra Leonean Facebook page, Zainab Natural Remedy, posted a video, alleging that the Russian President Vladimir Putin has proven that Jesus Christ was an African after imposing a ban on the “satanic churches” in Russia. 

In the video, the original claimant can be heard saying: “Putin has introduced a black Jesus, and he is saying that the picture from the 15th Century proved that Jesus was not white. But Jesus was black, and he was from Africa.”

As of August 11, 2025, when the claim was posted, it had already gained 345 likes, 25 comments, and 106 shares. 

The claim made inroads among social media users, with the majority believing it. 

Screenshots of the comments. 

DUBAWA decided to fact-check the claim due to its potential to mislead the public.

Verification

Firstly, DUBAWA conducted a Google keyword search and found no evidence to support the claim.  

Secondly, we used Google Reverse Image to analyze part of the video. We found that Daily Mail World uploaded the original video to YouTube in 2023 during Putin’s visit to Kherson, a city occupied by Russian troops in Ukraine. 

In the first frame of the video, Putin was welcomed from his helicopter. In the second frame, he is seen opening an ancient box with an icon or artefact resembling a “black Jesus.”

In the video, however, Putin neither said the “icon” was a black Jesus nor said it was from Africa, even though the icon resembled a black Jesus. 

Our key observation of the video showed that the claimant took the incident out of context to form a narrative. 

Further research on the archive of a Russian state-owned news outlet, Tass, showed that Putin had gifted the “icon replicas” to his troops in 2023 during his visit to Kherson.  

Tass reported that the icon, “The Savior Not Made By Hand,” was bought in the United States from a private collection. 

The icon, which resembles a black Jesus, has a deep connection with the Russian military, as it’s used for protection in war. 

The original icons had belonged to Pyotr Vannovsky, Russia’s minister of war in the late 1800s.

A press release also published by the Kremlin in 2023 proved that Putin had given copies of the “Saviour Not Made By Hand” icon to the military. Yet, we found no report that Putin “proved Jesus was from Africa” or said anything related to Jesus being from Africa. 

What is the symbolic purpose of Saviour Not Made By Hand to the Russian Military? 

According to ARTEFACT, the “Saviour Not Made By Hand” symbolises Jesus Christ in the Russian Iconographic tradition. It has existed since the 17th century. 

The iconographic composition of the “Saviour Not Made by Hands” is from an ancient apocryphal legend (a non-canonical text). Christ’s face is either painted within a halo or depicted on a ubrus, a cloth. Angels can sometimes hold the fabric, as in the icon from the Tomsk Museum.

Based on the historic records provided by ARTEFACT, Abgar, the ruler of ancient Edessa, which is presently an area on the border of Syria and Turkey, fell ill with leprosy. 

After finding out that “only a miracle” could save him, he sent his servant, Ananias, to deliver a letter to Jesus Christ seeking healing. Ananias, an artist, painted a portrait of the Saviour and brought it to Edessa, in case Jesus Christ himself did not wish to come. Ananias could not paint Christ because a crowd surrounded him. Thereafter, Christ, who had realised Ananias’ intentions, washed his face with water and wiped it with a cloth, on which his image appeared. 

Was Jesus Christ from Africa? 

No! According to the New Testament, Matthew 2:13-15 (NIV), Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, which is located in present-day Israel, part of the Middle East. While he spent some time in Egypt as a child, his family fled there to escape King Herod, and his origins and life are primarily associated with the Judea and Galilee regions.

Therefore, there is no sufficient evidence that Christ was from Africa.

 However, the “Savior Not Made By Man” icon, which represents the image of Christ, was being designed worldwide. For instance, the University of South Carolina published that the image of Christ was not restricted to Europe, citing 16th—and 17th-century pictures of Christ found in Ethiopian and Indian features. 

Although Pan-Africanists have pushed the idea that the Western ideology of Christianity is a deeply European-imported religion to foster colonisation, it is still unclear whether Christ originated from Africa.

Conclusion

Our thorough investigation found that the claimant had taken the Daily Mail video out of context. There is no evidence supporting the claim that Putin proved Jesus was from Africa despite opening an ancient box that had an icon which resembled a black Jesus. Also, we found that the images of Christ were made in the European, Ethiopian, and Indian styles.