Catch Carlos If You Can
Shortly after a Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people on board, a person purporting to be a Spanish air-traffic controller in Kyiv launched one of the most notorious Moscow-friendly hoaxes of the Ukraine conflict.
Identifying himself as "Carlos," he claimed on Twitter that Kyiv shot down the civilian airliner and was attempting to cover it up.
While the claims were quickly -- and correctly -- dismissed as a hoax, mystery swirled around Carlos's true identity for years following the tragedy. But in a new investigation, we have confirmed he's a Spanish ex-convict who was detained on suspicion of fraud in Romania just six months before the Ukraine conflict erupted.
Read the special report by Carl Schreck and Ana Poenariu here.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Tuesday, March 13, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.