Disinfo: Coronavirus is a game, coordinated by pharmaceutical and media industries

Summary

The coronavirus crisis is part of a game coordinated between the pharmaceutical and media industries. Country leaders have also fallen into the trap of this game. […] We are isolated now not of our own free will, but because there are influential living beings who decided, for some purpose, to make the world obsess and remain at home.

Disproof

A baseless conspiracy theory pushing a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about “globalist elites” and multinational corporations using the coronavirus pandemic to pursue malign special interests, establish mass control, and/ or expand profits. This is part of Russia’s disinformation campaign on the coronavirus, well documented by both media and governments. Elements of this campaign were widely reported by Russian and international publications, and by the European External Action Service. Beyond the present crisis, pro-Kremlin media consistently propagate conspiracy theories about secret “globalist elites” and “shadow governments” that manipulate global politics, economics and finance, robbing nations of their sovereignty and identity, crushing economies, and threatening traditional values. The coronavirus pandemic is not exaggerated. When on 11 March 2020, the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, there were more than 118,000 confirmed cases in 114 countries. As of 10 May 2020, there are over 3.9 million cases confirmed globally. Updated situation reports from the WHO can be found here. Moreover, emergency measures, such as quarantines and social distancing, have been introduced by governments not to spread fear among the population but to fight the pandemic. These measures are tools that countries need to use, for a limited period of time, to prevent public health systems from being overwhelmed by the crisis. Read similar cases claiming that the coronavirus pandemic is exaggerated in order to establish fascist hygiene dictatorships, that governments are exaggerating the death toll of the coronavirus and that ruling élites are spreading coronavirus panic in order to gain unlimited powers and to actively interfere in the economy.

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Russia in Arabic (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 195
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 23/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Arabic
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US
  • Keywords: coronavirus, Conspiracy theory
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Disinfo: To maintain world domination, a group of people developed and used a biological weapon

In front of us, apparently, is the ideal crime of the millennium. To maintain world domination, a small group of people a group of people developed and used biological weapons on a global scale. There have never been such precedents in history. And if there are many arguments in favor of this version, then there is not one that refutes it convincingly. This is what we must first take into account when speaking of genocide, which had no historical analogies.

Apr 22, 2020
Disproof

Conspiracy theory about the coronavirus pandemic, biological weapons and one of the common pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about a "Deep state" or Shadow Government of all-powerful groups ruling the world and controlling leaders.This is part of a disinformation campaign on coronavirus, well documented by both media and governments. Elements of this campaign were widely reported by Russian and international publications, and by the European External Action Service. There is no evidences to support the claim that the coronavirus is a biological weapon. The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) comes from a family of viruses that include other viruses such as SARS and MERS. It was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in central China and has been rapidly spreading, with new cases being reported in more that 200 countires of the world. Read other similar cases claiming that the US is developing biological weapons in Ukraine and Georgia's Lugar Lab, that Pentagon-funded biological laboratories are involved in the creation of coronavirus and they are a threat to the Armenian nation, that US prepares biological weapons against Russia, US is constructing secret biological labs, Pentagon is working out a biological war strategy in the Baltics, that The coronavirus is a bioweapon brought to Italy by the “Deep State”, that the COVID-19 is a bioweapon created by Soros, Bill Gates and the "Deep state".

Disinfo: The US might be developing biological weapons in Georgia

The US is trying to increase its “biological presence” outside of its territory, including in former Soviet republics. Moscow has information that Washington offered Georgia the opportunity to extend the scope of biological research projects in a US-owned lab in the country, which is called the Lugar laboratory. It is possible the US is researching materials causing dangerous diseases.

Apr 22, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative concerning the Tbilisi-based Lugar Lab. The Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research is a facility of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC), which became operational in August 2013. The Lugar centre is a top-tiered institution in NCDC’s laboratory network and serves as a reference laboratory for Georgia’s public health system. In no case has this laboratory designed, redesigned or built biological weapons, though this is a trope in Russian media. Read more about the Lugar lab on Myth Detector.

Disinfo: There was a coup d'état in Ukraine in early 2014

Relations between Russia and the European Union had deteriorated because of the situation in Ukraine, where a coup d’état took place in early 2014. In the same year, a referendum was held on the accession of the Crimean peninsula to Russia. The peninsula had until then belonged to Ukraine. The West accused Russia of interference and imposed sanctions as a result.

Apr 22, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative painting the 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution as a coup d'etat and claiming that Crimean citizens chose to rejoin Russia through a legal referendum. There was no coup d'état in Ukraine. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. On 26 February 2014, the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government. The next day a referendum was announced and a vote was held on March 16, 2014, in the Peninsula of Crimea. The territory was then controlled by Russian forces, though neither Ukrainian nor Russian election code was observed. On 27 March 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it stated that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. On 17 December 2018, the UN General Assembly confirmed its non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea. Read more similar cases alleging that the extreme coup in Kyiv led to the return of Crimea and that Euromaidan was a coup d’état carried out by oligarchs.