In extraordinary crises, people are particularly susceptible to conspiracy theories of all kinds. The outbreak of the corona virus has presented Europe with a hitherto unknown challenge. In this situation of all places, the EU is facing a real attack, a “disinformation campaign” from Russia. So it says in an EU report. The Kremlin is taking advantage of the corona crisis to continue where it started years ago: the aim of the ongoing campaigns is to shake Western democratic societies from the inside.
In 2014, Europeans were completely unprepared for the wave of disinformation and propaganda that hit them from the Russian state media and from a troll army on social networks. At that time, the Kremlin tried to disguise Russia’s intervention in eastern Ukraine and portray the new leadership in Kiev as fascist. Many Europeans made the mistake of believing that it was none of their business.
But at the latest the 2016 US election campaign has shown how Russian influence aimed to poison the social climate. Even in the refugee crisis, the Kremlin had tried to influence the debate in Germany and to heat up the mood. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter whether people believe the abstruse theories. It is about sowing doubts until the truth only appears as one possibility among many. This also undermines the credibility of the democratic institutions.
Campaign to weaken cohesion in the West
In the corona crisis, Russian actors intend to damage people’s trust in the health care system and exacerbate panic and fear – this is the judgment of the EU experts. The Russian leadership is also pursuing the longer-term goal of weakening the cohesion of the West. No wonder that the media controlled by the Kremlin particularly like to relate the outbreak of the virus to the United States or NATO.
With this new disinformation campaign, Putins Russia uses methods that come from the textbook of the KGB. In the 1980s, the Soviet secret service spread the false news that AIDS was a biological weapon that was made in a US laboratory.
At least to some extent, the EU has apparently learned lessons from the experience with Russia. It is an important first step to name Moscow’s disinformation as clearly as it has now happened. It would be hoped that those in Germany who take action to normalize relations with Putin’s Russia also take note of this.
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