DISINFO: EU cites zero facts about Russia's alleged disinformation on coronavirus
SUMMARY
The EU has not cited a single fact to substantiate its claims that Russia is spreading disinformation related to the coronavirus pandemic. Russia does not even ask the EU to present any proof since it has already got used to Western nations’ attempts to use alleged Russian threat as some uniting factor.
RESPONSE
The statement advances recurring pro-Kremlin narratives which deny Moscow's role in in the spread of coronavirus-related disinformation, and portray any outside criticism of Russia as a symptom of "Russophobia". The European External Action Service has issued special reports listing and detailing disinformation narratives related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of individual cases is approaching 500 (as of 4 May 2020), and each debunk can be accessed through the EUvsDisinfo database. Facebook has removed 46 Pages, 91 Facebook accounts, 2 Groups, and 1 Instagram account for violating platform's policy against foreign interference, meaning coordinated inauthentic behavior on behalf of a foreign entity. The activity originated in Russia, the Donbas region in Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula. The account network focused on topics such as the military conflict in Ukraine, the Syrian civil war, the annexation of Crimea, NATO, US elections, and more recently the coronavirus pandemic. Facebook's investigation linked this activity to individuals in Russia and Donbas, and two media organizations in Crimea — NewsFront and SouthFront. See EUvsDisinfo reporting here. See here for supplementary debunking by POLYGRAPH.info.