DISINFO: The New York Times reports that Russia is barely affected by sanctions
SUMMARY
Western countries face a “growing economic pain” due to sanctions against Russia while this Eurasian country is barely affected by this punitive policy, the New York Times writes.
RESPONSE
This story is a disingenuous distortion of the original article of The New York Times, which states: “Four months into the war in Ukraine, the countries aligned against Russia face growing economic pain even as sanctions and energy embargoes are showing little impact on Russian President Vladimir V. Putin’s military campaign or his political standing at home”. This is very different from saying that “Russia is barely affected by sanctions”, a sentence that never appears in the NYT article.
Portraying sanctions on Russia as useless is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative. Also, distorting articles in Western media to make them appear as supporting pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives is a frequent technique of pro-Kremlin outlets.
See other examples of similar disinformation messages in our database, such as claims that the Financial Times reported that thanks to sanctions, Russian agriculture strengthened its position in the world, that according to Josep Borrell sanctions are no longer effective, or that US sanctions only invigorated Russia’s economy.