MOSCOW — The Kremlin is downplaying the Russian Defense Ministry’s blunder when it backed its allegations of the U.S. colluding with the Islamic State group in Syria with a screenshot from a video game.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Wednesday that “mistakes happen,” adding that the Russian military quickly corrected the error and punished the culprit.
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The Defense Ministry on Tuesday backed its claim that the U.S. has protected ISIS militants in Syria with images showing a convoy of vehicles.
The Bellingcat investigative group quickly noted that one of the images came from mobile phone game “AC-130 Gunship Simulator,” while the rest were taken from a 2016 video showing an Iraqi air force raid on ISIS.
The ministry then removed the images and blamed the mistake on a civilian contractor.
