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Disinfo: EU abandoned Italy, while Russia helped

Summary

While the European Union abandoned Italy, only Russia and China gave the country a helping hand.

Disproof

Recurring Pro-Kremlin narrative that the EU left Italy alone to fight coronavirus.

The European Commission has approved a €50 million Italian aid scheme to support the production and supply of medical devices, as well as to help Italy provide the necessary medical treatment to those infected.

On March 18, the European Union also received a Chinese aid package, including masks and 50,000 testing kits that were fully allocated to Italy, as Rome faces the most urgent needs among member states in the coronavirus crisis.

On March 13, the European Union proposed a Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative, envisaging EUR 835 million for Italy. On March 26, the European Parliament unanimously approved the initiative.

The European Central Bank announced a 750 billion euro ($820 billion) asset purchase program in an effort to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, as the death toll in Europe continues to rise. As part of the program, investors will purchase Italian securities to help the country counter the serious risks of the coronavirus.

Since the hospitals are overcrowded in Italy, Germany has started to accept coronavirus patients from this harder-hit country. Additionally, Germany and France sent a total of 2 million face masks to the Italian government.

Read further debunking on Myth Detector.

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publication/media

myvideo.ge Resource (Archived)
Sputnik South-Ossetia (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 190
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 25/03/2020
  • Language/target audience: Georgian, Russian
  • Country: EU, Italy, China, Russia
  • Keywords: coronavirus, EU disintegration

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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Coronavirus was sent by God to punish homosexuals and environmentalists

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March 31, 2020
Disproof

This message is in line with a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the West's moral decay aimed at portraying Russia as superior to the West in terms of values and morals.

The article is also part of the disinformation campaign around the coronavirus. See our special report here.

Russian scientists created 3 drugs against coronavirus

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March 31, 2020
Disproof

None of the listed drugs was created in Russia.

Remdevisir was developed by Gilead Sciences for Ebola virus. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are oral prescription drugs that have been used for the treatment of malaria and were added as a recommended antiviral for the treatment of COVID-19 in China. Fortepren was created back in 2016 and has been recommended for patients with chronic recurrent herpes.

Mike Pompeo inadvertently admitted that Covid-19 is a US creation

Covid-19 is a mutation of the 2002-2003 SARS made in a US high security biological war laboratory. Both viruses were created in the US. If anybody had doubts about where the virus originated, truth was revealed surreptitiously, a slip of the tongue or on purpose, by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he addressed the nation on March 29 by saying: “This is not about retribution, we are in a live exercise here”, meaning a military exercise or wargame.

March 31, 2020
Disproof

Conspiracy theory, with no evidence provided to support any of the claims. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s words were deliberately misinterpreted to support a false conclusion. 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.

The EUvsDisinfo database has a long set of Kremlin-linked disinformation cases on this subject, such as claims that Bill Gates and George Soros are sponsoring the Wuhan coronavirus, that it is a UK, US or NATO creation and Americans have its cure, that it is an artificial disease which specifically targets Chinese DNA, that it is a pretext to gain control of the world’s population, that it was created with economic goals while big pharma companies are spreading panic for their own profits, that it is a biological weapon against Russia and China, that it will wipe out Ukraine’s population in a few days or that it was predicted by Nostradamus and others.