This really happened today
“This morning, organs of the FSB halted the activities of a terrorist group that was planning an attack and a murder of a prominent Russian TV journalist,” Putin stated, claiming that the plot was orchestrated by “high-ranking diplomatic officials in Europe and the United States” who are striving to divide Russian society and “destroy Russia from within.” Putin alleged that the West’s failure to prevail on the information front of
the war in Ukraine has prompted it “to resort to terror, to arrange the killings of our journalists.” He added: “We know the names of the sponsors from Western intelligence agencies, first of all—of course—from the United States’ CIA, which are working with Ukraine’s security services.”
Russia’s notorious
FSB counterintelligence agency released a video of the arrests, as well as so-called “behind-the-scenes” footage of agents searching and seizing property allegedly found at the suspects’ apartment, which was
posted in its entirety by state media outlet
RIA Novosti on Telegram. The footage showed an array of items laid out in the apartment, including a photograph of Adolf Hitler, six pristine-looking Ukrainian passports, a blonde wig, and brand new T-shirts emblazoned with swastikas that appeared to bear fresh creases from recent shipping.
But the seemingly brand new items weren’t the only curious elements depicted in the FSB video footage.
In the original video, three copies of a Sims video game were shown laid out on the bed, as well as a book containing a menacing inscription, stating in part: “Kill to live and live to kill,” signed with the name of “Signature unclear.”
Social media users were quick to point that the SIMS game and “Signature unclear” could be signs that the arrest was part of an FSB hoax gone wrong, pointing out the directives for setting up the scene of the crime might have included planting three SIM cards and signing the book with an indiscernible signature—and that these instructions might have been misunderstood or taken too literally by the agents.
Perhaps realizing their agents have flubbed, official videos posted by the FSB on its YouTube channel excluded the book and blurred the images of the SIMS video games.
An alleged Russian hoax gone embarrassingly wrong indicates that Putin’s agents have trouble following even the most basic instructions.
www.thedailybeast.com