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Russian propaganda experts stuff up conspiracy theory evidence

by on16 November 2017


Putin’s team uses a computer game because Americans will never spot the difference

The Russian government has been cynically manufacturing evidence to encourage US conspiracy theorists but may have been caught out by using some dodgy proof.

Russia's Ministry of Defence has posted what it called "irrefutable proof" of the US aiding so-called Islamic State – but used images taken from the smartphone game AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron as evidence.

The ministry claimed the image showed an IS convoy leaving a Syrian town last week aided by US forces.

The video game image seems to be taken from a promotional video on the game's website and YouTube channel, closely cropped to omit the game controls and on-screen information. In the corner of the image, however, a few letters of the developer's disclaimer can still be seen: "Development footage. This is a work in progress. All content subject to change."

Realising it had cocked up, the ministry said an employee had mistakenly attached the photo. A later press release said it had launched a probe into the actions of a civilian employee of one of its subdivisions who "mistakenly attached photos" to the first version of its statement. The idea is that if it implies that the person was part of a conspiracy to tarnish the evidence then conspiracy nuts will believe that too.

Hours later, the ministry published an updated statement with a different set of images, which it also said proved their claims.

It repeated the claim it was "irrefutable evidence that US are actually covering Isis [IS] combat units to recover their combat capabilities, redeploy, and use them to promote the American interests in the Middle East".

Russia alleges the US is co-operating with so-called Islamic State by providing cover to fleeing IS militants. In a Facebook post, the ministry said it liberated the town of Abu Kamal last week alongside the Syrian army.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition Col Ryan Dillon said the Russian allegations were "about as accurate as their air campaign.

"I certainly can't verify, but I've seen the report that one of the pictures came from a video game. So, again that is pretty consistent with what we have seen come out of Russian MoD, as being baseless, inaccurate and you know, completely false", he said.

Last modified on 16 November 2017
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