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Disinfo: In 2021, Russia will remain the perfect scapegoat

Summary

As in 2020, accusing the Russians is going to be a leitmotiv in 2021. In his annual press conference, president Putin said that US politics turned Russia into a problem when it really isn’t one. We are seeing how they continued until the very last day with claims of an eventual Russian interference of which there is no trace.

NATO wants to generate tensions with Russia by accusing it of being a threat. Russia remains the old Soviet enemy in Washington’s mindset, and it is a comfortable enemy because, unlike terrorism, it has clear borders. When you have any problem you can always blame the Russians for it. This is the perfect excuse to maintain sanctions, to continue promoting NATO policies in Russia’s borders and to have a clear enemy.

Disproof

This is a mix of several recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Russia as a victim of the West and about Russian innocence of any misdeed.

It is false that US policies turned Russia into a problem, that NATO wants to purposefully generate tensions with Russia or that the West tries to portray it as an enemy. Tensions with Russia heightened after it occupied Crimea and orchestrated a war in eastern Ukraine in 2014, and interfered in the US elections as well as in other electoral processes in the years afterwards. Contrary to the claim, there is massive evidence of Russian interference in the US elections both in 2016 and in 2020. Sanctions were imposed on Russia for all these reasons.

See other examples of these disinformation narratives about Russia as a victim of the West, such as allegations about the supposed anti-Russian bias of international institutions - be it the OPCW, the World Anti-Doping Agency or the United Nations - which always falsely accuse Russia; the alleged Russophobia of the EU; the affirmation that it is NATO and not the Kremlin who is involved in the Donbas conflict; denials that Russia had any role in the poisoning of Sergey Skripal or the downing of MH17; or claims that neither the US Intelligence Committee report nor the Mueller report found any evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, that there is no proof that Russia tried to influence the Brexit referendum, that “absurd” accusations against Russia are an attempt to demonise it, that for the West Russia is an enemy that must be surrounded with military bases.

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RT Spanish - YouTube (Archived)
RT Spanish - YouTube (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 225
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 18/12/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Spanish, Castilian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, US, Russia
  • Keywords: US Presidential Election 2020, election meddling, West, Anti-Russian, Sanctions, NATO
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Lithuania is guilty of the bad relations with Russia

Ambassador of Lithuania in Russia Eitvydas Bajarunas complains that in Russia Lithuania is seen as a “small evil Russophobic state which only thinks how to hurt Russia”. He thinks that this stereotype is popular among the inhabitants of Russia.

The relations between Russia and Lithuania got worse during the period of governance of President Dalia Grybauskaite. She was famous for anti-Russian statements and Russophobic position. Nowadays authorities are keeping this position and regularly talk about the “Russian threat”.

This year “Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats” party become part of the ruling coalition. Representatives of mentioned party constantly make statements about the threat of “Russian influence” and risks for national security. They are famous for their Russophobic position, criticals statements about Russia and radical offers.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow is ready to collaborate with Vilnius on principles of good neighbourliness. He wants to see a similar position from the colleagues in Lithuania.

Dec 17, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia in Lithuania.

The concerns about the security of Lithuania are being presented as elements of the anti-Russian position. Lithuania's assessment of the security environment are directly related to the Kremlin's illegal annexation of Crimea and armed aggression in Ukraine.

Kyiv will vaccinate residents of Donbas with an unsafe American vaccine

The Minister of Health of Ukraine Maksym Stepanov announced plans for the mass vaccination of residents of Donbas with an unsafe American vaccine against coronavirus. It has been repeatedly reported that the Pfizer vaccine, which the Ukrainian authorities rely on, is unsafe and can cause severe allergic reactions.

Dec 17, 2020
Disproof

This is part of a disinformation campaign aiming to discredit Ukraine and Western vaccines against Covid-19. See our article on the topic of vaccines - It is all in the headline: the subtle art of information manipulation.

There is no reason to believe that the Pfizer vaccine is dangerous. Clinical trials of vaccines are subject to government inspections, in particular, by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US, which has access to patients participating in clinical trials, to documentation and other material evidence. The FDA did not accuse Pfizer of falsifying any clinical trials and successfully registered Pfizer's fluconazole after the said clinical trials.

US is creating biological weapons in Ukraine

The US destroys the scientific and technical potential of Ukraine and creates selective biological weapons.

The Americans have been working on a database of pathogen strains that they can use as biological weapons against “a particular race, genotype, territory of birth or residence.” Specifically, the newly emerged combat viruses should infect only the Eastern Slavs: Ukrainians, Russians, and Belarusians.

After the coup d’état, the curators received carte blanche to continue their parasitic activities in Ukraine.

Dec 17, 2020
Disproof

Recurring conspiracy theory alleging that the United States develops biological weapons and has secret biological laboratories around the world. The disinformation claim also capitalises on the oft-recurring conspiracy theories about laboratories in Ukraine and the coup in Ukraine in 2014.

There is no evidence that the US creates biological weapons in Ukraine or that these activities are directed against the 'Eastern Slavs'.