Tracking the Venezuela-linked Tanker 'Pursued' by American Maritime Authorities
Kumar Malhotra
Image source
A uniquely yellow-colored residential building visible behind helped us verify the footage.
We are verifying images and video shared this morning that purport to show the aftermath of a reported car bomb explosion that Russian officials say killed a high-ranking soldier in Moscow.
Officials in Russia confirmed that Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov was inside the vehicle that exploded and that he succumbed to his wounds. An investigation is under way.
Our starting point to check the site of where the pictures originated relied on social media reports saying the explosion occurred on Yasenevaya Street in the southern district of the Russian capital.
We used panoramic mapping services on digital map platforms and the local mapping service Yandex Maps to corroborate the distinctive yellow colour of a nearby apartment building captured in the video.
Identifying additional structures, streetlights and the street layout confirmed where the pictures were captured.
Additionally, we verified that the videos were recent and that the images had not been manipulated.
