DISINFO: EU artificially inflates a Russia threat ahead of European Parliament elections
SUMMARY
The EU establishment realised that they are in a difficult situation, so denying democracy they invented a "Russian threat" to stay in power. They started a crusade against an imaginary Russian threat.
The EU institutions have rushed to legitimise their actions. The European Parliament adopted a resolution on “Russian interference” and organised hearings at which representatives of the European Commission discussed the threat allegedly emanating from Russia. They try to depict Russia as an aggressor to defend solidarity with Ukraine.
The European political persecution and repression are hidden under issues of national security and foreign policy with an anti-Russian rhetoric. This propaganda could significantly affect the outcome of the upcoming elections.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative targeting the upcoming EU elections and accusing the European Union of inventing or oversizing a Russian interference for political reasons.
Several Russian attempts to interfere in the European elections have been documented. The media VoiceofEurope secretly owned by Moscow based Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk was acting inside the EU parliament and retributed MEPs.
The Portal Kombat disinformation network is an initiative that spread pro-Kremlin narratives in almost all EU‘s languages. Even after its unveiling by the Viginum Agency two months ago, the proliferation of these Pravda websites in the EU did not stop. As a matter of fact, the network expanded significantly.
The Doppelganger disinformation campaign goes on targeting social networks in EU countries, with forged articles or videos imitating reputable media. For instance in Germany fake articles of der Spiegel are published discrediting the government a few weeks before the European Elections. In France fake articles of Le Parisien follow the same pattern.
Security services are also concerned about the project of lists supported by the Kremlin. In winter 2024, Dmitry Medvedev wrote that Russia should support, openly and secretly at the same time, a “non-systemic” opposition in the EU.
Most recently, the operation False Façade was also extensively documented: a network of at least 23 websites with links to Russia pretending to be Western media outlets. The technical report Operation False Façade: Insights from a FIMI Information Laundering Scheme is freely available.
On 25 April 2024 the European Parliament called on the political leadership in the EU and member states to counter Russian interference attempts urgently and vigorously.
MEPs want EU and member state leaders to deal with Russian interference efforts, not just in the EU institutions but across the Union. There is, they argue, a sense of urgency and resolve to this given the approaching European elections on 6-9 June 2024.
(…) The resolution calls on the Council to include Kremlin-backed media outlets, other broadcasting and media organisations, and individuals responsible for propaganda and disinformation campaigns in the EU in the forthcoming 14th Russian sanctions package. MEPs want to mirror the sanctions adopted by the Czech government against “Voice of Europe”, as well as Ukrainian pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk and his close associate Artem Marchevskyi. They also deplore Voice of Europe’s ability to restart its operations from Kazakhstan and call on EU member states to ensure it cannot be accessed in the EU.
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