Disinfo: European countries did not respond to the problems in Italy

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be an insurmountable test for the EU on the strength of political and economic unity. This is already obvious. And the point here is not only how the community of European countries reacted to the problems in Italy. Rather, the EU did NOT respond, preferring to simply close the internal borders and even take medicine and medical equipment that could save thousands of human lives in Milan or Bergamo.

Disproof

This claim exploits the coronavirus pandemic to push a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU's alleged imminent collapse and a speculative claim about "abandoned Italy" claiming that the EU left Italy alone to fight coronavirus. One of the main pro-Kremlin narratives relating to the pandemic is that the EU is failing to cope with the COVID-19 crisis and, as a result, is disintegrating, together with the border-free Schengen area. In particular, this narrative of failure and lack of EU solidarity is trending after the delivery of Russian aid to Italy. There is no evidence to support the claim that the pandemic is resulting in the death or obsolescence of the EU. The European Commission is coordinating a common European response to the COVID-19 crisis and is supporting the Member States in tackling the pandemic and in mitigating its economic consequences. To cushion the blow to people’s livelihoods and the economy, the European Commission has adopted a comprehensive economic response to the outbreak, applied the full flexibility of the EU's fiscal rules, has revised its State Aid rules and proposed to set up a EUR 37 billion Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative to provide liquidity to small businesses and the health care sector. The EU also created the first-ever stockpile of medical equipment. Read more on EU response to the COVID-19 outbreak here and here. As for Italy, it was not left alone, there are numerous examples of solidarity among the EU and the individual Member States. For example, German hospitals have offered to treat critical coronavirus patients from France as well as taking in patients from Italy and the Czech Republic has sent masks to Italy. On March 18th, the European Union also received a Chinese aid package, including masks and 50,000 testing kits that were fully allocated to Italy, as Rome faced the most urgent needs among member states in the coronavirus crisis. On March 13th, the European Union proposed a Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative, envisaging EUR 835 million for Italy. On March 26th, the European Parliament unanimously approved the initiative. Furthermore, the European Central Bank announced a 750 billion euro ($820 billion) asset purchase programme 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 programme, investors will purchase Italian securities to help the country counter the serious risks of the coronavirus. Read similar cases claiming that the EU has collapsed as a result of the pandemic that the coronavirus epidemic marks the beginning of an era of crisis for pan-European identity and solidarity and that the COVID outbreak means the end of Europe.

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ru.armeniasputnik.am (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 194
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, Italy
  • Keywords: coronavirus, Euro-scepticism, EU disintegration
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Disinfo: Only Russia, Cuba and China helped Italy, EU didn’t

Italy and Spain got hit the hardest with COVID-19. Italy has one of the oldest populations in the world, but they got no help from their rich neighbors, EU countries like Germany and the Netherlands, but from Russia, Cuba and China.

Apr 20, 2020
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.

Disinfo: Russia is accused of US election meddling and the Skripals' poisoning without proofs

China, of course, is outraged by the US allegations of concealing information and by the currently discussed version that the pandemic resulted from a leak of the virus from a laboratory in Wuhan. No evidence, but a lot of screeching. We saw it already more than once: for example, when Russia was accused of interfering in the American elections or when Russian intelligence services were accused of poisoning the Skripal family in the UK. But anti-Russian sanctions are a reality.

Apr 20, 2020
Disproof

A collection of unfounded claims. A recurring narrative on Russian interference in the 2016 US elections. Although Robert Mueller's investigation was concluded with no proof of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, it did conclude that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Mueller's report determined that there were "two main Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election". It led to US senators' proposals to extend sanctions on Russia to deter it from further election meddling. The recurrent disinformation message also concerns Salisbury poisoning. After a hearing in the Court of Protection, British High Court Justice David Williams issued an approved judgement about what had happened to the Skripals around three weeks after their poisoning in March 2018. The British Police have presented a solid chain of evidence on the Skripal case, with pictures, connecting the suspects to the locations in the case. Parts of the material have been released to the public. The evidence was sufficient to charge two Russian nationals, Anatoliy Chepiga and Aleksandr Mishkin with the attack on the Skripals, both Russian military intelligence operatives from the GRU, who travelled to the UK using fake names and documents. Following this attack, the United Kingdom notified the OPCW, invited them to confirm the identity of the substance involved, and briefed members of the Security Council. The OPCW’s independent expert laboratories confirmed the UK’s identification of the Russian produced Novichok nerve agent, specifically the purity of the toxin while emphasising that the OPCW team “worked independently and was not involved in the national investigation by the UK authorities. No State Party was involved in the technical work carried out by the Technical Secretariat, to ensure the integrity of the examinations and investigations.

Disinfo: The fate of Donbas is decided by nationalists not Zelenskyy

The fate of Donbas is not decided by Zelenskyy. The hegemony of nationalists has developed in Ukraine, and Zelenskyy cannot break them.

Apr 20, 2020
Disproof

The recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the alleged power of Nationalists in Ukraine and their influence on the state processes. All right-wing groups have suffered spectacular defeats in every national election since 2014. In 2019 the far-right "Svoboda" (often described as "ultra-nationalist" or "Nazis" by pro-Kremlin outlets) gained only 2.15% of the vote, far short of the threshold needed to enter Parliament. This demonstrates the public's lack of support for far-right nationalist parties in Ukraine. The current president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy got 73.22% of the vote in the 2019 presidential elections. His party "Sluga narodu" got the largest number of votes - 43.16% in subsequent parliamentary elections.