Putin's attack dogs rage at BBC in 'obvious truth distortions' rant

Vladimir Putin's attack dogs have waded into the BBC crisis on Monday (November 10), twisting the truth for Russia's own propaganda ends. Foreign ministry official Maria Zakharova has made a string of wild and unsubstantiated allegations over the British broadcaster's coverage of Russia amid the resignations of director-general Tim Davie and news chief executive Deborah Turness.

Zakharova claimed the corporation's reporting was falsified on Russian atrocities in Bucha, where compelling evidence indicates hundreds were tortured, raped and executed by Putin's forces as they invaded Ukraine. She also exploited the scandal over the doctoring of a clip of Donald Trump and other bias allegations to question the BBC coverage of the nerve agent assassination bid against ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, by Russian GRU military intelligence agents in 2018.

Zakharova also accused the broadcaster of its reporting on the Sochi Winter Olympics, hosted by Putin in 2014, as well as the Syrian conflict.

"The falsification in Bucha was 'edited' in exactly the same way, but in reality it was the BBC that fabricated the information," she alleged.

"They also invented incredible stories about Russian fans ahead of the Sochi Olympics, fakes about Syria, inflated absurd rumours about the Skripals, and much more."

Another Putin propagandist, Kirill Dmitriev, also waded in, accusing the BBC of "warmongering" over Ukraine and alleging wrongly that the corporation is "steered" by the British Government.

He posted on X: "BBC is still steered by a govt pushing mass migration, warmongering, digital IDs & early prisoner releases. New management may just try harder not to get caught in too obvious truth distortions. But hopefully I am wrong."

Regarding the Bucha atrocities in 2022, a United Nations human rights mission documented unlawful killings and summary executions of civilians in and around areas at the time under Russian control. Such acts are suspected war crimes.

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and others recorded summary executions, enforced disappearances, and torture on the ground in Bucha days after the Russian withdrawal.

The Telegraph revealed that a Panorama documentary had spliced together different parts of a speech made by Mr Trump on January 6, 2021, which made it seem as though he told supporters to go to the Capitol and "fight like hell" on the day of the riot.