Russian MoD Publishes Video Game Images as 'Evidence' of US Collusion with Islamic State

The Russian ministry of defense (MoD) on 14 November published images on its official social media accounts as 'evidence' of US of supporting the Islamic State terrorists instead of eliminating the fleeing convoys on the eastern shore of Euphrates.

The pictures turned out to be screen grabs from a promo video of a mobile phone game, AC-130 Gunship Simulator, several Twitter users pointed out including BellingCat reporter, Eliot Higgins on the same day.

Defenseworld.net had reported the Russian MoD claims quoting their official facebook page as a source for the story. BellingCat reported putting out screen grabs from the video of the mobile phone game. Other pictures posted by the MoD allegedly showing a drone image of Islamic State armed formations fleeing strikes of Russian aircraft and the Syrian Arab Army and leaving Abu Kamal for Wadi al-Sabha passage turned out to be from a June 2016 Iraqi MoD video showing Iraqi Air Force bombing IS near Fallujah as pointed out by other twitter users.

A side by side comparison of the Russian MoD image and the mobile phone game screenshot shows they are identical, with even part of the text from the promo video reading “DEVELOPMENT FOOTAGE. THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. ALL CONTENT SUBJECT TO CHANGE.” visible in the cropped image used by the Russian MoD as their “irrefutable evidence” Higgins reported.

The Russian MoD has since deleted the tweet and Facebook post.