Accounts on social media circulated a statement attributed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, alleging that Bashar al-Assad is preparing to open one of the largest hospitals specialized in eye surgery in Moscow in the coming days, after obtaining a postgraduate degree in ophthalmology from Sechenov University.
The fact-checking team reviewed open sources by searching with keywords in both Arabic and Russian, examined the official statements issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry and its minister Sergey Lavrov, and monitored reliable news agencies and media coverage. No statement by Lavrov or the Russian Foreign Ministry confirming this claim was found, nor any reliable reports indicating that Bashar al-Assad opened an eye-surgery hospital in Moscow or obtained a postgraduate degree in ophthalmology from Sechenov University. Tracing the source of the claim showed it originated from a page previously observed publishing unverified content and misleading claims with no official sourcing.
Why is this claim false?
Fabricated statements: A statement he never made was attributed to the foreign minister of a country, and on it was built a claim of a fictitious medical achievement attributed to Bashar al-Assad, in order to manufacture a false narrative and mislead audiences about events that do not exist.
