DISINFO: Russia much more effective in combating COVID-19 than European countries
SUMMARY
Russia used to regard Europe as a region with highly-developed healthcare and tried to reform its own healthcare system along with European standards. However, the existing Russian system has since proven much more effective in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
RESPONSE
The statement advances recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Russian superiority.
There are no grounds for claiming that Russia's response to the pandemic has been any more robust than that of any European state. On the contrary, as of 11 January 2021, Russia is the worst-affected European country with 3,425,269 confirmed infections and fourth worst-affected globally. In late December 2020, after months of doctoring statistics and boasting about low mortality rates, the Kremlin finally admitted that the actual death toll was more than three times higher than previously reported, with over 186,000 coronavirus-related deaths between January and November 2020. This would make Russia's mortality numbers by far the highest in Europe and third-highest in the world, behind only the United States and Brazil.