Moldova’s Ministry of Defence has reported the circulation of a fabricated video on social media, which is believed to be connected to this year’s international military exercises, Fire Shield.

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The Moldovan defence ministry said the video shared on Telegram shows participants in the exercises supposedly shooting at targets depicting Russian soldiers. The ministry emphasised that this video was created using artificial intelligence and supplemented with archive footage from other exercises.

“These videos have no connection to this year’s exercises. The aircraft, parachute jumps, terrain of the training grounds and other video elements also do not reflect the reality of the Fire Shield 2025 exercises. The purpose of such videos is to sow fear, undermine trust in state institutions and destabilise society,” a statement reads.

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  • RidderSport@feddit.orgEnglish
    15·
    22 days ago

    Frankly I wouldn’t mind even if that were true. It’s not like anyone would attack Moldova except for Russia. And it’s not like Moldova would attack Russia in their own accord either. Hence training the soldiers to shoot at Russian uniformed soldiers is not that weird.

    But yeah this is probably seen by the average Russian as, Moldova wants to attack us (or rather Transnistria) and that already has them fuming

    • Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.orgOPEnglish
      13·
      22 days ago

      Not sure what the average Russian thinks, but it’s certainly an attempt by the Kremlin to create a narrative that can then serve as a justification for the next invasion as others have already said in this thread.

      In a weird move of late to distort reality, Belarus self-proclaimed leader Aliaksandr Lukashenko said in a recent interview that Russia did not invade Ukraine, but only “came in making a detour while returning home from exercises”.

      In particular, Alexander Lukashenko presented a new version of the events of February 2022, stating that at that time a large-scale joint military exercise with Russia was held in Belarus. According to him, the manoeuvres were held in the south of the country, at Brest and Baranovichi firing ranges, after which the withdrawal of Russian troops began through Homel and southern regions of Belarus, mainly by rail. Lukashenko claims that at some point the columns turned south and entered Ukraine, travelling along the Leningrad-Odessa highway.

      He specified that they were talking about the units of the Eastern Military District of the Russian Federation, which had arrived from eastern Russia. At the same time, Lukashenko, when asked why the Russian troops were moving home through Kiev, said that this should be asked to Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky. He stressed that he was not privy to the details of possible military plans […]

      According to Lukashenko, he had a conversation with Putin when Russian troops were in Kiev. Putin told him that the Ukrainian military allegedly “hid in kindergartens and schools,” and therefore he would not strike those facilities. Lukashenko noted that Putin ordered the withdrawal of troops, believing promises of a quick end to the war, but the fighting continued.

      How out of touch can one get? [Edit typo.]

    • Valmond@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      22 days ago

      lOok aT tHeM ThEy hAtE uS !!!1!

      Yeah it’s to generate the narrative that it’s not protection but agression (anyone remembers the same thing about Ukraine and NATO?)

    • Pilferjinx@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      22 days ago

      It’s a hybrid tactic to prepare people for the justification to invade Moldova after Ukraine. It’s going to work.