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

Summary

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.

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.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 193
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 20/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: UK, US, Russia
  • Keywords: Sergei Skripal, election meddling, Robert Mueller
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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.

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.

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.

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.