1/ In what may be a bizarre case of mistaken identity, the Russian FSB has killed a group of Russian people it claims are pro-Ukrainian saboteurs – but who reportedly appear to be Airsoft enthusiasts who were engaged in live-action roleplay of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video games. ⬇️

2/ The Russian media reported on 23 November that the FSB had killed three people in Voronezh who it claimed were members of a "conspiratorial cell of supporters of Ukrainian nationalist ideology." They died during an attempt to "extract the means of terror" from a location. It's not clear what the three men were supposedly planning. But according to the Moscow Times, two of the three were well-known participants in the Voronezh Airsoft community.

3/ One of the men used the nickname Stalker Phosgene for live-action roleplay based on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games. The FSB showed off a banner with an emblem in the form of a green wolf's head in profile and the inscription "Воля" ("Freedom" in Ukrainian). It was highlighted on Russian state TV with the claim that it was the "flag of the far-right [Ukrainian] nationalist party Volya".

4/ In fact, as the Moscow Times points out, it's a symbol from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, where it's used by a faction of Stalkers called Svoboda (Freedom).
stalker.fandom.com/wiki/Freedo

6/ This isn't the first time the FSB appears to have got confused by video games: in April, it apparently confused three SIM cards with the game The Sims 3. /end
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@ChrisO_wiki this story is both completely nuts and completely unsurprising coming from Russia.

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