According to an internal report from the EU diplomatic service, Russia is using the coronavirus to create confusion, panic and fear in the West by spreading massive fake news about the virus.
This was reported by the British newspaper Financial Times and the news agency Reuters, who were able to view the report. The Kremlin denies.
According to the report by European diplomats, the Kremlin is attempting to aggravate the corona crisis through Russian media by “undermining an extensive disinformation campaign” undermining confidence in Western healthcare systems.
“In this way, it tries to prevent the epidemic from being tackled efficiently.” That approach is in line with the broader strategy of undermining European societies, reads the nine-page document released on March 16.
The European diplomatic service says it is aware of incorrect information that was distributed in English, Spanish, Italian, German and French through channels such as Twitter, Facebook and Reddit. In total, it would be almost eighty messages.
In those erroneous reports, it is claimed, among other things, that the new coronavirus was “man-made” and “used as a weapon” by the West. Italian readers receive the message “that the authorities cannot control the pandemic,” in Spain “outright apocalyptic stories” would be spread.
Capitalists would like to take advantage of the virus, while Russia and President Vladimir Putin in particular “are just tackling the crisis very well,” it is said.