RIA Novosti apologized Friday morning for its story, which was based on the Syrian government’s news agency SANA’s report according to which Syrian “air defenses intercepted hostile targets over al-Kiswah region and downed them.”
The following text replaced the original, erroneous report: “The message ‘Syria’s air defense shot down an Israeli military aircraft’ is canceled due to a source refutation. The agency apologizes to subscribers and readers.”
RT, another Russian state propaganda outlet, reported Friday morning: “The Israeli military has described reports that one of its jets was brought down while carrying out airstrikes in Syria as ‘bogus,’ amid reports that the country’s air defense systems engaged and downed several hostile targets.’
“Israeli Defense Forces have refused to comment on the country’s alleged role in the attack, with a spokesperson saying that they’re not commenting on reports in foreign media. Yet the IDF has denied a particular report that it had lost a warplane during the raid on Syria.”
Yet another Russian propaganda outlet, Sputnik News, ran a story under the headline “Syrian Air Defences Down ‘Hostile Targets’ Over Country’s South – Reports,” that goes:
“A high-ranked Syrian security source in a comment to Sputnik on Friday denied statements about an Israeli combat plane shot down by the Syrian air defense, confirming that Damascus’ forces had indeed downed several aerial targets that had attacked the Syrian territory.”
RIA Novosti was established on June 24, 1941, by a resolution of the USSR Council of People’s Commissars and the Communist Party Central Committee, as the “Soviet Information Bureau.” Its main task was to oversee work to cover international, military events and the events of the country’s domestic life in periodicals and on the radio. Creating the agency followed the June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
It is not clear when was the last time the agency, before or after the change, apologized for anything.
And now, because it’s almost Shabbat, Danny Kay will sing Tchaikovsky.