Sometimes one wonders if the Russians actually own major US media and have someone dictate news stories to them.

For instance. Earlier today a US F-16 carried out an intercept of a Russian aircraft hauling the ample, vodka infused butt of Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu over the Baltic (if you want a hilarious read of what a Wikipedia page looks like when written by Russian propagandists, feast your eyes on this one). The Baltic has become a scene of regular intercepts by US and Russian fighters of military flights. Yesterday, it was reported by various news outlets and by CNN that a Russian SU-27 had come within five feet of a US RC-135 (probably a Rivet Joint SIGINT platform).

In the video you can see the US F-16, at the right, flying well away from the Russian transport and a Russian SU-27 escort fighter to the left. There are no hijinks of any kind. A routine interception by a professional air force.

Video Shows Close Encounter Between NATO F-16 And Su-27 Escorting Russia Def Minister Plane Over The Baltics. Story: https://t.co/szfpZxE5js pic.twitter.com/37a4niI2oi

— The Aviationist (@TheAviationist) June 21, 2017

This is RT’s bulletin:

URGENT: Russian defense minister's plane buzzed over Baltic by NATO jet – onboard mediahttps://t.co/ec9bqDbReC pic.twitter.com/YFoi1MzgpL

— RT (@RT_com) June 21, 2017

This is USA Today’s headline: NATO jet buzzes Russian defense minister’s plane.

A NATO fighter jet buzzed the plane of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu before being chased off by a Russian jet in what would be the latest aerial confrontation between the West and Russia and its allies, Russian media reported Wednesday.

USA Today has the Russian provided video posted with the story and there is obviously no “buzzing” or anything else.

This is the Reuters headline: Russian defense minister’s plane buzzed by NATO jet over Baltic.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s plane was buzzed by a NATO F-16 fighter jet as it flew over the Baltic Sea on Wednesday, prompting a Russian military jet to warn the NATO plane off.

A video of the incident broadcast on a TV channel run by the Russian Ministry of Defense showed an F-16 flying parallel with the minister’s plane at a short distance. It was not clear which air force the F-16 belonged to.

Again, the F-16 was obviously not “at a short distance.” It is also flying further from the Russian transport than the escorting Russian fighter which indicates that it was well within safety parameters.

It is hard to understand why two US news agencies shamelessly adopt RT’s exact words when describing a very routine activity. One can only assume they are cheap shills who have long ago thrown integrity to the wind in order to manufacture controversy and clicks or they are simply paid agents of the Kremlin… maybe Mueller should look into this collusion.