Disinfo: The objective of the EU's attack against Russia with regards to coronavirus-related disinfo is illegal censorship

Summary

The European Union launched a new attack on Russia instead of joining forces in the fight against coronavirus. This attack creates an information background to impose censorship and illegal restrictions on unwanted journalists.

Disproof

This is a pro-Kremlin message which aims to deny the role of Russian media in spreading disinformation narratives about the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, it is the Russian media that has been involved in pushing several disinformation narratives and conspiracy theories since the start of the pandemic trying to undermine its severity and politicize it. The claim was neither critically challenged nor counterbalanced in the article.

For example, in the early days of the pandemic, pro-Kremlin media propagated the view that the virus was created by the US to destroy the Chinese economy and target Russia and its allies, only for the US to become one of the hardest hit countries by the pandemic. The narrative then focused on the pandemic being a plot by a global elite to control people including by planting a microchip in their heads.

In recent weeks, the focus of pro-Kremlin disinformation has been on the West's alleged attempts to discredit the Russian vaccine on a political rather than a scientific basis, in order to present discussion about the vaccine-development process to being somehow politically-driven and irrational.

The article also mentions another pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU imposing censorship in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

No EU member state allows censorship. EU member states and institutions actively work against malign disinformation and counters claims on the pandemic that might harm the public. The EU’s work in this area is rooted in European values and safeguards freedom of expression.

See related earlier disinformation claims alleging that the European Commission implements the plan imposed by world oligarchs who cash in on the coronavirus pandemic; that the Western elites are implementing plan X through the pandemic; that the coronavirus is exaggerated to turn countries into fascist hygiene dictatorships.

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  • Reported in: Issue 224
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 04/12/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Arabic
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, Russia
  • Keywords: coronavirus, Censorship
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Disinfo: For NATO, Ukraine is important as a buffer zone, but not as a member of Alliance

All the statements of Ukrainian politicians that they were promised that Ukraine will be accepted into the Alliance are PR and nothing more. For NATO countries, Ukraine is important as a buffer zone, but not as a member of the Alliance.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about Ukraine and its cooperation with NATO.

Ukraine is a strategic partner for NATO in many areas. Since the 1990s, relations between NATO and Ukraine have developed into one of NATO’s most influential partnerships. Relations were strengthened with the signing of the 1997 Charter on a Distinctive Partnership, which established the NATO-Ukraine Commission (NUC). The Declaration of 2009 to Complement the NATO-Ukraine Charter mandated the NUC, through Ukraine’s Annual National Programme, to underpin Ukraine’s efforts to take forward reforms aimed at implementing Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

Disinfo: EU bureaucrats want to limit the use of Christmas symbols

The bureaucrats of the European Union have declared that a large number of Christian symbols on the streets and various offices might hurt the feelings of refugees and migrants from the Middle East. Thus, there is a need to limit the use of such symbols. /…/ In Brussels, the main Christmas tree has been replaced with an LED-construction, representing the “Winter holidays”

Disproof

Recurring disinformation narrative, forwarding hostile narratives on migrants, threatening Christmas and New Years Eve traditions, and about the decline of Christianity in Europe.

Neither has “EU Bureacrats” declared a limitation on the use of Christian symbols, nor has Brussels forbidden the Christmas tree (a symbol, without relation to Christianity). The Brussels Christmas tree of 2020 can be observed here on webcam. Municipal authorities in Brussels and most other Belgian and European cities have cancelled Christmas markets due to the COVID-19.

Disinfo: Italian town forbids Christmas carols not to insult migrants

In the Italian town of Rozzano near Milan, the headmaster of a school forbade a Christmas concert and suggested that Christmas should be observed without the traditional carols, as migrant children previous years during singing stood silently along the walls. In German Eschweiler tolling church bells were forbidden when migrants approached the municipal authorities with a request to cancel sounds that were foreign to them. Schools in Spain and Italy removed the crucifixes from the walls of the same reasons.

Disproof

Recurring disinformation narrative, forwarding hostile narratives on migrants, threatening Christmas and New Years Eve traditions, and about the decline of Christianity in Europe.

Several of the cases, mentioned in the article, belong to a collection of anti-migrant “urban legends” that are circulated in European right wing media. The case from Rozzano has been debunked several times, since it appeared in 2015. The case from German Eschweiler seems to be entirely fiction. Connecting claims to concrete, small places far away serves to lend a tone of authenticity to the disinformation.