‘Jihadi John’ is Vladimir Putin, According to CNN

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a cabinet meeting at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. The meeting focused on the government’s anti-crisis plan. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Nikolsky, Presidential Press Service)

After the identity of ISIS terrorist Jihadi John was revealed on Thursday, mainstream media outlets were clamoring to get the story up in a timely fashion.

However, it appears that CNN had some technical issues and displayed a photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin instead of the ISIS extremist.

The video can be seen here:

“Jihadi John” was determined by U.K. intelligence officials as Mohammed Emwazi, a London native.

British counterterrorism officials wouldn’t confirm the man’s identity in media reports, but his name was leaked. 

Masked, knife-wielding “Jihadi John” appeared in a video released in August showing the slaying of American journalist James Foley, denouncing the West before the killing. Former IS captives identified him as one of a group of British militants that prisoners had nicknamed “The Beatles.”

A man with similar stature and voice also featured in videos of the killings of American journalist Steven Sotloff, Britons David Haines and Alan Hemming and U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig.

According to The Washington Post and the BBC, Emwazi was born in Kuwait, grew up in west London and studied computer programming at the University of Westminster. The university confirmed that a student of that name graduated in 2009.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.