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Disinfo: RT France is a French channel

Summary

RT France is a French channel, composed of French journalists. It has signed an agreement with the French media authority, has a code of ethics, journalists’ unions and an ethics’ committee. Twitter doesn’t care about all this and labels its account “State-affiliated media, Russia”.

Disproof

Recurrent disinformation message about the French branch of RT. RT France cannot be considered as a French channel as it was created and continues to be financed and editorially controlled by Russian state. Read more here. Unlike other branches the logo of RT in French is not labelled "RT in French" but "RT France". Any connection to Russia is not very noticeable from this name as in French RT also means Radio-Télévision. In August 2020, the social network Twitter decided to label RT 's account with "State-affiliated media, Russia" because of Russian funding and the lack of editorial independence. To read similar stories: RT France is a French press group, Sputnik and RT situation in France is extremely difficult and French authorities called to boycott those media, Latvian authorities blinded by Russophobia: there is no link between Dmitry Kiselyov and RT.

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publication/media

RT France (Archived)
RT France - YouTube
  • Reported in: Issue 207
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 06/08/2020
  • Outlet language(s) French
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: France, US, Russia
  • Keywords: Twitter, Russia Today (RT), Censorship, Information war
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US responsible for Lebanon explosion

Radar images emerging after the Beirut bombing show four American naval reconnaissance aircrafts near the Lebanese-Syrian coast conducting unusual reconnaissance activity, which, according to security experts, increases the possibility of America’s involvement in the recent bombings that shook the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Aug 05, 2020
Disproof

This groundless conspiracy theory is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative trying to portray the US and the West as a destabilizing force not only in the Middle East but also around the world. The baseless claim was repeated with no effort to challenge or counterbalance it. Powerful explosions occurred in the Beirut port area on the evening of 4 August, as a result of which at least 78 people were killed, about 4,000 were injured, the explosion caused serious damage to several adjacent neighborhoods. The preliminary cause of the powerful explosion is 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which was stored for about six years in a warehouse with confiscated goods.

US prepares for bacteriological warfare with Russia

The United States is building up its biological capabilities and preparing for bacteriological warfare with Russia. To this end, American biological laboratories operate in the post-Soviet space of Georgia and Ukraine. They also collect genetic material from Russians.

Aug 05, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin conspiracy theory alleging that the United States develops biological weapons and has secret biological laboratories around the world. In fact, biological laboratories in Ukraine, Georgia and other countries are involved in preventing the risks of complex diseases and, together with other similar projects, counteracting bioterrorism. The US Embassy in Ukraine has repeatedly denied the "creation of military biological laboratories" in Ukraine. Over many years, the United States and Ukraine have only ever cooperated in the prevention of biological threats. The Ukrainian Security Service urged peoplenot to spread fake news about the alleged presence of American military biological laboratories in Ukraine. Contrary to the claims of the pro-Kremlin media, the Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a facility of the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC). The Lugar Centre is a top-tiered institution in NCDC’s laboratory network and serves as a reference laboratory for Georgia’s public health system. In no case has this laboratory designed, redesigned or built biological weapons. Read more about the Lugar lab on Myth Detector. See also previous cases such as the USA is working on genetical weapons to use against Russians and the US is collecting DNA from target populations to create designer-diseases.

Washington, London, Brussels will create an anti-Chinese coalition in order to break China

Realising the inevitability of a Cold War with China, which is likely to include sanctions, mutual espionage, and possibly even forceful forms of confrontation, the Western expert community is looking for some magical way to defeat Beijing. Almost all the options for “strangling the Chinese dragon” discussed in Washington, London, or Brussels presuppose the creation of some kind of broad anti-Chinese coalition in order to collectively isolate, neutralize and break China in approximately the same way that was used to successfully fight the USSR.

Aug 05, 2020
Disproof

Conspiracy theory, unfounded statement, with no evidence to support the claim. The article refers to the UK's "D10 initiative". Prime Minister Boris Johnson was planning to reduce Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s involvement in Britain’s 5G network. The UK is pursuing forming an alliance of 10 democracies to create an alternative pool of suppliers of 5G equipment and other technologies to avoid relying on China. A so-called 'D10', or 5G club of democratic partners, will be including G7 countries – UK, US, Italy, Germany, France, Japan, and Canada – plus Australia, South Korea, and India. The D-10 is not an anti-China alliance. Instead, by narrowly focusing on the two defensive issues all democratic powers broadly agree they have a problem and cannot solve on their own—5G and critical supply chains—it is a platform that could relatively quickly get off the ground. Moreover, the D-10 is attractive to both foreign-policy “restrainers” as well as “competitors” alike, as actively reducing these two strategic vulnerabilities and heated public concerns can work to lessen future tensions with Beijing.