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Disinfo: The Pentagon doesn’t want to renounce Russian and Chinese equipment and software

Summary

The Pentagon continues buying equipment and software of Chinese and Russian production, despite the warning of US authorities about an alleged security threat.

Disproof

The affirmation is false, based in a distorted reading of a report by the Office of the Inspector General of the US Department of Defense. According to this document, in fiscal year 2018 the Pentagon spent around 32,8 million dollars in products of Russian and Chinese firms such as Kaspersky Lab and Lenovo. The report’s title is: “Audit of the DoD’s Management of the Cybersecurity Risks for Government Purchase Card Purchases of Commercial Off-the-Shelf Items”, and it is actually a warning against the potential risk posed by these firms for US national security.

The report was commissioned after the Department of Defense started to compile a ‘do not buy’ list of software by mid-2018, with the stated goal of minimising that risk and keeping code created in Russia and China out of its systems. To conclude from this document that the Pentagon continues buying this equipment and software is an interested lie.

You can see other examples of Russian disinformation on the propaganda machinery of the Pentagon, its unreliability to defend its allies or NATO’s dark actions to increase its budget.

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publication/media

Sputnik Spain (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 159
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 02/08/2019
  • Language/target audience: Spanish, Castilian
  • Country: US
  • Keywords: NATO

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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Protests in Georgia caused serious damage to the country’s economics

Georgia fully depends not on its number one strategic partner – the United States, not on its “historical family” – Europe, but on “occupier” Russia. Only one threat from Moscow about banning Georgian imports has caused unprecedented depreciation of GEL (Georgian Lari) and resulted in record-high fuel prices. These developments are also causing damage to one of the few profitable branches of Georgia’s economy – tourism.

August 04, 2019
Disproof

These statements are untrue. This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative as if without Russian market Georgian economy will collapse.

Contribution of Russian tourists to Georgia’s economy is 1.8%, while arrivals from Russia by plane represent 0.5%. Despite the decrease of Russian tourists after Russia banned direct flights to Georgia, as a whole, during the first two weeks of July 2019, the number of tourists in Georgia increased by 3.2% y/y.

Washington is entirely responsible for the termination of the INF treaty

The United States launched a whole propaganda campaign to accuse Russia of violating the INF Treaty. Washington, itself, ignored the claims of the Russian side about violations of the INF treaty for many years. The American side has specifically undermined the viability of the treaty.

August 02, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that the US is entirely responsible for the demise of the INF treaty.

Russia bears primary responsibility for the end of the INF Treaty, because it has produced, tested and deployed the 9M729 missile, which violates the agreement. In July 2014, the then-US President Obama officially accused Russia of testing a missile in violation of the INF Treaty, which prohibits the US or Russia from possessing, producing or test-flying ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of between 500 and 5500 kilometres.

Russia is dedicated to protecting media freedoms

Russia is categorically against groundless arrests of journalists. The authorities work with press freedom advocates to investigate and curb any such behaviour. The government is quick to respond to journalists’ rights violations.

August 02, 2019
Disproof

Contrary to these claims, independent journalists in Russia are subjected to frequent threats, attacks and prosecution under dubious charges, the most recent case being that of Ivan Golunov, a journalist arrested in June 2019 under false drug charges. Violence against journalists in Russia continues to happen with impunity: the database of the Committee to Protect Journalists lists 38 murders of journalists in Russia from 1992 to 2017, out of which 33 with complete impunity, 3 with partial impunity and only 2 cases were fully prosecuted and tried. 

Reporters without Borders’ Press Freedom Index for 2019 ranks Russia 149th out of 180 countries, while IREX Media Sustainability Index for 2019 notes a decline of the country’s already low score, due to, among other things, “sustained governmental pressure on and erosion of the media sector, violence against journalists, and the normalization of propaganda.”