MW2 linked to Russian airport bombing

By Fred Dutton Published 25 January, 2011

Terrorists train on COD, expert claims.

Modern Warfare 2's infamous No Russian stage could have influenced the terrorists behind this week's suicide bombing at a Moscow airport, Russian state media has claimed.

A report on a Russia Today news program picked up by the New York Times cited similarities between yesterday's suicide bombing of Moscow's Domdedovo International Airport and a level in Infinity Ward's 2009 shooter in which you play as an undercover operative asked to gun down civilians in an airport.

After studying a YouTube clip of the No Russian stage, the RT reporter asked, "With so many people seemingly downloading, playing or watching this game, you have to consider whether anyone ever thought this game could so closely mirror reality."

Walid Phares, a Fox News terrorism analyst, then went on to speculate that the perpetrators of the Domdedovo attack might have trained using the game, or others like it.

"The issue is we need to know if terrorists or extremists are using these videos or DVDs or games to basically apply the model," he pondered.

"I think those who have been radicalised already – that is supposed in this case jihadists, Al-Qaeda or other kind – they look at the games and say these games will serve them to train."

Militants from the North Caucasus region of Russia are expected of carrying out the suicide bombing, which killed 35 people and injured 110 more.

This isn't the first time Modern Warfare 2's No Russian segment has attracted controversy. Publisher Activision decided to cut the level from the Russian release of the game "after seeking the advice of local counsel."

The most recent entry in the Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops, caught plenty of flak too. Following its release in November last year, Cuban state media attacked the game for glorifying "the illegal assassination attempts the United States government planned against the Cuban leader," claiming the title "stimulates sociopathic attitudes in North American children and adolescents."

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (76) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • M4RV #1 1 year ago

    Took them long enough...

  • GAmbrose #2 1 year ago

    "They're Russian to conclusions."

  • superdelphinus #3 1 year ago

    Though I don't think you can say there is no link necessarily (perhaps violent games are used at a very early stage of the radicalisation process), I don't see how this could ever be used to 'train' someone really

  • Tanners #4 1 year ago

    no its not.

  • Lunastra78 #5 1 year ago

    Muslim extremists need video games to fuel their Jihad? I guess the 72 virgins just don't cut it anymore.

  • sfp_noodle #6 1 year ago

    As ridiculous as this story is, I'm LOVING the negative publicity Activision is getting lately.

  • itamae #7 1 year ago

    a Fox News terrorism analyst

    Does not compute.

  • PrivateFloyd #8 1 year ago

    Jihad'in a laugh surely.

  • Yuroko #9 1 year ago

    Did they use 360 controllers to set off the bombs then? Can't see how the game could train anyone to do anything...

  • nodrick #10 1 year ago

    Don't remember the scene where the terrorists detonated a bag they where holding ....

    Also Star Trek online directly influenced me to be crap at my job ... its true I played a crap game , and became crap overnight .. I blame games for my failure!

  • Chakitty #11 1 year ago

    And not influenced by other terrorist attacks? That have been going on for a long time.

    I don't even remember a bomb going off in 'No Russian'

    Stop trying to blame videogames for everything!

  • Paul_cz #12 1 year ago

    hilarious.

  • jake-123 #13 1 year ago

    this is pathetic really =/ just another excuse to say "Games are bad ban them all" gosh i really hate the older generations, in about 40 years time gaming is gna be huuuuuuuuuge because people my age will be old folk telling are kids to play video games and they'll be telling theirs to do the same.

  • cheeky_pete #14 1 year ago

    Well that's my overacted sigh done for today.

  • Emmit_Assassin #15 1 year ago

    Well, video games are the cause of all life's problems, so saying CoD is responsible for training a female suicide bomber is fair, really. I mean, come on, I played it and I'm now completely proficient with an AK47, timed explosives, piloting a helicopter, a Barrett 50 cal, nuclear bombs and getting stabbed from 10 feet away due to lag.

