The article is actually copied, without attribution, word-for-word, from the Washington Times.
That is fascinating but not unusual for Russian papers with their very flexible standards for intellectual property. Can you post the URL? I seem to remember some WT headline about this. The number of similar stories mushrooming in the vernacular press in the middle east and Pakistan does make me think there is some sort of black propaganda operation underway. It is cheap and is a common psychological warfare ploy.