Russia’s state-controlled TV news network has revoiced a series of Putin’s key speeches using AI to show him delivering them in perfect lip-synched English.
In the clips, collected under the ‘Putin Speaks’ project, the broadcaster has given Putin a young voice with a distinct but not heavy Russian accent.
It is understood that the English versions, done with Putin’s full approval, are a bid to undermine Western translations of his speeches originally delivered in Russian.
President Putin is said to speak good English but rarely uses it in public and insists on translators at every meeting with the UK and USA.
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According to RT: “For understandable reasons, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his most important messages in Russian, with speakers of other languages relying on translations to hear his thoughts.
“RT has used modern algorithmic technologies to have the statesman’s messages delivered in English.”
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The Kremlin-funded broadcaster was banned in the UK when Ofcom withdrew its licence over its slavishly pro-Russian reports on the invasion of Ukraine.
It faced further bans across the US, Canada and the EU for its manipulative, one-sided reports of the invasion.
The clips cover Putin’s 20 years in power starting from his early years when it seemed he was getting closer to the West.
In one 2022 clip giving his reasons for invading Ukraine, he says: “I made a decision to carry out a special military operation.
“The main purpose of this operation is to protect people who for eight years now have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime.”
In an earlier clip from 2000, he talks about Russia’s place in Europe saying: “Russia is part of European culture and I cannot imagine my own country in isolation from Europe and what we often call the civilised world.
“So it is hard for me to visualise NATO as an enemy.”
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