On July 25, 2016, Russian state-sponsored media outlet Sputnik published a story titled “Massive Fire Near NATO Base in Turkey, Possible Anti-American Sabotage.” Other Russian state-sponsored outlets, such as RT, picked up on the story. However, as NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu explained, “there was a forest fire at some distance from the base, but with no connection to it.” She noted that “NATO has been dealing with a significant increase in Russian propaganda and disinformation since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014.”