For more than 20 months now, since late January 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak has been among the dominant topics in the pro-Kremlin flow of disinformation. The first piece of disinformation, published by a Russian state outlet several months before the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a pandemic, claimed that the virus had been artificially designed in NATO labs. Since then we have seen claims that the virus only affects people of the “Asian Race” or that the virus is designed to create a New World Order.
During the whole history of COVID-19, we have seen the focus switching from the actual virus to the vaccines and measures to combat the disease. In this context, one outlet stands out – Geopolitica.ru. The outlet is represented with over 250 cases in the EUvsDisinfo database on disinformation. The outlet is strongly connected to the “alt-right” community in both Europe and the US: In early 2021, EUvsDisinfo published a case study on geopolitica.ru and its role in Italy.
COVID-19 is a key element in the site’s narrative of a decaying West. Geopolitica.ru has offered a platform for antivaxxers and conspiracy theorists since the beginning of the pandemic. One and a half years later, Geopolitica continues to spread disinformation in several languages on the virus and on the efforts to combat the pandemic. The claim of the uselessness of the vaccine is repeated in Italian, in Spanish, in English, in Dutch, and in Russian.
Read the full EUVSDISINFO article here
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