When it comes to Russia and the US, relations haven't gone over too smoothly between the two nations. The former has been accused of meddling in the last democratic elections in the United States, possibly with the help of Pikachu. In a bid to prove that the country led by Donald Trump isn't the pinnacle of virtue, Russia has compiled video and photographic evidence of its rival allegedly helping Islamic State, something it called 'irrefutable'.
In-game footage seen left, and the cropped image from the Russian report, right.
One issue with this so-called 'irrefutable' evidence though, is that some of it appears to have been taken directly from a video game called AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron. The footage which allegedly shows the US aiding IS convoys trying leave a Syrian town was quickly torn to shreds after the developer's watermark was spotted in the corner of one of the cropped images. The Russian Ministry quickly refuted allegations that the documents were 'fake news', by stating that it was placed there by accident, initiating an internal investigation.
Beyond that, the Conflict Intelligence Team fact-checking group further pointed out that other parts of the briefing were from an attack by the Iraqi military on the insurgents, way back in June 2016. Trying to save face, the Russians updated its dossier with a bundle of new images, this time claiming that it really did prove its previous allegations.
In a response, the spokesperson of the US-led coalition, Colonel Ryan Dillon noted:
"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."
AC-130 Gunship Simulator is based on the implementation of a weapon going by the same name, during the Vietnam War - which is quite far detached from the Middle-East.
Source and image: BBC
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