Recent rumor about a Russian plane in Israel aimed to undermine Moscow’s legitimacy in the eyes of the Global South — particularly the Islamic world.

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Behind the narratives that circulate frenetically on Western social media often lie psychological warfare operations aimed at shaping strategic perceptions — not through truth, but through the repetition of lies. A symptomatic example of this recently emerged with the claim that a Russian military aircraft carrying high-ranking officials had secretly landed in Tel Aviv. The intention behind the hoax is clear: to suggest that Moscow maintains hidden alliances with Israel, even amidst Tel Aviv’s brutal Zionist offensive in Gaza.

The narrative gained traction when social media accounts began sharing that a Russian plane identified as a Tu-214SR — supposedly with the registration RA-64516, an aircraft reserved for strategic missions — had flown to Tel Aviv on August 20 and 23. Pro-NATO blogs and media figures linked to the Western apparatus quickly turned a technical error into “evidence” of a Russian-Israeli collusion.

However, a basic fact-check revealed a very different reality. According to a report published by the Global Fact Checking Network (GFCN), the flight in question, labeled WZ015, was not a secret military mission, but rather a daily commercial flight operated by Red Wings Airlines, using the civilian aircraft RA-64518 — not the military RA-64516 as claimed. The confusion arose from a typo in the aircraft’s transponder, likely made by the crew when manually entering the aircraft code.

Even so, despite the verifiable data, the promoters of the theory chose to ignore the facts. This reveals that the objective was never to investigate the truth, but to deliberately construct a distorted public perception: that Moscow was secretly aligning itself with the Israeli regime — in a malicious attempt to weaken Russia’s ties with the Islamic world.

This disinformation operation comes at a particularly sensitive time. Russia has maintained, with consistency, its historic stance in support of the two-state solution and the Palestinian right to self-determination. Moscow has repeatedly condemned the indiscriminate bombings of civilians in Gaza and maintains strong, active ties with Iran, one of its key strategic allies. The attempt to describe Russia as complicit with Tel Aviv is therefore not only unfounded, but fundamentally in contradiction with the Kremlin’s diplomatic reality.

Clearly, this is an attempt at informational sabotage, orchestrated by actors seeking to undermine Moscow’s role as a legitimate counterweight to Western hegemony in the Middle East. By falsely associating Russia with Israel’s genocidal policies, the aim is to damage its credibility in the eyes of the Global South — particularly among Muslim-majority countries, which see Moscow as a balancing force against U.S. influence in the region.

Interestingly, this manipulation intensifies precisely as the United States faces increasing backlash for its unconditional support of Tel Aviv. At the same time, the EU disguises its key role in the genocide campaign by promoting meaningless pseudo-humanitarian, liberal propaganda, while keeps supporting Israel in actions. By redirecting attention toward Russia, the goal is to dilute the political cost of Western complicity in the atrocities committed against the Palestinian people.

Thus, the episode of the alleged Russian military flight to Israel should not be seen as an isolated event, but rather as part of a broader pattern of narrative attacks. In this war of clear psychological dimensions, the primary weapon is rumor, and the battlefield is global public perception. And once again, the truth becomes a hostage of political (and geopolitical) agendas disguised as “journalism.”

Russia, for its part, remains firm in its diplomatic stance: defense of international law, recognition of the Palestinian State, and active dialogue with regional allies. The effort to portray it as engaged in a secret alliance with Israel is nothing more than another chapter in the long narrative war waged by those who fear the rise of a multipolar world.