Disinfo: The East Stratcom Task Force and "Bild" journalists carry out "secret orders" from Western intelligence services

Summary

The East Stratcom Task Force and "Bild" journalists carry out "secret orders" from Western intelligence services.

The similarities in names between the "Stratcom Dialogue" and institutions such as NATO's Stratcom, the Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence or the EU's East Stratcom Task Force are of course no coincidence, but rather an indication that the whining of incorrigible Russia-haters like Julian Röpcke about alleged Russian spies, who allegedly pose as journalists and carry out "secret orders" is just part of the usual mendacious whining of contemporaries who are so intensively connected to Western intelligence services that they already consider this parallel world as the true reality and strictly refuse to face the real world and consider all others as dangerous deviants.

Disproof

This message is a part of a broader Kremlin narrative accusing various European media and institutions of Russophobia and connections to secret services with the aim of eroding their credibility.

The East Stratcom Task Force and "Bild" journalists do not receive nor carry out "secret orders" from Western intelligence services. The East Stratcom Task Force was established following a mandate from the leaders of the European Union as a reaction to the post-2014 wave of Russian propaganda and disinformation aimed against the EU member states and other countries of the region.

The East Stratcom Task Force is a part of the European External Action Service and is focused on the effective communication and promotion of European Union activities in Eastern Europe and it also addresses the Kremlin / pro-Kremlin disinformation campaigns all over the world. For an account of the Task Force's work and the history of EUvsDisinfo see here.

Bild (Bild-Zeitung) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. It is the best-selling European newspaper and has the sixteenth-largest circulation worldwide. Bild is a part of a large German media landscape that represents a wide range of political opinions and does not have one single editorial policy for any country or topic.

Read more similar disinfo cases alleging that Germany has a serious problem with freedom of speech and that German media are Russophobic.

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snanews.de (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 235
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 14/03/2021
  • Article language(s) German
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia, EU, Germany
  • Keywords: Anti-Russian, Russophobia, West, Freedom of speech, Media, Secret services
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Disinfo: Normandy format decides nothing, only direct talks between Russia and the US can change the situation

The Normandy format does not decide anything. Only direct talks between Russia and the US can change the situation. The US, who sponsors Ukraine’s leaders, needs a long-standing conflict. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is successfully implementing this instruction. Fewer and fewer chances are left for a quick, one-or-two-year-long settlement of the conflict. The Americans are unlikely to agree to any compromises. The Donbas conflict will last a long time, and what is important in this situation is to avoid new bombings and casualties.

Mar 13, 2021
Disproof

Recurring propaganda narratives claiming that the Normandy format is useless and that Ukraine is controlled by the US. The Normandy format could be an effective tool for the settlement of the Donbas crisis. The reality is that Russia continues to insist that Ukraine comply with the Minsk Agreements, which were signed in the Belarussian capital in 2014 with a view to ending the conflict while Russia fail to honor its commitment incl. withdrawing military forces and stopping supplying weapons and ammunitions.

Regarding the claim about the US, it does play an important part in the process. Both former president Donald Trump and now president Joe Biden, have been making efforts to end the war.

Disinfo: The funds from NATO countries are being looted in Syria

A Syrian militant revealed that the funds that NATO countries allocate to supply armed terrorist groups under their control in Syria are being systematically looted by field commanders and US army officers who are in the country and control the militants' activities.

Mar 13, 2021
Disproof

No evidence is given on this matter.

Furthermore, this narrative fits a recurring narrative targetting NATO, while forgetting to mention that there are no NATO troops on the ground in Syria.

Disinfo: The US and EU organized a coup in Ukraine to overthrow legally elected government

Washington and Brussels directly violated the Helsinki Accords by organizing a coup in Kyiv and the overthrow of the legally elected government in Ukraine in 2013-2014.

Mar 13, 2021
Disproof

There was no coup d’état in Kyiv in 2014; this is a longstanding pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine's Euromaidan protests, depicting the 2013-14 revolution as a coup d'état and laying responsibility for the ensuing Russian aggression on the US and EU.

The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was not provoked from outside, rather, it was a reaction from several segments of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013, after pressure from Russia.