Ukraine Propaganda - BBC Tries To Sell Telegram Rumors That Make No Sense

 

moon of alabama 

Do they really think that the people are dumb enough to believe such shit?

Russian media: retired Russian major general killed in skies over Ukraine

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Which 'Russian media' one might asks:

A [Russian] fighter has been shot down in the skies over Ukraine, and Kanamat Botashev, a retired Major General of the Russian Air Force, was killed.

Source: Russian edition of BBC with reference to Botashov's three former subordinates

Details: Subordinates who had kept in touch with Botashev after leaving the service agreed to comment on condition of anonymity for reasons of personal safety.

Oh, the 'Russian media' is in fact the Russian language site of the BBC World Service which is financed and directed by the British government's Foreign Office. The same BBC World Service which since March has suspended its operation and which had its its website blocked in Russia.

That BBC World Service will surly have reliable sources for making such nonsense claims:

One of Botashev's former colleagues confirmed that a retired general was carrying out missions in a Su-25 aircraft in Ukraine.

In one of the Russian Telegram channels, this participant reported on Botashev's death ...

'Russian Telegram channels' are anonymous and also widely used by Ukrainians. They are often unreliable.

The picture above is somewhat curious too. Its resolution is too low to read the name patch of the pictured officer who does totally not look like 63 year old retired man.

The plane the Ukrainians allegedly shot down was a Su-25 ground attack aircraft. Why then is the 'retired Major-General Botashev', should he actually exist, pictured in front of an Su-34, a supersonic fighter-bomber. According to Tineye the photo was first published on May 23 by a news site in Tbilisi, Georgia. There is no metadata in the picture and I am unable to find any caption for it.

The whole story makes absolutely no sense:

It is unclear how the 63-year-old retired general found himself at the controls of the Su-25 in Ukraine.
...
Botashev commanded a regiment of the Guards Air Base in Voronezh. His military career came to an end in June 2012, when he was accused of crashing a Su-27 fighter near Petrozavodsk. The general asked his friend-colonel to let him fly a Su-27, a flight permit he did not have.

So the dude was kicked out of the military? He hasn't flown military planes for 10 years? Somehow he steals an Su-25, which he probably did not know how to fly, and gets shot down over Ukraine? Yeah, that makes totally sense ...

What will the BBC World Service editors try to sell us next? Bridges?

Posted by b on May 25, 2022 at 16:03 UTC | Permalink

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/ukraine-propaganda-bbc-tries-to-sell-telegram-rumors-that-make-no-sense.html#more