Foreign Affairs

Russian TV Caught Trying To Pass Off Video Game Footage As Combat Footage In Tribute To Its Troops

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Russia’s state propaganda arm honored the country’s troops Sunday, but something wasn’t quite right about some of the combat footage.

In a special broadcast for Defender of the Fatherland Day, Channel 1 celebrated Russian soldiers “who value duty and honor above their own lives.” Combat footage from Syria showed Russian airstrikes followed by the explosion of military vehicles seen through a sniper’s scope. It turns out one of the image came from a video game, according to the BBC.

Apparently, the image was from one of the games in the popular Arma series.

WATCH:

“Mistakes happen,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said Monday in response to the incident. The person responsible has reportedly been punished, according to The Washington Post.

This is not the first time Russia has “mistaken” video game footage for actual combat footage.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed in November it had “irrefutable” evidence the U.S. was cooperating with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

“This is the irrefutable evidence that there is no struggle against terrorism as the whole global community believes,” Russia asserted on Twitter, adding, “The US are actually covering the ISIS combat units to recover their combat capabilities, redeploy, and use them to promote the American interests in the Middle East.”

The images were actually from the mobile phone video game “AC-130 Gunship Simulator.”

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