Disinfo: The West is preparing a disinformation campaign against Sputnik V

Summary

The US and its allies will launch a coordinated campaign to discredit the Sputnik V vaccine. The US wants Pfizer to benefit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Disproof

An unsubstantiated claim, promoted by pro-Kremlin media outlets and suggesting that the West is waging a hybrid war against Russia's vaccination efforts.

While pro-Kremlin outlets pointed to an unnamed source from the Kremlin to promote the claim, no evidence is put forward about an alleged disinformation campaign against Sputnik V.

On the contrary, according to the findings of the Global Engagement Center, a research platform of the US State Department, pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets systematically engaged in discrediting the US-made Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines in a bid to promote the Russian-developed vaccine instead on the global market. Among the disinformation outlets that have been actively attacking the US-made vaccines, was the Crimea-based News Front which is associated with Russia's Federal Security Service.

What is more, a number of EU countries are considering the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, while the European Medicine Agency (EMA) is currently conducting a rolling review the efficacy and safety of the vaccine under a rolling review. All this proves that there is no such coordinated campaign.

For more disinformation cases about the different vaccines, click here.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 236
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 16/03/2021
  • Article language(s) Hungarian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US
  • Keywords: coronavirus
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Disinfo: The West needs cases like Navalny to fill its information wars

The main obsession of European leaders has been to get Russia to pay a price for the luxury of living its own style, without consulting anyone. It is clear that if the West invests millions in information wars, it needs concrete cases to cover, to try to pit the public opinion against Russia. According to this approach, the Navalny case fills all the requirements. This is not a struggle for democracy or human rights, but a global power struggle. And it is clear that the EU will never be its main beneficiary, since its role is being reduced to be a mere instrument of the US global policy.

Disproof

This is a mix of several recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the West waging information wars in order to destabilise Russia, about the case of Alexei Navalny as a fabrication, and about Europe as a vassal of the US.

All the claims are false. “Information war” is a term used by the Kremlin to justify its own disinformation efforts, applied to anything that challenges its disinformation narratives or for calling out Russia’s illicit behaviour in the international stage. By claiming that the Navalny case “fills the requirement of an information war against Russia” and that it has nothing to do with democracy or human rights but with a global power struggle, this narrative aims to deflect any Russian responsibility for Alexei Navalny’s poisoning, his incarceration on politically motivated charges and the repression of demonstrations in his support.

Disinfo: The West encouraged the creation of the Islamic State, who are its mercenaries

The West wants to be the standard bearer of freedom and democracy, but they are the same people who encouraged the creation of ISIS. The US created the monster of the Islamic State, which was neither Islamic nor a State but a group of mercenaries led by the West.

Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the West’s alleged support for terrorism in the Middle East.

The claim that the West created the Islamic State is false. In fact, both the US and most EU members, as well as Canada and Australia, have taken part in the counter-terrorism mission Operation Inherent Resolve, while the EU established its own set of actions to counter Daesh.

Disinfo: Joe Biden will use US allies as tools or useful idiots

The National Security Strategic Guidance released by the Biden Administration wants to attract the faithful to go against China and Russia, to attract vassals disguised as allies. Many rubbed their hands with the arrival of Biden, but at the end there will be only one winner, the US, while its allies will be used as useful idiots: they will be only subjects or tools. Once it defeats its enemies, the US will prevail over its friends and the looting will go to the strongest because benefits are not shared.

Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative against the US and its allies, aiming to sow mistrust among members of the Transatlantic alliance and among the US and its partners all over the world. This disinformation piece is a direct reaction to the release of the US Interim National Security Strategic Guidance on March 3, 2021, which strongly focuses on reinforcing these alliances, a core goal of the Biden Administration. Contrary to the claim, the US doesn’t rule over these other governments, which are sovereign nations with their own policies and interests.

See other examples in our database, such as claims that Ukraine is ruled by Poles and Americans, that France is a puppet of the US, that Germany and Japan are occupied by the US, that Europe is a colony of the United States or that Georgia is under Western control.