Fake footage of Russian forces fighting in Syria, which President Vladimir Putin showed to American filmmaker Oliver Stone, came from the country’s top military generals.
The clip reached the
president via Russia’s General Staff, two unnamed sources told
Russia’s RBC newspaper. The RBC report contradicts statements from the Kremlin, which claimed on Thursday that the footage had come from the Defense Ministry.
Unnamed officials told RBC that the presidential administration had approached Igor Konashenkov, head of Defense Ministry communications, to gather
information for the president. Konashenkov in turn approached
Sergei Rudskoy, chief of the main operational department (GOU) for
Russia’s General Staff.
“Any information relating to our
forces while in combat — whether that’s video, photos or reports —
goes straight to the GOU offices,” a source in the Defense
Ministry told RBC. “From there, information goes through an
approval process and is given to high-ranking officials and
occasionally the press office.”
Rudskoy tasked one of his deputies with
gathering the details, before passing the information back to the
Defense Ministry.
