
Russia deploying coronavirus disinformation to sow panic in West, EU says - T-A
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-disinformation/russia-deploying-coronavirus-disinformation-to-sow-panic-in-west-eu-document-says-idUSKBN21518F
======
dimitar
Honestly I'm worried about ordinary Russians, especially the older generation
- check this link where people line up in droves to kiss an Orthodox icon:
[https://varlamov.ru/3830001.html](https://varlamov.ru/3830001.html)

Navalny gets reports that people who are tested for Coronavirus are told the
following: "The result will come in 10 days. We will not answer queries. If
the test turns out positive, they will find you".

Meanwhile not a single person has been reported to have died in Russia even
thought this country has a border with China and there is a huge interaction
between the two countries.

The Russian government is not taking this seriously and will try to cover up
cases. This will be Chernobyl all over again.

~~~
gentleman11
Chernobyl is notorious for being a Russian accident affecting the rest of the
world (in addition to being a far worse local catastrophe). In this case, the
rest of the world already has the problem. International travel is already
restricted. Chernobyl isn’t the right analogy imho... It might be closer to
one of the famines that Stalins caused though, which in that case was also
semi-related to economics/industry rather than care for human lives

~~~
Zenbit_UX
I don't think you fully understood the GPs analogy to Chernobyl, it's not
because of the affect it had on the rest of the world...

It's how soviet pride and 'manliness' got in the way of public health and
safety post disaster. Chernobyl happened, but the way it was handled and spun
by those in charge as not so bad and "barely a concern, no need to evacuate"
cost many lives.

States like Russia and China are so concerned with optics and how events like
these make them week they opt for extreme secrecy above all rational measures.
Until the mindset shifts to acceptance and disaster mitigation you can never
trust numbers coming out of these countries. If you disagree with what I'm
saying here I strongly suggest you watch the recent Chernobyl mini-series on
HBO.

~~~
dimitar
Yes, this is what I meant.

I'm don't know it is about manliness, but is definitely to show superiors and
other stakeholders that you have things under control. This is very important
in an extreme top-down organization of society like an absolute monarchy or a
one-party state -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potemkin_village)

I remember a funny story from my home town in Bulgaria during the socialist
era - the party secretary is supposed to land in a helicopter near a green
field in the town center, but (horror!) the grass is yellow, burnt from the
summer sun. So local functionaries painted it green. The next day the grass
was completely dead, but the important guest wasn't there.

Imagine how the same people would react in an emergency with no instructions
from the top, with no idea how their leadership will react or who will get the
blame. A few years later, communist leadership in Bulgaria suppressed the news
about Chernobyl and on the 1st of May huge crowds were gathered to participate
in rallies, while radioactive rain was coming down.

------
zmoreira
This again. No examples, just spin. I'm not sure what is going on in Russia
regarding COVID, but I do remember an early full closure of borders with
China, now they close entry to all foreign nationals, they are building
emergency hospitals and so on.

It seems they are taking this threat at least somewhat seriously.

These people think we are stupid so they can continue to push this crap
forever. Maybe they are right.

~~~
panpanna
Here you go buddy:

[https://euvsdisinfo.eu/the-kremlin-and-disinformation-
about-...](https://euvsdisinfo.eu/the-kremlin-and-disinformation-about-
coronavirus/)

~~~
zmoreira
This is ridiculous. Oriental Review and Geopolitica are niche blogs with a
very small reach. We are not talking about Moon of Alabama or Unz Review size
here, they are really small.

How is the fact that they will post articles with all sorts of differing and
not very well thought of opinions about the corona virus any indication that a
Russian government campaign is going on?

You go all "there you go buddy" like you are Jordan Peterson and I'm Cathy
Newman, but all there is in that article is hot air. They have a crapton of
links to their own pages, but what else is there besides a couple of barflies
blogs? They even talk about Dugin! Dugin!! All that is missing is a reference
to Potemkin villages.

------
downerending
Meh. I see a lot more rank stupidity than panic. And I'm pretty sure it's
coming from us and not the Russians.

~~~
AnimalMuppet
The Russian destabilization playbook is (and has been for decades) to sow
plausible-enough-for-some-people lies, and let the rank stupidity of the
target population take it from there. Google "agitprop" for more on this.

The lies can be in various directions; they don't have to be consistent. They
just have to get people worked up, and preferably distrusting the government.

~~~
Zenbit_UX
> The Russian destabilization playbook is (and has been for decades) to sow
> plausible-enough-for-some-people lies, and let the rank stupidity of the
> target population take it from there. Google "agitprop" for more on this.

They could never dream of doing as much damage spreading misinformation during
a disaster than Fox News does. I'm only half kidding when I say Fox is likely
studied by Russian propaganda agents.

~~~
downerending
Sad to say it, but I've caught all of the major mainstream news sites putting
whoppers out there these days. If it matters, you really have to go to the
source material to verify what happened. Fortunately, at least for now, this
is often available.

------
pieceofcakedude
This again? I stubbed my toe this morning and I thought it was the bottom of
the couch, but I'm being told it was actually the Russians. Those jerks.

------
gentleman11
The Canadian government has reported the same thing, according to CBC. Their
app doesn’t let me copy a link easily, but it was posted earlier this week

------
LinuxBender
Are there any links with examples of their propaganda? I would like to be able
to spot it on my forums.

~~~
throwaway963577
[https://www.rt.com](https://www.rt.com) is one source to monitor. Not 100%
propaganda, but also not 0%.

~~~
LinuxBender
That one makes sense. IIRC rt is a Russian owned company, I think.