  • Utopolitan #16 1 year ago

    "these videos or DVDs or games"

    That's great research right there.

  • aphex187 #17 1 year ago

    Lmao probably the most comedy news update i have seen in the last few days......

  • DUFFKING #18 1 year ago


    while 1:
    line = f.readline()
    if not line: break
    line = line.replace("Expert","AttentionSeekingFucknut";)
    o.write(line + "\n";)
    o.close()

  • bad09 #19 1 year ago

    Fuck sake this again. Yeah COD is training terrorists. GTA is training hoodies, Mario is training turtle cruelty, Mafia 2 is training you to be a Hollywood stereotype and Tetris trains you to become a tidy freak.

    Did the guy shout "gay noobs, u r all hacker gay noobs. Noobs. Gay. Noobs" as he blew? If so you know he played COD...noobs.

  • midnight_walker #20 1 year ago

    I think Flight Simulator X inspired the September 11 attacks.

    BAN TEH FLIGHT SIMZ!

  • chasejamie #21 1 year ago

    Girls can't play games. The worlds gone mad.

  • inutaihanyou #22 1 year ago

    Lol well if Fox News is involved, i'm sure to get plenty of laughs out of this false controversy (trust me europeans/brits across the pond, the network has virtually no redeeming factors and Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes compound the fact)

  • MinerWilly #23 1 year ago

    I think its disgusting journalism to even suggest such a thing after the terrible events yesterday . To be honest even the headline for this article is out of order . Somehow i highly doubt you would have had the same headline had this been at Heathrow.

  • sfp_noodle #24 1 year ago

    @chasejamie

    You sir are FIRED!

    /realises your not a Sky employee

  • DreadedWalrus #25 1 year ago

    Until the terrorists start noob-tubing, colour me unconvinced.

  • LazyNinjaUk #26 1 year ago

    So by their logic, if I train myself on "F.N.G" a.k.a the killing house level from MW1, that means I'm good enough to join the S.A.S. right?

    While their at it, why don't they blame the recent artillery exchange in Korea on Homefront? (oh yeah, they can't do that yet because the game hasn't been released).

    Idiots.

  • aldo_14 #27 1 year ago

    Yes, because clearly you require extensive training in order to walk into a crowded public area and press a detonator button.

  • monkfishjoe #28 1 year ago

    B O L L O C K S

  • BillMurray #29 1 year ago

    What is this guy an 'expert' of exactly?

  • joelstinton #30 1 year ago

    @inutaihanyou

    we get fox over here on sky, all the prorgrams that go with it, O'Reiley , Beck, Cauvato, etc.

    It is a disgusting channel, but i can't help myself and watch it now and again, its so laugable at times, yet its cable number 1 news channel. Here hoping murdoch doesn't increase his stake in sky, and sky sack kay burley.

  • space_ace #31 1 year ago

    what was the point of that report again?
    they need "link" to common sense.

  • eewead #32 1 year ago

    hahahaha yeh.... I personally blame Die Hard 2.

  • Lord_Gremlin #33 1 year ago

    Anything is possible. The bottom line here is that shit like this scene in MW2 should be forbidden. Well, of course an artist should be free to express his feelings, but when you start making things like this it's similar to insulting people in public. Freedom is all good etc. etc. but do you feel that calling black people n***ers in public should be allowed, for example?

    P.S. I'm actually Russian and MW2 is literally the only game ever our politicians were pissed off about (usually they ignore games, Russia doesn't even use any rating system officially - maybe that's why a lot of controversial Japanese PC games are only available in Japanese and Russian).

  • Benno #34 1 year ago

    MW2 is full of elitist kids who play 24/7 and are ridiculously good

    I feel it should be the other way round. I should go into real life combat to prepare for MW2

  • Futaba #35 1 year ago

    This guy is supposed to be an expert? It sounds like he doesn't have a clue.

