Russian state-run media TASS has circulated claims that Russian special forces captured two high-ranking British officers—identified as Colonels Edward Blake and Richard Carroll—in Ukraine, but fact-checkers from The Insider stated it’s a fabrication on August 8.
The claim originated with Steigan, a blog run by Norwegian writer Pål Steigan, who deleted the post the same day it went live. Steigan had cited an August 2 article on coreinsightsintl.com, a little-known website for a British cybersecurity company that recorded just 750 visits in July.
The author of that piece was Hal Turner, a fringe American blogger from New Jersey known for racist views, Holocaust denial, and a 2010 conviction for threatening federal judges.
Turner has previously pushed conspiracy theories about secret US–China land deals, “new” currencies replacing the dollar, and false claims about Ukraine using chemical weapons.
On August 4, Russian outlet EADaily published a photo of the alleged British officers, each holding a UK passport.
Expert analysis found clear signs of generative AI manipulation. Text on the passports was garbled—a common giveaway for AI imagery—and the lighting was unnaturally even, giving the scene a flat, artificial look.
The UK Defense Journal highlighted these flaws, prompting EADaily to crop the passports out of the image. But other telltale signs remained, such as uniforms that only vaguely resembled British military attire.
Despite the lack of evidence—and the fact that...
Gyanesh Kumar mentioned that many voters had complained of double voting in the past few days, but didn’t give any proof when asked for it.