Posted on 09/19/2017 6:07:04 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
VLADIMIR Putin's mammoth military exercises went wrong after a helicopter opened fire on civilians with air to surface missiles, it was claimed today.
Two people were seriously injured when a Ka-52 helicopter allegedly struck at an enclosure for spectators at Luzhsky military field near St Petersburg.
Video footage caught the moment missiles were launched at Luzhsky military field near St Petersburg
A missile is seen hitting the area close to where a man filming the exercise was standing.
An official statement released by the Western Military District of the Russian Army has denied anyone was injured in the attack.
Unconfirmed reports said that the wounded were journalists covering the major war games which have provoked massive concern in the West.
The Ka-52 Alligator helicopter is the newest intelligence and attack helicopter able to attack armoured vehicles and people.
An informed source told 66.ru: "They were approaching the targets, had some 500 metres left to fly.
"According to their task on the route to target they should switch on the electric chain of missiles."
The unnamed source said the rockets were fired early as a result of a short circuit.
"Something went wrong, the missiles were immediately launched.
"The parts of the missiles hit a large area, at least two cars were burned, two people wounded, they are in the hospital now.
"Most likely, the victims were journalists."
Journalists from Russia, Belarus and many other countries - including the West - have been accredited for the Zapad war games.
According to a report by Russia's Western Military District press office on 17 September the specific exercise at Luzhsky involved Mi-28H and Ka-52 helicopters performing training missions involving air intelligence and attacks on ground targets.
They were meant to be "covering troops from the air".
Russian military has denied an incident took place in connection with the operation of the army aviation.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "This question should be addressed to the ministry of defence and not to the president's administration."
A statement by the Western Military District said there were "no incidents related to army aviation" on 18 September.
It implied the incident was at a different place and time.
The 66.ru report said the incident could have been on 18 or 19 September.
The clip shows two helicopters approaching a row of cars and spectators. One of the helicopters suddenly appears to fire on the ground towards the person holding the camera, who starts running.
The video was captioned as "supplied by a 66.ru reader".
Attempts were made to remove the video from the internet.
St Petersburg-based website Fontanka.ru said it was aware that military investigators were looking into the incident and are considering launching a criminal case on suspected violations of safety rules governing the use of military combat equipment.
The news agency had a slightly different video.
The current joint military exercises, known as Zapad, are among the largest Russia has conducted since the end of the Cold War.
They are being conducted jointly with close ally Belarus.
Officially, they involve 12,700 soldiers deployed in both countries, with most of the training taking place on Belarusian soil.
Western and Belarusian observers have put the number of Russian troops involved in the war games at between 70,000 and 120,000.
Putin on Monday watched one of the Zapad drills at a training range near St. Petersburg.
An official statement released by the Western Military District of the Russian Army said: “Every message on social media about shelling a crowd of journalists, or about wounded people is deliberate provocation or someone’s personal stupidity.
“The aiming system of one of the helicopters mistakenly hit the wrong target. As a result one of the trucks was damaged, but there was no one inside.”
Better call Farmer’s Insurance.
They know a thing or two because they’ve see a thing or two...................
There has to be some “In Russia” jokes from this.
Was Hillary getting out of a plane somewhere nearby?
Was CNN invited????
I give it 48 hours before someone doctors this video to show a “MAGA!” logo on the helicopter and CNN logos all over the cars and people on the ground. LOL.
President Trump just said he wants a military parade here too. Coincidence? I think not!
Russian response:
It didn’t happen. It’s a deliberate lie by provocateurs.
(video goes viral)
It was an accident. No one was hurt.
(Injured are interviewed)
The injured were in the wrong place.
The ranges where US helicopters can live fire are limited to a very few. Very small changes in the attitude of the ship make for very big errors of deflection at the point of impact.
oopsie.
Firing rockets at the press? The Russians might be on to something, there.
Judas effing Priest
Look, I know a lot of flak is given every time someone posts something positive about Putin, but taking out a few reporters ... well, what’s not to like? /darkhumor
“the wounded were journalists”
Cool.
In Russia...
The press doesn’t fire questions at the military...
One missile - ok, a misfire/short circuit/brain fart. Pickling off 3 missiles - not an accident, IMO. And that was a comm truck of some kind they took out. The back door was open so I’m also certain there had to be somebody killed in there.
The morning printed paper here had a photo attached to another article about this exercise and the way it was causing concern for the Baltic States. The photo showed an artillery rocket launcher with one in flight just out of the launch tube and the caption identified it as an “air defense artillery” weapon. What a bunch of dumbasses work in the media these days!!
Cool.
Geez, and Trump gets criticized for TALKING badly about the press!
They are ALL enemy journalists.
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