Investigator Yang Yiran
Quick Facts
- Just the day before the report was released, Roger Cloutier also participated in the NATO Allied Forces Conference held in Izmir, Turkey.
Background of the incident
Recently, the "Paper Mingcha" WeChat public account received many questions from readers, hoping to verify the story that "NATO Army Commander Roger was captured by the Russian army."
This rumor also received attention and discussion on Weibo .
mingcha
In the 34-second video provided by a reader, a man is detained by two soldiers with Russian flags on their helmets. The man was dressed in casual clothes and a peaked cap. His face was blurred and the details of his appearance could not be distinguished. The watermark in the upper right corner shows that the provider of this video is "The Federal Security Service of the Republic of Crimea, Russia and the City of Sevastopol."
intercepted the key frames of the video and conducted a reverse search. The results showed that the Russian media rg used the video in a news release on April 7. The news was titled "A member of a Ukrainian nationalist battalion was arrested in Crimea ." The report read: "In Crimea, a 51-year-old Ukrainian citizen is suspected of participating in the illegal nationalist camp 'Volunteer Camp for Crimean Tatars in the name of Noman-Chelebiji Khan'" activity. He was detained according to the decision of the Kyiv District Court (Киевского районного суда)… The Ukrainian was detained while crossing the Russian border as a refugee in northern Crimea,”
reports quoted “K. A report by the Press Service of the Federal Security Service of the Republic of Crimea stated that this man provided material resources, uniforms and food to the "Crimean Tatar Support Battalion" and also participated in many "special military operations" against Ukraine. Anti-Russian operations on the territory of the Denichesk region.
However, the report did not disclose the names or other identifying information of the arrested persons.
So, where is Roger Cloutier, the commander of the NATO Army?
On April 6, NATO Army Command @LANDCMD posted on Twitter that representatives from 24 NATO allies and partner countries held a meeting in Izmir, Turkey to discuss the Army's strategic deployment strategy. The tweet included two photos from the scene. In addition to the picture on the right showing Cloutier's solo activity, and the picture on the left showing Cloutier clearly in the middle of the group photo, the rumors were naturally disproven.
In addition, the Washington Examiner asked a NATO spokesperson about this and received an official denial. "General Krutil last visited Ukraine in July 2021, where he held army staff talks in Kiev to strengthen the partnership between NATO and Ukrainian forces."
In summary, there have been rumors on social platforms recently. "NATO Army Commander Lieutenant General Roger was captured by the Russian army" has been officially confirmed as a rumor. The man in the video is a Ukrainian member of the Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion, an armed group, and is not Roger Cloutier. Just the day before the report was released, Roger Cloutier also participated in the NATO Allied Forces Conference held in Izmir, Turkey.
Editor in charge: Wang Liang
Proofreader: Ding Xiao
