Russian President Vladimir Putin was not welcomed with a star-shaped flyover by U.S. fighter jets during his trip to Alaska. The video promoted by pro-Kremlin outlets was recorded under different weather conditions and bears no relation to his visit to the United States.
Kremlin-controlled outlets and social media accounts are pushing claims that U.S. fighter jets staged an aerial show “specially” for Vladimir Putin during his August 15 visit to Alaska. As supposed proof, videos have surfaced online purporting to show jets flying in formation to draw a star in the sky.
“Exclusive footage from Alaska. What the American media didn’t show yesterday. After the flyover of B-2 and F-35s, F-22s ‘performed’ a star in the sky over Elmendorf Air Base for the Russian president,” one widely shared post declared.
After the footage began circulating, StopFake reviewed whether Vladimir Putin had in fact been “greeted” with a star in the Alaskan sky. Unsurprisingly, the claim unraveled as a fabrication.
The planes shown in the propaganda video appear against nearly cloudless skies. Yet when Putin landed at Elmendorf-Richardson Air Base in Anchorage on August 15, the weather was overcast — a fact confirmed in multiple media broadcasts of the event. Coverage by the New York Post, in particular, shows the cloudy backdrop as a B-2 bomber and four fighters conducted a flyover following Putin’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Pinpointing the exact time and location of the propaganda footage is virtually impossible. The video shows little beyond a mountainous backdrop and a scattering of spectators. But StopFake notes that the sequence strongly resembles a performance by the Halcones aerobatic team of the Chilean Air Force at the FIDAE aerospace and defense exhibition in 2022. That event took place at Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, which, like Elmendorf Air Base in Alaska, sits near mountain ranges. Video from the aviation channel Nacho.Spotter captures the Halcones drawing the same five-pointed star, beginning and ending the maneuver in the same sequence as in the propaganda clip. Both recordings even show a small cloud beneath the figure, reinforcing the likelihood that the Alaskan “tribute” to Putin was in fact recycled footage from Chile.
Propaganda outlets have also accused U.S. media of deliberately concealing the supposed aerial display. But in reality, a large contingent of Russian state journalists traveled with Putin to Alaska—and none reported witnessing a star drawn in the sky. The narrative only surfaced a day later, circulating exclusively within Kremlin-aligned online channels after Putin had already left the United States.
StopFake has previously dismantled similar fabrications, including claims that Donald Trump allegedly saluted Putin during their meeting in Alaska.
