Tuesday the official social media account of the Russian Defense Ministry accused the U.S. of cooperating with ISIS. As proof, the Defense Ministry published screenshots which, it claimed, were drone images of an ISIS convoy on the ground last week. Sharp-eyed observers quickly noticed that one of the images came from a video game. From the Guardian:
Russia’s defence ministry has tried to pass off what appear to be stills from a mobile phone military simulation game as “irrefutable evidence” of cooperation between US forces and Islamic State militants in Syria.
The photographs were appended to social media posts from the ministry’s official accounts posted on Tuesday morning, which accused the Americans of providing air cover for an Isis convoy with the aim of using Isis fighters to further US interests.
The images have since been pulled down but here’s how they initially appeared:
So here's the English version of the caption @mod_russia put on a video game screenshot "ISIS automobile convoy leaves Abu Kamal for Syrian-Iraqi border (November 9th, 2017)" https://t.co/8uv2vbEHeQ pic.twitter.com/Ye7hX5HplH
— Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins) November 14, 2017
That image is actually a screenshot from a video game called AC-130 Gunship Simulator. Here’s a video promoting the game in 2015. This is apparently where the Russians grabbed their screenshot:
The video game wasn’t the only “proof” the Defense Ministry offered. They also provided several other aerial images which were from actual drone footage. However, all of them appear to be images from previous attacks on ISIS in 2016:
The other footage is from this old video of Iraqi airforce destroying an ISIS convoy in 2016 https://t.co/4kIeGR5VWu pic.twitter.com/jnpWmHveVA
— Gerards (@GerardsScw) November 14, 2017
Another alleged @mod_russia drone image accusing US of cooperating with IS was taken from a June 2016 Iraqi MoD video showing Iraqi Air Force bombing IS near Fallujah https://t.co/ybRbuAxA6w
(via @uckuduk1) pic.twitter.com/MtzjqAAStW— CIT (en) (@CITeam_en) November 14, 2017
Three other images @mod_russia used to accuse US of cooperating with ISIS were also taken from an Iraqi Air Force video shot near Fallujah in 2016 https://t.co/CcFf0NTotV
(h/t @GerardsScw) pic.twitter.com/2pfExD0e3i— CIT (en) (@CITeam_en) November 14, 2017
This video sums up the fakes:
— CIT (en) (@CITeam_en) November 14, 2017
The Defense Ministry has now deleted the tweets containing the fake photos and, according to Sputnik, is now claiming this was all a mistake by a civilian employee:
The Russian military said it published on Tuesday evening the original photos of Daesh (ISIS) convoy leaving the Syrian town of Abu Kemal hours after the wrong ones had been attached to a ministry’s statement.
The defense ministry is examining why a civilian employee attached the photographs to the statement about the collusion between the US-led coalition and the Daesh terrorist group in the area of Abu Kamal town in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province, according to the new statement.
It really is odd that a civilian did all of this without any authorization or verification from his superiors. In fact, it’s almost impossible to believe. The bottom line here is that Russia lies, frequently and shamelessly. But even as the claims have been shredded online, Russian media is repeating this using the fake photos. Unless you speak Russian, you won’t understand what the announcer is saying but the pictures are unmistakable.
— Chain Loader (@Chain_Loader) November 14, 2017
All you can do is laugh.
https://twitter.com/_Suppiluliumas_/status/930391837281579008
https://twitter.com/RichardKeppler1/status/930456590922211328
This tweet reads, “Here you can see the helplessness of the Islamists against the intervention of the coalition led by Russia.”
Là on voit le désarroi des islamistes face à l'intervention de la coalition menée par la Russie pic.twitter.com/AIbESj0vc1
— Marcos Brêtas (@MarcosBretas1) November 14, 2017
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