Disinfo: EU countries, not Russia, interferred in US-elections 2016 and 2020

Summary

The Russian Foreign Ministry has announced who actually influenced the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020. According to the agency, almost all EU politicians, the US's allies, interfered in the elections. It was stressed that this had been the EU countries, but not Russia.

Disproof

Baseless accusation without provided evidence. This is recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation denying Russian interference in the 2016, as well as, in the 2020 US presidential elections.

Contrary to the claims, available evidence suggests that Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential poll - which was specifically aimed at damaging Clinton's campaign and aid her opponent - did affect the vote, particularly in three critical swing states where Trump's victory margins were the thinnest. In the US, Russian-linked posts reached 126 million Facebook users, whilst 29 million saw the content "directly".

The US Justice Department has charged 12 Russian intelligence officers with hacking Democratic officials in the 2016 US elections. Previously, 13 Russian citizens as well as the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management and Concord Catering had been charged with interfering with the US political system.

Robert Mueller's investigation also concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Mueller's report determined that there were "two main Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election". The first involved attempts by the Internet Research Agency to conduct disinformation and social media operations in the US to sow social discord, with the aim of interfering with the election. The second involved the Russian government's efforts to conduct computer hacking operations designed to gather and disseminate information to influence the election.

Regarding the 2020 US presidential election, on 10 March 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (NIC) released the declassified Intelligence Community assessment of foreign threats to the 2020 U.S. federal elections: the report indicates that

“Russian state and proxy actors who all serve the Kremlin’s interests worked to affect U.S. public perceptions". It refers mainly to disinformation operations aimed at “denigrating President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US”.

Previously, between September and October 2019, Facebook and Instagram removed 75,000 posts linked to accounts that “appear to be linked to the Russian troll agency, the Internet Research Agency (IRA)”, which, according to the analysis of experts and Facebook moderation, “tried to sow division by targeting both the left and right with posts to foment outrage, fear, and hostility. Much of their activity seemed designed to discourage certain people from voting”.

Go to search

publication/media

de.rt.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 238
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 22/03/2021
  • Article language(s) German
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia, EU, US
  • Keywords: election meddling, US Presidential Election 2020
see more

Disinfo: Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is a descendant of Nazi collaborators

After World War II, many Ukrainians, collaborators with Nazi Germany, found sanctuary in the USA and Canada and their descendants (such as Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland) actively participated in defining these countries' policies towards Ukraine.

Mar 21, 2021
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation targeting former Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and painting her as a Nazi sympathiser because of her grandfather’s presumed activities.

Freeland has been a constant target for Russian disinformation. She is banned from travelling to Russia, as part of the tit-for-tat game of escalating sanctions that the Russians played in the wake of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Freeland is obviously singled out for attention as leading voice in the Canadian government concerning Russia’s actions there.

Disinfo: The 2014 coup turned Ukraine into a Nazi state

The Ukrainian Nazis are the most anti-Russian force in Ukraine. Not surprisingly, they are at the forefront of the ongoing processes in Ukraine, transforming the country into an increasingly Nazi state.

And in 2014, former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, delayed signing the Association Agreement with the European Union, in an attempt to bargain for compensation for agreeing to open the Ukrainian market to European goods, thus destroying Ukrainian industry.

However, instead of compensation, he obtained a complete coup d'état, prepared in advance from abroad, and carried out by Nazi militants. From this moment the Nazis became the leading political force in Ukraine, and the country's transition to a Nazi dictatorship began.

Immediately after the 2014 coup, the new regime abolished the law allowing the use of the Russian language in its speaking regions. Immediately, there was an uprising in southern and eastern Ukraine, and civil war broke out. In most regions, the army and Nazi forces were able to suppress the demonstrations, with the exception of Donetsk and Lugansk, which were able to provide armed resistance and are now unrecognized republics.

Mar 21, 2021
Disproof

This disinformation message contains multiple pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives casting Ukraine as a Nazi-sympathizing country. This narrative groundlessly equates present-time Ukraine with Nazi Germany, and misrepresents the current status of the Russian language in the country, while portraying popular Euromaidan protests as a coup.

Linking some countries with Nazism is a widespread disinformation tactic used by pro-Kremlin outlets. Read more in our analysis "Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest". The myth about Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been the cornerstone of pro-Kremlin disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, which disinformation outlets try to portray as a coup d’état.

Disinfo: Accession of Crimea to Russia has taken place in strict accordance with international law

The accession of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea to the Russian Federation has taken place in strict accordance with international law.

Such a form of exercising the right of peoples to self-determination enshrined in the UN Charter was the only way to protect the interests, dignity and lives of Crimean residents in the face of threats from nationalists and neo-Nazis who seized power in Kyiv in an unconstitutional armed coup.

Mar 21, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea, claiming that Crimea voted to rejoin Russia through a legal referendum and that Euromaidan was a coup d’etat.

It was not a "legal accession", but an illegal annexation of the Ukrainian territory. No international body recognises the so-called referendum in Crimea. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled “Territorial integrity of Ukraine”, stating 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.