The report prepared by the European External Action Service (EEAS) states that nearly 80 cases of disinformation about the Covid-19 virus have been recorded in the EUvsDisinfo database since January 22.
“The overarching aim of Kremlin disinformation is to aggravate the public health crisis in Western countries, specifically by undermining public trust in national healthcare systems — thus preventing an effective response to the outbreak,” it says.
The report, dated March 16, said that the campaign is “designed to exacerbate confusion, panic, and fear.” The analysis in the report outlines how pro-Kremlin media works to amplify an array of often contradictory narratives which “hijack” the information space in order to diminish the EU’s ability to communicate and act in its self-interest.
EEAS spokesperson Peter Stano told CNN the center has seen a “flurry” of disinformation about the spread of novel coronavirus over the past weeks.
“The EEAS Stratcom had intensified the monitoring of the information flows and its sources and publicly identifies, exposes and raises awareness about coronavirus-related disinformation spread by Russian sources,” Stano said.
When asked to comment on the allegations in a call with reporters Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia is undertaking such effort and called it a “Russophobic obsession.”
“If this document contained at least one concrete example, and a link to some specific media, I could tell you something specific, but since we are once again talking about some unfounded accusations, which in theory, in the current situation, probably, this Russophobic obsession somehow had to downturn, but apparently it doesn’t,” Peskov said.