Russia's State Media Adds Clip from War Simulation Video Game into a Syrian War Footage
Russia is at it again. The country's state media used a clip from a video game in one of its tribute videos showing the sacrifice of its soldier in the Syrian war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin honored all the Russian soldiers who lost their lives in Syria during the celebration of Defender of the Fatherland Day last Friday (Feb. 23). In his speech, Putin remembered all the troops who offered their lives in the war for the welfare of others back home. "If a man is ready to go to the end to sacrifice himself in the interest of his people, then indeed this is the highest form of courage," Putin stated in his speech.
Among the soldiers Putin was referring to was Senior Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko who died back in March 2016 in Syria in the midst of battle against the Islamic State. In its Defender of the Fatherland Day broadcast, Russia's state media Channel 1 Russia presented Putin's speech, followed by a tribute video for Prokhorenko and other soldiers. The video shows Russian troops advancing against ISIS.
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The video also highlights Prokhorenko's courageous acts during the war. The video includes a short clip of a sniper's crosshair. However, the short scene was then reported to have come from the military tactical video game "ARMA 3" developed by Bohemia Interactive and was released back in 2013. The video game's gameplay is based on war realism and features most elements present during warfare.
Bohemia Interactive's spokesman Ota Vrtatko confirmed that the clip is from "ARMA 3" in a statement regarding the matter. "We didn't provide any authorization for using footage from our game in this way," he said. Vrtatko also said that the Bohemia Interactive wanted "ARMA 3" to be a "very realistic simulation game." Russia's government nor Channel 1 Russia has addressed the issue about using a video game footage as a representation of an actual war.
This is not the first time Russia extracted clips from video games and presented them as a footage of the Syrian war.
