NATO hasn’t deployed forces on the ground in Ukraine, but a rumor circulating online claims Russian forces recently captured the Allied Land Command's top leader in Mariupol.
"U.S. Army General CAPTURED in Mariupol with AZOV Nazis!” reads the headline of an April 4 post from the Hal Turner Radio Show, which was shared widely on Facebook.
Turner wrote in the post that, if the report were false, "the Pentagon would deny it immediately." In an email to USA TODAY, he defended the claim by stating his story clarified that "the Pentagon press office had neither confirmed nor denied the reports."
Similar posts claiming Lt. Gen. Roger L. Cloutier Jr. was captured in Ukraine circulated on the website USSA News, Reddit, Patriots.Win and 4chan. On Twitter, users shared an image of Cloutier and attributed the rumor to “unconfirmed sources from Russia’s military.”
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But NATO and Cloutier have both refuted claims that he was captured. He has been in Turkey, not Ukraine, as independent fact-checking organizations have reported.
USA TODAY reached out to social media users who shared the claim for comment.
Maj. Brian Andries, spokesman for the NATO Allied Land Command, said in an email the rumors are "completely false" and that Cloutier is commanding in Turkey.
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