MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) - Misleading information about the Zapad 2021 military exercise and its participants is being circulated from the territory of Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
"Information citing the Voronezh regional branch of [Russian consumer health watchdog] Rospotrebnadzor saying that Russian servicemen taking part in the Zapad 2021 joint strategic exercise have allegedly fallen ill is fake and totally untrue," the Defense Ministry said.
A fake scan of a letter saying that Russian servicemen participating in the Zapad 2021 maneuvers have allegedly fallen ill was emailed to the editorial offices of a large number of Russian media outlets on Friday, the ministry said.
"Please note that over the past few days, this is not the first mail-out to Russian media outlets of fake information coordinated from Ukrainian territory seeking to discredit the Zapad 2021 joint strategic exercise, which recently began. We call on journalists to verify such reports with official sources upon receiving them," it said.
A number of media reports alleged dysentery cases, including severe ones, among servicemen participating in the Zapad 2021 exercise.