By EU vs Disinfo The EUvsDisinfo database has been accumulating coronavirus-related disinformation cases for more than two months – it’s time to take a look and see what’s hiding in plain sight. Comparing the cases on the coronavirus published between January 22 and March 25 with the caseload from this week alone, it appears that the anti-American vibe is still going strong. In total, we have collected 39 cases claiming…
By Louis Cox-Brusseau, for CEPA The outbreak of COVID-19 has starkly exposed most countries’ unpreparedness for combating a global pandemic. Geopolitical weaknesses, too, are laid bare, and China’s revisionist approach to handling the pandemic adds fuel to an increasingly volatile situation in Europe. Previously, trade routes, shipping lanes, and air corridors out of China were means for the virus to spread worldwide. Now, the virus has itself become a vector…
Reacting to EU and US accusations that Moscow had launched a large scale disinformation campaign about the COVID-19 pandemic Russian media accused the West of Russophobia and of wanting to hide their mistakes and inaction in the face of the coronavirus while Russia is “in the forefront of the fight against the spread of the infection”. While people are dying in many countries and economies are on the brink of…
By EU vs Disinfo For good reasons, independent Russian journalists are in a better position than many others to see through the pro-Kremlin disinformation campaigns. What has been the response of Russian fact-checking journalists to recent messages about the coronavirus in Kremlin-controlled media? And are we beginning to see changes in the way the disinformation is perceived in Russia? Scientists, Putin, the EU and sanctions The Insider is a Russian…
By EU vs Disinfo Alexander Dugin, a Russian nationalist philosopher with close ties to the Kremlin, is relishing in the COVID-19 outbreak. We are living in the period of the end of liberalism and its “obviousness” as global meta-narrative, the end of its measures and standards. Human societies will soon become free floating: no more dogmas, no more dollar-imperialism, no more free market spells, no more Fed dictatorship or global…
By Anton Shekhovtsov, for CEPA Relations between various Russian actors and European far-right parties have been the focus of many discussions in the mainstream media and expert publications in recent years. There are several main explanations for this. First, concerns about Russian actors’ cooperation with the European far right are part of more general concerns about Russia’s interference in the political and, in particular, the electoral processes in the West,…
By Janusz Bugajski, for CEPA While the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases continues to grow, a new wave of Middle Eastern refugees could spill over Europe’s southern borders. And the two threats can merge in public perceptions, thus amplifying radical rightist voices and opening new opportunities for the Kremlin’s disinformation and destabilization operations. Economists calculate that unless the coronavirus is contained in the coming weeks the health emergency may spark…
By EU vs Disinfo Four languages, one message from the pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets: becoming independent from Russian gas is just a bad idea. A new gas supply corridor is under construction in the European energy market. The Baltic Pipe – a project carried out by the Danish company Energinet and the Polish company Gaz-System, with financial support from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility – is meant to transport gas from…
By Dr. Alina Polyakova. for CEPA On February 19, the European Commission published the first installment of its long-anticipated digital strategy — a white paper on artificial intelligence and a European data strategy. These documents are part of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s aim to ensure that Europe stays in the game of digital competition as the United States and China begin to dominate the global race on…
By EU vs Disinfo EU Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová at the Opening of EU vs Disinfo Conference Last week, international experts on countering disinformation gathered in Brussels to discuss the development of the issue. Disinformation, as a part of a wider aggression against EU and the Member States, is a challenge the union is determined to address. The meeting was opened by EU Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová, who in her…
