LONDON: Russia Today has been criticized for tweeting a photoshopped image of an Afghan refugee family carrying weapons in their backpacks.
The image, which has since been deleted, showed a couple carrying assault rifles and RPGs on their backs and walking along the tarmac of Kabul Airport with their two young children.
Archive of now deleted Russia Today tweet. (Twitter)
Its caption - “Are some terrorists getting a free ride out of Afghanistan?” - referred to a Defense News article with the headline: “Up to 100 Afghan Evacuees On Intelligence Agency Watchlists – US official.”
There was a fierce backlash to the Russia Today tweet, which was branded “disgusting” by some while others urged people not to trust what the outlet published.
The international director of policy at Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center and a former member of the European Parliament, Marietje Schaake, shared the real image alongside the doctored one and tweeted: “An incredibly cynical and hateful photoshopped lie by RT, Russia Today.”
An incredibly cynical and hateful photoshoped lie by RT, Russia Today (original photo at the top via @EliotHiggins @Reuters) pic.twitter.com/IK38rToHla
— Marietje Schaake (@MarietjeSchaake) August 26, 2021
