Dec 04, 2024 - 22:47
By asiatimes.com

Fake story, fake photo of alleged North Korean women in Kursk

The Daily Mail published a picture alleging the presence of two North Korean women military personnel in Kursk. The photo is a fake. Many thanks to Levan Gudadze and his Telegram channel for pointing this out.

The original photo shows twin sisters Zhenya and Sasha. In 2023, they served as tank operators in the Donetsk People’s Republic Armed Forces unit “Oplot.” The Oplot Brigade was a unit of the Donetsk People’s Militia and later the Russian military. Oplot means Bastion.

The Daily Mail most likely got the fake photo and fake story from the Ukrainian propaganda mill.

It was hyped as a photo shared online and backed up with an unknown alleged Russian trainer’s statement as follows: “A Russian military trainer Oleg Tanasyuk who posted the picture wrote: ‘Sisters from Korea Wei and Lin – we call them Vera and Lida – have been serving with us for two weeks already.’ It is unclear why the Russians renamed them.”

I can’t prove it but I don’t think any Russian military “trainer” said any such thing. I don’t think the North Koreans are anywhere near Kursk. They’re probably just training somewhere else in Russia.

Beware of what you see and read these days.

No retraction yet from the Daily Mail. Not surprising.

The Daily Mail publishes a constant stream of anti-Russian and pro-Ukrainian propaganda, much of it nonsense. It isn’t surprising, given the quality of journalism these days and the willingness of editors and publishers to turn their products into propaganda outlets.

This article was originally published in Stephen Bryen’s Weapons and Strategy newsletter on Substacks. It is republished with permission.