Disinfo: Report on the situation of Covid-19 in Russia aims to discredit the Sputnik V vaccine

Summary

There is a new Cold War in international media in these times of the coronavirus pandemic. A CNN report about the “Covid-19 reality in Russia”, showing packed morgues, overcrowded hospitals and relatives pleading for medical assistance, doesn’t look like a normal story but a denunciation of the Russian authorities. Its aim is to show once again that Russia is not a reliable partner if it is tricking us even with the figures of deaths from Covid-19. And this happens at a key moment of the pandemic, when Russia invited the Europeans to produce its Sputnik V vaccine. It seems evident that the goal of the CNN report is to discredit Russia and its efforts in the fight against the novel coronavirus, when we are reaching the final stage in the race to achieve a reliable vaccine against it.

Disproof

Recurrent disinformation about an alleged anti-Russian bias in international media, this time presented as an effort to prevent the success of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. No evidence is provided to support the claim that the goal of the article is to discredit the Russian authorities and present them as an unreliable partner. Many of the affirmations in the CNN story about overcrowded hospitals and suspicions that mortality figures are higher than the official ones have been independently confirmed by other outlets, such as Canada’s CBS and the UK’s The Guardian.

This is part of a disinformation campaign launched after approval of the Sputnik V vaccine was met with scepticism and criticism, even by Russian specialists in the country. See other examples in our database, such as claims that Western attacks on the Russian coronavirus vaccine are a corporate Cold War against humanity; that the UK launched a smear campaign against it; that the US and the EU face multiple deaths out of fear of admitting Russia’s success against coronavirus; that the WHO confirmed that the Sputnik V was on Phase 3 of clinical testing already in August 2020; that the WHO and Microsoft sabotaged the Russian vaccine; that Europe is turning to Russia due to its desperate need for a vaccine; or that the West criticises the Sputnik V because it can’t accept Russia’s primacy and because its pharmaceutical companies will lose billions of dollars.

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mundo.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 222
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 24/11/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Spanish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Russia
  • Keywords: coronavirus, vaccination, Mainstream media, Anti-Russian, CNN
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Disinfo: After Euromaidan Ukraine lost its sovereignty and is falling apart

Euromaidan that started on 21 November 2013, radically changed the lives of almost every Ukrainian. In the overwhelming majority of cases, these changes were for the worse, such as a civil war that soon began in Eastern Ukraine. Not a single Maidan slogan has been implemented. None of the leaders of the Maidan has kept any of their promises. Ukraine has lost the remnants of the signs of a sovereign state and is on the verge of complete collapse.

A coup d’état took place, and Western puppets came to power. Seven years have passed since the beginning of the Maidan and Ukraine has changed beyond recognition: no sovereignty remained.

Nov 23, 2020
Disproof

This is an example of recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the 2013-2014 Maidan protests, the war in Ukraine, and Ukrainian statehood.

Ukraine is a sovereign country. It is not falling apart. It has a functioning government, embassies in other countries, judicial, law enforcement, and other authorities. It is a democratic country where people can choose the president, the parliament, and local administration. For instance, in 2019, it held presidential and parliamentary elections, and in 2020 - local elections.

Disinfo: Rail Baltica is built for the purposes of NATO

The Rail Baltica railroad is built in the Baltic States for purposes of North-Atlantic alliance. Without NATO, the purpose of this project is absolutely not clear.

Nov 23, 2020
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative targetting NATO's presence in the Baltic states.

The Rail Baltica is a project of the European Union (not NATO). It is part of EU's North Sea-Baltic TEN-T corridor. The Rail Baltica is financed by the EU as well as by Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. It envisages a continuous rail link from Tallinn (Estonia) to Warsaw (Poland), going via Riga (Latvia) and Kaunas (Lithuania). The Baltic route should be completed by 2025; the link to Warsaw by 2030.

Disinfo: European Commission implements the plan imposed by world oligarchs who cash in on the coronavirus pandemic

First, they will isolate people in their apartments, then they will clean them up: the plan of the world’s oligarchs leaked to journalists.

The financial and political elite, who meet once a year at the Davos Economic Forum, are trying to cash in on the COVID-19 crisis.

Almost 100% of the mass media is in the hands of a handful of oligarchs whose interests do not coincide with those of the people.

This plan to “reset the world”, called “COVID-19: The Great Reset”, carried out down to the smallest detail by the European Commission, is the backbone of Joe Biden’s overseas programme. In general, the level of state support for the project is directly related to the adoption of the story about the COVID-19 pandemic, imposed by major media.

Nov 23, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the coronavirus pandemic, exploiting the trope of "secret elites".

In an article, published in November 2020 Tsargrad refers to a never before seen report on a plan by oligarchs to reduce the population and to cash in on the pandemic and names Emmanuel Ratier, who died in 2015, as the alleged author of the "Investigation by Faits et Documents".See previous theories that Bill Gates is working on depopulation policies and artificially created the coronavirus for this purpose.