DISINFO: Coronavirus and economic crisis caught the EU by surprise because of its Russophobia
SUMMARY
In the past six years, the EU has been focusing on the wrong threat. A large part of the European establishment became a victim of Russophobia and wrongly interpreted the 2014 events around Crimea. Furthermore, past decades of successful development made the EU too optimistic. Eventually, the coronavirus and emerging financial crisis put the EU in a state of instability which it is absolutely unprepared for.
RESPONSE
This message is consistent with recurring propagandistic pro-Kremlin narrative about ubiquitous Russophobia in the EU and beyond, oddly mixed in with coronavirus-related events. The response of the EU countries to the coronavirus, can be read here. For background, read our analysis: The “Russophobia” Myth: Appealing to the Lowest Feelingsand look at earlier disinformation cases alleging that Brussels uses Russophobia as a uniting idea to prevent the EU’s collapse, that Russophobia is the main activity of the Latvian state and that the Baltic states’ policies equal to Third Reich whereas Russophobia has become a Western value.