Disinfo: Brussels cannot offer any centralised plan on quarantine recovery

Summary

The end of quarantine in Europe exposed a new problem: Brussels is confused and cannot offer any centralised plan. There are no exact dates or detailed instructions in the so-called “roadmap” presented by the European Commission.

Disproof

This claim exploits the coronavirus pandemic to push a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU's alleged imminent collapse. 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. This narrative also aims to pit EU member states against each other in an attempt to undermine European solidarity: another recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation tactic. 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 €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. The Commission is further increasing its response by proposing to set up a €100 billion solidarity instrument to help workers keep their incomes and businesses stay afloat, called SURE. It is also proposing to redirect all available structural funds to the response to the coronavirus. To support scientific research into COVID-19, the European Commission earmarked €47.5 million for shortlisted research projects that can improve epidemiology and public health, including preparedness and response to outbreaks. Read more about the EU's response here. Apart from that, on 15 April 2020, the Commission, in cooperation with the President of the European Council, has put forward a European roadmap to phase-out the containment measures due to the coronavirus outbreak. While recognising the specificities of each country, the roadmap established the following key principles: timing is essential, phasing-out confinement requires accompanying measures, and there is a need for a common European framework. The presented roadmap also listed concrete recommendations. 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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tvzvezda.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 194
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 20/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU
  • Keywords: coronavirus, Brussels, EU disintegration
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Disinfo: WHO may be involved in a plot to reduce global population

Within the framework of “Operation COVID-19”, WHO is involved with vaccines (or rather, chemical weapons), which should reduce the population. […] The Republic of Armenia is not a country where the population can be reduced. Armenia should immediately suspend its WHO membership and abandon any “WHO-Bill Gates” programmes. Armenia must reject any vaccination programmes against COVID-19.

Apr 19, 2020
Disproof

An unfounded conspiracy theory, about WHO, Bill Gates and coronavirus, sharing a recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about "secret elites" controlling world leaders and part of the anti-vax movement. Vaccine hesitancy is identified by WHO as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019. There is an overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. See similar cases claming that Bill Gates and Co aspire to a reduction in population, that survivors will be poisoned with vaccines, or Covid-19 will allow total control of the population through forced vaccination and chips.

Disinfo: Sooner or later, Americans will have to choose between freedom or a vaccine with a microchip

In order to return to normality, a possible requirement, besides social distancing, will be mandatory participation in a global vaccination programme, underwritten by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Big Pharma and many other supposed “philanthropists”. Efforts to introduce a vaccine containing nanotechnology to “mark” and keep those injected under surveillance received a big boost, with Bill Gates at its head.

Apr 19, 2020
Disproof

Conspiracy theory, with no evidence provided to support the claim. This is a mix of a long-established conspiracy theory about a Shadow Government of all-powerful groups ruling the world (a formulation that aims to question the legitimacy of democracy and Western institutions) with bogus narratives against billionaire Bill Gates and attacking vaccination programmes. They also fit into an ongoing disinformation campaign on coronavirus, well documented by both media and governments. Some elements of this campaign were widely reported by Russian and international publications and by the European External Action Service. EUvsDisinfo database has a long set of Kremlin-linked disinformation cases on the Shadow Government and coronavirus, such as claims that Covid-19 vaccines will lead to Full Spectrum Dominance by the Deep Dark State; that vaccine production is part of the agenda for a New World Order; that the coronavirus pandemic is being exaggerated in order to turn countries into fascist hygiene dictatorships; that the Covid-19 outbreak is not about a virus but about power; or that those who survive the pandemic will be poisoned this way for population reduction purposes.

Disinfo: The West hates Russia because of its strong state and traditional value system

Recent years have brought the United Kingdom and the West, in general, a new reason for the hatred of Russia. After Russia had managed to rise from its struggling condition after the 1990s, it started, like the Soviet Union did before it, to offer an alternative to the world built by the Anglo-Saxons. Britain demands of Putin, day and night, to cease to undermine the world order.

One wonders here: What is the nature of this “undermining”, and what is the secret behind the exaggerated reaction to it? Ultimately, Russia cannot challenge the West economically; it even depends on it. Militarily, Russia is several times weaker than NATO and cannot, by definition and common sense, initiate any aggression against the West. Russia cannot impose its will on the West in any way.

But it is simply because the Anglo-Saxon Empire, like any large empire, is on the way to collapse from within, under the weight of accumulated economic distortions, pervert and unsustainable social relations. This cannot be described as a struggle of political ideologies, especially since Russia, unlike the Soviet Union, no longer has an ideology. So the conversation here is about something much deeper than that; it is about the collapse of the value system.

Russia adopts a strong state model that is based on conservative and traditional values. It refuses to accept same-sex marriage, maintains the family value as one of the undisputed values, and proposes and defends that vision as an alternative.

Apr 19, 2020
Disproof

This message is in line with a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the West's moral decay aimed at portraying Russia as superior to the West in terms of values and morals. This narrative often claims that President Vladimir Putin saved Russia’s values and identity from the threat of Western decadence and that he is the only world leader that protects traditional European and Christian values. “Threatened values” is one of the most common narratives used by pro-Kremlin outlets.

According to these narratives, the liberal societies of the West are depraved, they seek to destroy traditional values and to promote deviant sexual behaviour.