Factual error: Yuri is excited about the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and celebrates by kissing a flat screen plasma TV. Even the earliest plasma TVs were not available until 1997. (00:35:40)
Factual error: When Yuri calls Colonel Southern from the plane, Colonel Southern is depicted with gold bordered ribbons on his right chest. Gold bordered ribbons are unit awards and are displayed on the left chest above the name tag. (01:09:20)
Factual error: When Yuri is narrating about selling weapons for the US government (this was around the scene when he sells M-16's by the kilo), he mentions Lieutenant Colonel Southern. However, when you see the him, he has Colonel rank, which is a silver eagle. The Lieutenant Colonel rank is a silver leaf, not an eagle.
Factual error: When the brothers are in Beirut and apparently get shot at by unknown forces behind a wall, Yuri scrambles to grab the money he threw while ducking. As he is picking up the cash, several of the $100 bills are of the new design introduced in 1996. However, this is 1982 Beirut, shortly after the Marine Base Bombing.
Factual error: Interpol - and a specific Interpol officer - are shown carrying out raids and arrests in several different countries, interrogating suspects, and operating in the field with a variety of military and paramilitary hardware including operations from jet fighters and warships. In fact, Interpol is an information exchange and coordination agency; it has no direct investigative powers, no powers of arrest, no field agents, and certainly no warships.
Factual error: Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, is depicted with muddy ditches for roads, just one car, and the best hotel is a filthy tumbledown 3 storey building. While Liberia is quite poor, and was badly beset by the civil war, this depiction is severely exaggerated for dramatic effect. Monrovia actually has an 8 lane concrete freeway, around a dozen skyscrapers, and at rush hour traffic is heavy enough to cause traffic jams.
Factual error: When Yuri is selling 4 Glock pistols to the drug dealer, the box is open, 2 of the pistols were correct for the period Glock 19's. The 2 pistols pointing at the viewer were the later generation 3 version of the pistol which had the thumb indentations and a rail below the barrel, you can almost make out the finger groves in these pistols which weren't on the 1st generation.
Factual error: The scene with Yuri checking Vitaly into rehab takes place in 1989, yet the limo they are riding in is a 1993 (or later) Cadillac Fleetwood.
