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French TV regrets about incorrect report on Putin’s ‘tiger hunt’

The report on how world leaders spend their summer vacations, aired by France-2 on August 10, states that the Russian president was "hunting tigers in Siberia
Russian President Vladimir Putin  Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Russian President Vladimir Putin
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

PARIS, August 15. /TASS/. The top management of the France-2 TV channel has admitted a mistake in its news report, which alleged that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "hunting tigers" during his summer vacation, the Valeurs actuelles magazine reported on Tuesday.

The report on how world leaders spend their summer vacations, aired by France-2 on August 10, states that the Russian president was "hunting tigers in Siberia and swimming in icy waters of Lake Baikal." The report was illustrated by a photo of Putin stroking a tiger, which is lying on the ground with its eyes closed.

Facebook users were the first to spot the inconsistency in the report, which later sparked an online discussion on how accurate the information was. Later, it became known that the image was made back in 2008, when Vladimir Putin was visiting the Ussuri nature reserve in Russia’s Far East.

As the Russian president and a group of scientists went on an expedition into the forest, they were informed that a five year-old tiger was caught in a trap, set for research purposes.

When the group arrived on the site, they saw that the animal was about to break free from the trap, and Putin used a gun loaded with tranquilizers to sedate it. The animal was released after researchers put a satellite collar on it.

Commenting on the incident, France-2 press service said it regretted the mistake.

"This is not fake news, it’s just an involuntary error," the company said in an official statement.

The channel also admitted the mistake during its evening news broadcast on Monday.

"We said on Friday evening that Vladimir Putin was hunting tigers in Siberia. In fact, the photograph was made during an exhibition to observe wild tigers. Therefore, there has been a mistake in the report," the news presenter said.