On February 27, Russia’s Sputnik Satellite News Agency ran a news item in its Chinese section with the following headline: “Biden: World War 3 could be an alternative to sanctions against Russia because of Ukraine.”
The report cites an interview between U.S. President Joe Biden and actor, political talkshow host Brian Taylor Cohen on February 26.
Sputnik quotes Biden as saying:
"You have two options: start World War 3 and go to war with Russia, or make sure that the country that grossly violates international law will pay for it all."
The Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece Global Times shared the Sputnik report on the Chinese social website Weibo. Global Times also started a hashtag – "#Biden said sanctions against Russia or start World War III" – which has been viewed 4.7 million times as of March 1.
However, the Sputnik article provides no context to Biden’s quote, and the conclusion reached in the headline is false. Why? Biden was not speaking of a future possibility of war with Russia. Rather, he was defending the United States decision to impose sanctions as an alternative to military action.
During the interview, Cohen insinuated that sanctions had not deterred previous Russian aggression.
“In terms of these sanctions, you know, we’ve seen sanctions get imposed on Putin after Georgia in 2008, after Crimea in 2014 — election hacking in 2016…”
At that moment, Biden cut Cohen off by saying “nothing like this though.”
Biden continues:
“Look. You have two options: start...
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