  • Gearskin #36 1 year ago

    This is clearly true

  • Editos #37 1 year ago

    'Trained' on CoD?

    Do me a favour, love.

  • mcmonkeyplc #38 1 year ago

    That took longer than expected. Really. I was expecting this to be headline news today.

  • PearOfAnguish #39 1 year ago

    He may have a point. This would explain why terrorists have been seen stepping on magazines when they run out of ammo and bunny-hopping toward their targets.

  • darkmorgado #40 1 year ago

    Muslim extremists need video games to fuel their Jihad?

    Possibly. But seeing as this attack was made by a Chechnyan rebel I don't see what Islam has to do with anything.

  • Golgo #41 1 year ago

    nope, no suicide bombers in 'no russian'. nice try.

  • Belnini #42 1 year ago

    Pretty inevitable someone would make the link - I guess there's not much chance of it disappearing from shops like Red Alert 2 seemed to after September 11th though.

  • chicknstu #43 1 year ago

    "Religion and poverty linked to Russian airport bombing"

  • coolbritannia #44 1 year ago

    Fucking Martydom perk spamming bastards.

  • el_pollo_diablo #45 1 year ago

    What's shocking of course is that he declined to comment on his own rumoured addiction to a popular Facebook enabled game.

    "The issue is we need to know if terrorists or extremists are using these videos or DVDs or games to basically apply the model," he pondered, before placing an ear of corn in the corner of his mouth and climbing abord a combine harvester.

  • arcam #46 1 year ago

    This isn't even a story until all the gaming sites and blogs turn it into one. These articles are just as annoying as the inevitable Fox News ones in the first place.

    Ever see those news reports on some 'controversy' where reporters have nothing to film so they stand around and film themselves as evidence of a story 'blowing up'?



  • TommyBread #47 1 year ago

    The Sims has cause alot of the violence in the world today, i walk out of my house and there's that smirky backstard staring at me with his big house, big car and wife with big boobies, gggrrrrrrrrrr.

  • djed #48 1 year ago

    Terrorists train on COD, expert claims.

    "Good job lending credence to FOX NEWS", expert djed claimed in a scathing comment.

  • The_Inquisitor #49 1 year ago

    An episode of 24 had terrorists and suicide bombers in an airport. That seems closer to the actual incident than MW2. Oh but wait, 24 isn't a video game, so it can't be that.

  • trevd72 #50 1 year ago

    The amount of training I have done over the years mean I must be the best god damn killing machine on the planet should i go rogue. They better make sure I don't lose it cos I will make Chechnya look like a birthday party. Russia; I am coming for YOU!!!!.

  • Ryze #51 1 year ago

    ^ hey whatever happened to that guy trevd72?

    He used to post on here until that one time when he threatened a terrorist attack against a world superpower with a seriously corrupt government, who seemingly have no problem in assassinating their enemies covertly or otherwise...

    :D

  • marmaduke #52 1 year ago

    What a load of rubbish. Given the number of people that have played the game it'd be more amazing if one of them *didn't* turn out to be a total lunatic.

  • trevd72 #53 1 year ago

    @Ryze
    I've been "training" on metal gear too, so they better be prepared!!!

  • bad09 #54 1 year ago

    "Fucking Martydom perk spamming bastards."

    Just genius coolbritannia :)

    / Applaudes

  • patootik #55 1 year ago

    Until these "terrorists" start noob tubing and quick scoping I don't think it could be said that they use COD to train.

  • t8yman #56 1 year ago

    No seriously. Eurogamer. Take a step back, and take a long hard look at yourself.

    This is absolutely not news, its even less "gaming news". And to stoop to this level of "journalism" is so low, when you look up, you will see The Sun

  • Phishfood #57 1 year ago

    I stopped at Fox News terrorist expert

  • Khanivor #58 1 year ago

    If you just take the actual words quoted in the article then, personally, I can't see a flaw in the reasoning.

