Russian Government Allegedly Edits Malaysia MH17 Wikipedia Entry to Blame Ukraine

The Russian government supposedly edited the Wikipedia entry for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and placed the blame on Ukraine. 

A Twitter bot called @RuGovEdits documents Wikipedia changes from Russian government IP addresses.

?????? ? ????????? ?????? ??????????? ????????? ? ??????????? ??????? ???? ??????????????? ????? http://t.co/peZ60q07Fj

— ????????? (@RuGovEdits) July 18, 2014

The tweet says, “Wikipedia article list of aircraft accidents in civil aviation was edited RTR.”

From The Telegraph:

It appears that an internet user from within the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) changed a Russian language version of a page listing civil aviation accidents to say that “The plane [flight MH17] was shot down by Ukrainian soldiers.”

That edit replaced text – written just an hour earlier – which said MH17 had been shot down “by terrorists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic with Buk system missiles, which the terrorists received from the Russian Federation.”

The plane was allegedly shot down by the pro-Russian forces in east Ukraine on Thursday, and all 298 people on board died. There were 80 children on the flight, including three infants. Ukraine released evidence that it claims proves the pro-Russians shot down the plane, but nothing has been confirmed.

Donetsk People’s Republic’s self-proclaimed Prime Minister Alexander Borodai, a Russian citizen from Moscow, said the rebels are not responsible for the tragedy and the rebels are not in possession of the black boxes.

@CongressEdits is a Twitter bot who monitors changes to Wikipedia entries by the U.S. Congress.