Russian Combat Vid: Real, or Dezinformatsiya? You Be the Judge

COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating

Pro-Moscow channels on Telegram are circulating a video purporting to show Russian forces kicking battlefield butt in Ukraine.

But is it truth, or disinformation?

I saved the vid, and the YouTube gatekeepers allowed me to post it myself on our fledgling YouTube channel. I put an age restriction on the video because it seems to show dead bodies, and my mom-instincts came into play. But give it a look on the Soldier of Fortune YouTube channel, and decide for yourselves. Is this real, or is it standard Soviet-style dezinformatsiya, designed to show that Moscow’s armed forces can destroy the Ukrainian defenders?

Hint: The dramatic music could be the best clue, closely followed by the Russian soldiers’ very clean, very new uniforms. Almost like they were pulled from the prop room at Russian Channel 1 state-owned television.

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.