DISINFO: US supports pro-Navalny protests to interfere in Russian politics
SUMMARY
The statement of the US State Department about the January 23 protests across Russia proves that the United States interferes in Russian politics to weaken the Kremlin.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation associated with the poisoning and imprisonment of Russian opposition figure and Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
While the narrative alleges that the US moved to interfere with Russian domestic affairs and therefore violated Russia's sovereignty, the aforementioned statement, which was published by the US Embassy in Moscow and the US State Department, specifically advised US citizens residing in Russia to stay away from the demonstrations.
It is common practice in diplomacy for Embassies to inform foreign nationals in a country about potentially risky political events by issuing so-called Demonstration Alerts.
The disinformation narrative builds on previous claims alleging that it was not the Russian but Western secret services that are associated with Navalny's poisoning. On December 14, a joint investigative report of CNN, Bellingcat, The Insider Russia and Der Spiegel revealed that the Kremlin-controlled Federal Security Services was behind the poisoning.
See further examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation about Alexei Navalny here.