Hundreds of posters decorating Russian streets for a
military holiday accidentally replaced Russian planes with Chinese
fighter jets, an official admitted Tuesday.
Posters displayed in the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg
showed a plane against a national flag. But instead of a Russian
jet, it was in fact a Chinese Chengdu J-10, or Vigorous Dragon.
The slip, reproduced in around 250 posters, was an error by the
designer, who was unfamiliar with military planes, said the head of
the city's media committee, Alexander Korennikov.
"It was the designer's fault. If you are not a specialist in
military hardware, it is an easy thing to do," he said.
"The problem was that the images were printed and put up before
being checked and agreed with the media committee."
The mistake was spotted at the end of last week and the posters
were due to be removed by the end of Tuesday, on the eve of the
holiday, Korennikov said.
On Wednesday, Russians celebrate the Day of the Defenders of the
Fatherland, a public holiday when women traditionally give cards
and gifts to men who served in the armed forces, although it has
lately expanded to include all men.
China suffered a similar loss of face in January, when Internet
users noticed that a state television report on air force
manoeuvres featured footage from the 1980s Hollywood film "Top
Gun".