Russia’s fake news machine has kicked into overdrive ever since a U.S. Navy F/A-18 shot down an Assad regime Su-22 yesterday. Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued a stark warning — repeated dozens and hundreds of times in outlets ranging from Sputnik to the New York Times — that their forces will now target U.S. planes.

For Syria watchers, this is Déjà vu all over again.

Russia issued a much the same warning in October 2016. As Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson General Igor Konashenkov said:

“[A]ny missile or air strikes on the territory controlled by the Syrian government will create a clear threat to Russian servicemen. Russian air defense system crews are unlikely to have time to determine in a ‘straight line’ the exact flight paths of missiles and then who the warheads belong to. And all the illusions of amateurs about the existence of ‘invisible’ jets will face a disappointing reality.”

After Trump ordered cruise missile strikes on a regime air base in retaliation for a regime chemical weapons attack on civilians in April 2017, Russia and Iran promised to “respond with force” to any further U.S. military action.

Russia even went one step further and dramatically announced that it would no longer use the communications channel it established with the U.S. under the Obama administration to avoid mid-air collisions by their respective air forces. This announcement quickly turned out to be fake news — Russia in fact did not suspend its participation in the de-confliction channel, but by the time the truth got out, the lie had already gone ‘round the world.

So treat Russian Ministry of Defense’s latest warning that “All flying objects, including planes and drones of the international coalition, detected west of the Euphrates, will be followed by Russian air defense systems as targets” for what it is — fake news.

Or as Russians call it: dezinformatsiya (disinformation).