<time class="date date_article-header">Published time: 9 Feb, 2016 21:14</time>
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© Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation / YouTube
The French state television France 2 has shown a news report criticizing Moscow's anti-terror campaign in Syria, but used images of Russian airstrikes not to talk about Moscow's efforts, but to illustrate achievements of the US-led coalition instead.
According to RT in French, the report showing the videos released by Russian Defense Ministry, while the French reporter was talking about US airstrikes, was aired on February 4.
The French report on anti-terrorist operations in Syria and its Aleppo province first featured a short story strongly criticizing airstrikes carried out by the Russian Air Force in the region. The journalist then proceeded to tell the audience about the objectives of the "minimum civilian casualties" western operation, led by the United States.
"The planes of the US coalition have a hard time finding targets to destroy," the reporter was saying, while images of the Russian airstrikes were broadcast.
Having just praised the accuracy of US airstrikes, the reporter pointed to the video on screen, which showed the footage of Moscow's anti-terror op, released by the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Commenting how "targets are very difficult to find” and telling the audience how the US and its allies have been destroying terrorist training camps, command centers, ammunition depots and oil facilities, the French channel kept showing Russian footage of its efforts in Syria.
This is not the first time videos from Russia’s anti-terror campaign in the Middle East have been used by western media to depict airstrikes by the US-led coalition. The Defense Ministry has repeatedly pointed out such cases, saying they were partly due to the coalition’s reluctance to share more information about its actions.
Unlike the Russian anti-terror operation command in Syria, the US-led coalition has not organized coverage for journalists in the region, ministry spokesman has said, giving the example of Euronews TV channel having used Russian Air Force footage while airing a comment by a representative of US Central Command on the coalition successes.
Earlier, American public television used Russian objective control videos – which showed Sukhoi bombers targeting Islamic State oil facilities – with a voiceover praising US attacks, the Defense Ministry said.
