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.

Disproof

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.

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sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 195
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 28/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) English
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, Russia
  • Keywords: coronavirus, European Commission, Anti-Russian, European Union, Russophobia
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Disinfo: Presence of Russian mercenaries in Libya is nothing but rumours

The allegations that “Russian mercenaries” are present in Libya are nothing more than rumours.

Apr 27, 2020
Disproof

A recurring disinformation narrative about the Wagner group and Russian presence in Libya. The group is a private army linked to the Kremlin and has been fighting on the front lines of the Libyan war for nearly three months. The Russian firm Wagner Group is a shadowy mercenary outfit, actively engaged in conflicts on the Kremlin’s behalf from Ukraine to Syria to the Central African Republic. The Wagner group members are mostly ex-service personnel, fought clandestinely in support of Russian forces in Syria and Ukraine, according to Reuters interviews with dozens of contractors, their friends and relatives. According to Foreign Policy, the group fell into disgrace after the Syrian offensive and has recently been trying to find work in Africa in the training of local militias and with contracts for private security. Three Russian journalists who were investigating Wagner's presence in the Central African Republic were murdered in the summer of 2018. Others were threatened. Bloomberg reported, that more than 100 Wagner contractors arrived in Libya in early September to assist General Khalifa Haftar’s offensive against the GNA in Tripoli that began in April. To know more about the disinformation message regarding the Wagner group, check our report on a Russian attempt to hide all the pieces of evidence.

Disinfo: Euromaidan was organised by the Americans

What happened, you yourself know – a coup d’etat, Maidan, which in fact was organised by the Americans.

Apr 27, 2020
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Ukraine's statehood which claims that the Euromaidan protests were organised by foreign forces. The spontaneous onset of the massive Euromaidan protests was a reaction of the Ukrainian population to the sudden departure of President Yanukovych from the Association Agreement with the European Union and to the brutal dispersal of student protestors on 30 November 2013. Read similar cases: "The US backed the coup in Ukraine in 2014", "What is happening in Ukraine is a Western project".

Disinfo: Dangerous experiments were carried out on people in Lugar Lab in Georgia

As you know, in Georgia, in the laboratory of Senator Richard Lugar in the suburbs of Tbilisi, the US Army Department of Medical Research is deployed. The documents submitted by the ex-Minister of State Security of Georgia Igor Giorgadze confirmed that dangerous experiments were carried out on living people in the laboratory.

Apr 27, 2020
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative that Americans experimented on people in Georgia, with no evidence given. The U.S Embassy in Georgia officially addressed the conspiracy theories behind the Richard Lugar Centre as "nonsense and typical of Russian misinformation and propaganda campaigns." The Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research is a facility of the National Centre 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. Under no circumstances has this laboratory been designed or redesigned to build biological weapons. Read similar cases: "US might develop pathogen agents provoking dangerous diseases abroad including in the Lugar Lab located in Georgia", "US Department of Defence has a secret biological laboratory in Georgia".