Bloomberg apologises for accidentally reporting 'Russia invades Ukraine'; Kremlin reacts

American news outlet Bloomberg issued an apology after accidentally reporting that Russia had invaded the former Soviet nation Ukraine. On Friday afternoon, a headline appeared at the top of the Bloomberg homepage that read, “Live: Russia invades Ukraine”. It stayed up for about 30 minutes, according to Olga Lautman, a Russian analyst who posted the message on social media. 

Bloomberg then offered an apology a little over two hours after the headline was published, saying, “We prepare headlines for many scenarios and the headline “Russia Invades Ukraine” was inadvertently published around 4 p.m. ET today on our website. We deeply regret the error. The headline has been removed and we are investigating the cause.”

It is to mention that Bloomberg’s lapse came amid extreme tension between Russia and the West over fears that Moscow will invade its neighbour and spark a conflict that could consume Europe. Russia has repeatedly denied having plans to invade, however, with tens of thousands of troops deployed near the Ukraine border, the US believes that an attack could come at any time and on “short notice”. 

Kremlin slams Bloomberg’s publishing error 

Meanwhile, following Bloomberg's blunder, the Russian Ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov expressed “outrage” over the incident. Speaking on YouTube channel Soloviev Live on Saturday, Antonov said that Bloomberg’s mistake defies any explanation when they published the headlines, which were probably put on stand-by when all you need to do is just press a button. 

Separately, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS later that "it hardly was a provocation". However, he also went on to point out that this “makes it clear how dangerous such tensions are, which have been triggered by the daily aggressive statement that we keep hearing from Washington, European capitals and London. "Any spark is dangerous amid tensions," Peskov stressed.

(Image: AP/Twitter)