Disinfo: Alexei Navalny case: German doctors are silenced

Summary

A curious discrepancy: in Russia, the case is being freely and openly discussed by all sorts of professionals who have a say on the matter – doctors, those who treated the patient, investigators, journalists, diplomats, and politicians. However, in the West only high ranking politicians do the talking, the doctors are silent. The doctors at the Berlin clinic Charité seem to have been gagged because they did not say anything.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on Navalny's poisoning. The Berlin clinic Charité, where Alexei Navalny is being treated, has issued several statements with the preliminary results of medical investigation. After Alexei Navalny was admitted to the Charité clinic, its doctors confirmed, after a careful investigation, that the Russian politician was poisoned by a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors:

"Clinical findings indicate poisoning with a substance from the group of cholinesterase inhibitors. The specific substance involved remains unknown, and a further series of comprehensive testing has been initiated. The effect of the poison – namely, the inhibition of cholinesterase in the body – was confirmed by multiple tests in independent laboratories."

Charité also issued several statements on his condition: that Navalny remains in a serious condition (September 2), that his condition improved (September 7), and that Navalny was removed from mechanical ventilation (September 14). See more recent stories on Navalny's poisoning: that Navalny is an agent of the Russian special services, that he was not poisoned by Novichok and Russian special services are not involved, and that he is an anti-Russian project and was poisoned by the sponsors.

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Rossia 24 (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 211
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 13/09/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Germany, Russia
  • Keywords: novichok, Alexei Navalny
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Disinfo: Germany could be the real target of intoxication of Navalny; money trails point to the US

The intoxication of Russian blogger Alexei Navalny has a very clear goal, and in order to know who could be behind it, one only must know who benefits from the event that caused his metabolic disorder, produced by a sharp fall of his blood sugar levels, which the West is promoting as an alleged poisoning. In this match, Germany could be the real target, and the money trail points directly to the US: its defence budget for 2021 includes imposing sanctions to prevent the finalisation of the Nord Stream 2 works, for which there are only 160 kilometres left until its completion.

Sep 12, 2020
Disproof

This is part of a pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign on the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The claim that Navalny suffered an “intoxication” or a “metabolic disorder” presented now by the West as “an alleged poisoning” is false, since the use of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group against the Russian dissident has been established beyond any doubt by a specialist Bundeswehr laboratory. The campaign is following the same playbook that the one deployed after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daugther in Salisbury in 2018, a case where there is strong evidence of the involvement of Russian intelligence operatives and high-level Russian officials. By claiming that is the US and not Russia who benefits from this incident, pro-Kremlin media are trying to deflect any Russian responsibility for it, a frequent Kremlin tactic. Also, the use of multiple and simultaneous versions of an event involving questionable actions by the Russian government or its allies, in order to confound citizens about the actual truth, is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation strategy, already seen in the cases of the MH17 downing, the illegal annexation of Crimea, the murder attempt against the Skripals or chemical attacks in Syria. See other examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives on Alexei Navalny’s poisoning in our database, such as claims that only caffeine and alcohol were found in his blood, that the US wanted to use it to block Russia's vaccine against coronavirus, that the West hopes that he dies to have an excuse for new sanctions, or that Western accusations about Navalny’s case are as false as they were about Sergei Skripal and Alexander Litvinenko.

Disinfo: The same authoritarian regime exists in Bulgaria and Belarus

Taking into consideration [political] trends, it is possible to compare Bulgaria to Belarus, because the same authoritarian regime exists in Bulgaria and Belarus.

Sep 12, 2020
Disproof

This message presents Bulgaria as an authoritarian and undemocratic country and uses manipulative headline. According to the Freedom House, Belarus an authoritarian police state in which elections are openly rigged and civil liberties are curtailed. Bulgaria’s democratic system holds competitive elections and has seen several transfers of power in recent decades. Belarus scored 19 points out of 100 in the Freedom House's Global Freedom Index 2020. Bulgaria's score: 80 out of 100. Read more disinformation messages focusing on Bulgaria: The USA is planning a coup in Bulgaria in order to subsequently blame Russia; Bulgarians have not seen any significant benefits from membership of the EU and NATO and EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn says that Bulgarians do not need a state.

Disinfo: The crowds protesting in Belarus are computer generated imagery

Look at this photo: it’s like an ocean of people. But look at the distances between people in the first row! It is impossible that there can be such distances in a crowd like that. It is impossible! There should be no space at all, first, second, third row should be full. But they’re not as you can see. It is a clearly an example of computer graphics.

Sep 12, 2020
Disproof

An unfounded claim to suggest the absence of popular support for the protests in Belarus.

The filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov certainly demonstrates an allegedly doctored picture, but Russian journalists have documented that the original broadcast did not contain the picture, demonstrated on Mikhalkov's show.