Russian Propaganda Channels Spread Images and Video of Burning German Military Trucks in Erfurt, Germany
In the early hours of Sunday, Russian propaganda channels began disseminating images and a video of burning German military trucks in Erfurt, Germany, according to the online news portal T-Online.
The images, which appear to have been taken in the night before the police and fire brigade arrived at the scene, show the vehicles still intact in two pictures. A video, filmed from the same perspective, captures the early stages of the fire without any emergency responders on the scene. The Kremlin’s propaganda machinery attributes the incident to Russia, but it remains unclear whether the Russians may have obtained the images through other means.
The term “Erfurt” was mentioned nearly 400 times in the channels, with almost minute-by-minute updates, reaching more than 1.2 million users by the early evening.
Four fully burnt military trucks of the German Bundeswehr, which were stored on a maintenance facility of the Bundeswehr’s service partner MAN in the north of Erfurt, were destroyed in the night, with two others suffering minor damage. The Thuringian State Criminal Police are investigating the arson, as announced by the Thuringian State Criminal Police Office. When asked by T-Online whether the police had images and videos from the night of the incident, the Thuringian State Criminal Police Office initially declined to comment.