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COVID-19 disinformation in EU Eastern Partnership Countries


https://www.ipn.md/index.php/en/covid-19-disinformation-in-eu-eastern-partnership-countries-7967_1073650.html

As COVID-19 spread across the EU’s Eastern Neighborhood, conspiracy theories, misleading information and disinformation followed in its wake. For pro-Kremlin media, the pandemic offers new opportunities to build on existing disinformation narratives and spin new ones. Nevertheless, it is evident that disinformation messages are not simply copy-pasted across different regions; they are adapted to local contexts, says an article published by the European External Action Service on EUvsDisinfo, IPN reports.

According to the article, for years, pro-Kremlin disinformation sources have been exploiting the false trope of secret Western-sponsored military laboratories “in Russia’s neighborhood”. Of these, the most significant is the case of the Lugar lab in Tbilisi, Georgia, which pro-Kremlin media have long sought to portray as a facility for US bioweapon development and other invented evils. When the coronavirus outbreak started, the Lugar lab served as a convenient disinformation template.

“Indeed, the very first example of pro-Kremlin disinformation about the coronavirus recorded in the EUvsDisinfo dabatase, on 22 January 2020, deploys that same familiar narrative, telling Belarusian audiences that the new Chinese virus was likely elaborated in NATO biolabs. Armenians also heard that Pentagon-funded labs were involved in the creation of COVID-19.

“Soon thereafter, multiple disinformation messages expanded on this narrative: REN TV, one of Russia’s largest TV stations, claimed that the coronavirus served US interests as American laboratories were operating not only around Russia, but also in Asian countries. RT Arabic added that the US has 25 dangerous laboratories surrounding Russia, China, and Iran. Within the span of a few short months, pro-Kremlin outlets saw secret laboratories pop up around the world: in the Baltic States and Indonesia, and of course in the EU’s Eastern neighborhood.”

According to the authors of the article, “one of the main goals of pro-Kremlin disinformation in the region is to drive a wedge between the EU and its Eastern Neighborhood partners. In the context of COVID-19, such disinformation efforts take on a new appearance, where the EU is systematically portrayed as unable to respond to the outbreak itself, let alone help its neighbors.”

“All around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has produced fertile ground for health-related disinformation and the proliferation of 5G, anti-vax, and other conspiracy theories. Many of these found their way into the information sphere of the Eastern Partnership countries as well. For example, one conspiracy theory making the rounds in the French-language mediascape, claiming the coronavirus isman-made with some HIV particles added to it, was amplified by Sputnik in Azerbaijan.”

According to the article, “in Belarus, the World Health Organization is accused of sowing panic; in Armenia, of developing vaccines with the purpose of reducing the global population. Similarly, numerous disinformation messages portraying George Soros as a threat to Armenia can be stretched a little further, to implicate him in the creation of COVID-19 as well. Ukraine, in the eyes of pro-Kremlin disinformation, is always on the brink of disintegration, and can thus be easily portrayed as collapsing under the burden of COVID-19.”

“Even disinformation about “miracle cures” has been tailored to local contexts. Georgian fact-checkers noted an “alternative news” website that claimed, without any basis, that Georgian blood is unique as it contains particles that can fight COVID-19 and that this “cure” was being used in German hospitals. And for those who might doubt the healing properties of Georgian blood, the disinformation outlets offered an alternative – a homeopathic remedy containing crocodile blood.”