Moscow's Ostankino Tower lit up in France's national colors this weekend was an ad, not a show of solidarity

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris last weekend, several media outlets reported that the Ostankino Tower in Moscow (the tallest structure in Europe) changed its lighting scheme to the colors of the French national flag, in a show of solidarity. According to the communication group LBL, which places advertisements in Russia, the tower's colors this weekend had nothing to do with the Paris attacks and were in fact part of a promotion campaign for a new sports TV channel.

"The Match TV ads were supposed to be up until Friday, November 14," the agency told the radio station Govorit Moskva. "There shouldn't have been anything there by the weekend. It definitely wasn't the flag."

• Match TV is a new Russian sports TV network that began broadcasting on November 1, 2015. The network was created by an executive order signed by Vladimir Putin in July 2015.