The Original ParodyParody website Facebook Russian TV The Sun FoxNews.com Made up Russian attack on U.S. ship Parody website Made up Russian attack on U.S. ship Facebook Russian TV The Sun FoxNews.comIn the days after the incident in the Black Sea, a Russian writer named Dmitri Sedov wrote an opinion piece, apparently meant to be satirical, that imagined the incident as an electronic warfare attack and described the panicked reaction of one crew member. He also described a drunk officer crying aloud, “Those — Russian Khibiny!” Khibiny being the name of the Russian electronic warfare weapon that can disable radar. FacebookParody website Facebook Russian TV The Sun FoxNews.com Parody article shared Parody website Facebook Parody article shared Russian TV The Sun FoxNews.comIn an apparent attempt to drive traffic to the satirical piece, a series of posts meant to look like a letter from the crew member went up on Facebook in English and Russian, with a link to the original. The Sun, The Daily Star and othersParody website Facebook Russian TV The Sun FoxNews.com Reported on the Russian TV story Parody website Facebook Russian TV The Sun Reported on the Russian TV story FoxNews.comOnce the story had been on such a prominent Russian news program, news organizations and websites around the world quoted it. FoxNews.comParody website Facebook Russian TV The Sun FoxNews.com Reprinted article with only hints of skepticism Parody website Facebook Russian TV The Sun FoxNews.com Reprinted article with only hints of skepticismFoxNews.com soon picked up The Sun’s version of the story.

Source: New York Times June 07, 2017 09:00 UTC