    Guys in war movies do it with sticks and sand. Why not use a 3D simulation which gives particular care to representing ways of causing maximum carnage?

  • Centrifugal #59 1 year ago

    Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me.

  • superdelphinus #60 1 year ago

    Interesting (though predictable) that everyone is so sure. People believe that f1 drivers use f1 games to practice for real f1 (though it's obviously very far removed from the real thing), yet this must be absolutely ridiculous and an assault against gamers and common sense. Justsayin

  • Nodebug #61 1 year ago

    DONT. BE. SO. FUCKING. STUPID

  • BuddyChrist #62 1 year ago

    MW is way too fast to be used as a training sim. They should crack open the classic Operation Flashpoint.

  • homerramone #63 1 year ago

    Maybe they should legalise porn video games - see if the whole world stops blowing each other up and starts shagging more.

  • metalangel #64 1 year ago

    Rack of BEEF!

  • mAc062 #65 1 year ago

    Bahhhh!!!

  • Sunyavadin #66 1 year ago

    So, the same sort of "expert" analyis that gave us "Iraq had nukes" and "The terrorists are based in Afghanis- wait, sorry, Ira- no, wait, Yeme - ANYWHERE BUT SAUDI ARABIA"

  • drhickman1983 #67 1 year ago

    I once flew a Dodo into a building in GTA3. Clearly the 9/11 hijackers had trained using the same game.

    EDIT: ((actually, was GTA3 even out then? Meh))

    EDIT2: ((turns out it wasn't. Consider it a case of didn't do the research.))

    EDIT3: ((though I'm sure I remember some news saying flight simulator helped them train. Feasible? Maybe. Still stands that the "training" acquired through MW2 would be totally useless in the Russian bombing.))
    Edited by drhickman1983 at 26/01/11 @ 11:50

  • LittleRiver #68 1 year ago

    What utter crap! Extremist nuts of all types find motivation where ever they choose to look for it.

  • monty2k #69 1 year ago

    Hang on....

    "No Russian" was cut from the Russian version of the game yet it was Russian terrorists who carried out the attack?

    Isn't that a non sequitur? Were they playing a pirated non-Russian version then?

    edit - spellings
    Edited by monty2k at 26/01/11 @ 12:21

  • chrisola #70 1 year ago

    the people making the link are just disgruntled PS3 COD players.

  • metalangel #71 1 year ago

    @drhickman83: A number of aspects of GTA3 were altered to make it feel less like NYC... the police car livery, for instance.

    They are alleged to have used MS Flight Simulator. As a result, Flight Sim 2002 was delayed while the WTC was removed, and an optional patch to remove them from Flight Sim 2000 and 98 was released.

    Some folks make patches to put the towers back in! I know I tried (and failed) to land a helicopter atop one of the towers in Flight Sim 2000.

  • Branoic #72 1 year ago

    I'm pretty sure the FOX terrorism expert will also find that the vast majority of his own country's finest brave young soldiers are partial to a bit of MW2 and other FPSs, you know, before they get on with torturing afghan prisoners or shooting Iraqi civilians.

  • ExplodingClown #73 1 year ago

    "Hmm, I have a bomb and wish to cause maximum casualties. Where can I find lots of people packed closely together for it to have the desired effect? Uh... no, I just can't imagine. Let's fire up the xbox, I'll think about it after some wholesome run-and-gun".

  • ChesterPTR #74 1 year ago

    What a stupid idea.
    It's like saying that a lot of crushing in GT5 or other racing games influence more accidents on the roads.
    Idiots.

  • Verwandlung #75 1 year ago

    Cue Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and other fox 'news' crazies.
    Edited by Verwandlung at 26/01/11 @ 18:18

  • RiflemanSwift&Bold #76 1 year ago

    The clue is when anyone is described as an Expert = Ex (- something that was) + Spurt ( a drip under pressure)