Well first I would give credit to the Daily Caller for running the corrective story. It's a fairly uncommon event these days and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for the folks at Forbes or the US State Dept. to do the same.
The extent of direct Russian involvement in the Ukrainian fighting over the past year has always been a touchy subject, especially now that Europe is trying to enforce the Minsk-2 accords and find a political solution in that country.
Having the original story pop up the same week as sensitive negotiations with France and Germany over the future of Minsk-2 were taking place appears to have been an attempt to influence the outcome...and a rather clumsy one at that.
I emailed Mr. Plis (FORBES) days ago. No response. So I guess one may conclude that his opinion piece was trash...