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Kumar Malhotra
Image source
A uniquely yellow-fronted residential building in the background helped us verify the footage.
We are checking video footage and photographs posted this morning that show the scene of a alleged vehicle-borne explosive blast that Russian officials state killed a senior soldier in Moscow.
Officials in Russia confirmed that Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov was in the vehicle that detonated and that he later died to his injuries. An investigation is under way.
The initial step to check the site of where the pictures were from was based on social media reports saying the explosion happened on Yasenevaya Street in the southern part of the capital city of Russia.
Our analysis employed street-view imagery on Google Maps and the Russian search engine Yandex Maps to match the distinctive yellow hue of a adjacent residential complex captured in the video.
Locating additional structures, streetlights and the street layout verified the exact location the footage were captured.
We also checked that the video clips were new and that the images had not been digital alteration.
