Kremlin’s ‘Hollywood-style fake news factory: Moscow is accused of producing movie-like propaganda to inflame tensions with Ukraine
- Recent news bulletins from Russia have shown disputed footage of ‘shelling’
- The West warned that Russia would use fake news as reason to invade Ukraine
- Latvia’s foreign minister said the fake news operation was like ‘a Hollywood film’
Moscow was accused last night of producing ‘fake news’ like Hollywood movies to inflame tensions with Ukraine.
News bulletins in Russia yesterday were full of reports of shelling and other apparent provocations by Ukraine that were unverified or denied by the West and Kiev.
The West has long warned that Vladimir Putin would invent ‘false flag’ incidents giving him an excuse to invade Ukraine.
News bulletins in Russia yesterday were full of reports of shelling and other apparent provocations by Ukraine that were unverified or denied by the West and Kiev
Moscow claimed yesterday it had killed five Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ who allegedly crossed the border to stage an attack.
It also said a Ukrainian shell had destroyed a border facility used by Russia’s Federal Security Service in the Rostov region on the frontier between the two countries
But experts said digital locators embedded in online videos about the supposed incidents showed both had been filmed in the same area, despite Russian claims that they took place far apart.
Latvia’s foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics told Bloomberg: ‘It’s all made up like a Hollywood movie.’ And Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba took to social media to deny Moscow’s claims, writing: ‘Russia, stop your fake-producing factory now.’
Moscow claimed yesterday it had killed five Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ who allegedly crossed the border to stage an attack
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said there had been a ‘proliferation of false flag operations, propaganda stunts and Russian news outlets carrying fictitious allegations’.
Social media experts have debunked several videos put out by Moscow by analysing embedded data. For example, footage of a car allegedly loaded with explosives to attack Ukrainians fleeing to Russia had data showing it had been filmed in 2019.
Ukraine has even accused Russia of taking corpses from morgues to use in incidents of fake attacks blamed on Kiev.
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