Did the Russian air force attack Wagner positions?Ĭlaim: This video is supposed to show a 'war in Russia' and further attacks by the Russian air force on 'Wagner PMC Ground Troops.'Īs with the previous tweets, users were quick to question the authenticity of this video. Using still images generated by the plugin, we ran a reverse image search and found several video platforms showing the exact same sequence, linked to the game 'Arma 3.' The game, from Bohemia Interactive, is said to offer players the chance to 'experience true combat gameplay in a massive military sandbox' set in the near future. To analyze the video, DW used the fake news debunker plugin by InVID & WeVerify. Here, too, the tweet isn't showing the real situation on the ground in Russia, but another scene from a video game.

Did the Russian Air Force attack Wagner fighters on the M4 highway?Ĭlaim: This video, viewed more than half a million times, allegedly shows the 'Russian Air Force Engaging Wagner PMC Ground Troops on the M4' highway that links Moscow and Rostov-on-Don, where Wagner fighters briefly seized a key military facility. Instead of a real assault, it shows a screengrab from a controversial mission known as 'No Russian,' in which the player takes part in a fictional massacre of civilians at a fictional international airport in Moscow. The blog features the same image seen in the viral tweet. A reverse image search quickly reveals the actual source of the image: a blog entry describing a scene in the 2009 game 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2' - one of the world's most popular first-person shooter games. However, the muzzle flashes from the weapons appear to be fake, resembling clouds rather than real blasts. The grainy, black-and-white snapshot is difficult to verify. In fact, the photo shows a scene from a video game.

This viral tweet is not proof of an attack by Wagner forces on one of Moscow's four international airports. Some, however, have actually been taken from computer games like 'Arma 3' or 'Call of Duty.' A Wagner attack on Moscow's airport?Ĭlaim: This photo, shared more than 600,000 times on Twitter as this article was being published, claims to show a still from a security camera recording a 'full assault on Moscow International Airport' by 'Wagner mercenaries.' Since the weekend, countless photos and videos have been circulating online, allegedly showing battles between Wagner mercenaries and Russian troops. Prigozhin apparently wanted to overthrow the Russian defense minister - and possibly even more. After Saturday's surprising about-face following an alleged coup attempt by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner Group, the world is still looking for answers.

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