Reuters has been caught spreading fake news after falsely reporting that the Russian embassy in the Netherlands said that Britain was “dumb” to drum up another Novichok story during the World Cup.
In a rush to break the latest development in the new Novichok saga, it appears that Reuters has jumbled the facts in a tweet.
“Russian embassy in Netherlands says Britain ‘dumb’ to use Novichok story again in the middle of soccer World Cup – Twitter,” read a Reuters news alert.
However, the relevant tweet says nothing of the kind, instead observing that the UK must think Moscow to be “dumb” if it truly believes that Russia targeted British citizens with a nerve agent during the highly praised football tournament.
How dumb they think 🇷🇺 is to use “again” so-called “Novichok” in the middle of the FIFA World Cup and after the special session of the CSP (convened by the way by 🇬🇧) that gave the #OPCW attribution functions. The show must go on? pic.twitter.com/a9FdJceWIv
— Russian Embassy in NL🇷🇺🇳🇱 (@rusembassynl) July 5, 2018
Two British citizens Charles Rowley, 45 and his girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess, 44, were hospitalized on Saturday after suspected contact with “an unknown substance” that was later declared by UK counter-terrorism chief Neil Basu to be Novichok, the same nerve agent that London claims was used in an attempted assassination of former double agent Sergey Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, on March 4.
British authorities have suggested that the couple may have been poisoned by “leftovers” from the previous alleged nerve agent attack on the Skripals.
The fact that a highly lethal military-grade never agent again failed to kill those who came in contact with it has raised questions about whether Novichok actually was involved. Alternative theories point to a potential drug overdose as Rowley is a registered heroin addict, according to the Telegraph.
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