DISINFO: Russiagate was a fraud orchestrated by the West
SUMMARY
The campaign orchestrated by the West with the non-existent Russiagate was a fraud. Spreading unverified or false information and receiving an award for this reason, as The Washington Post and The New York Times did in 2018 with the Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the supposed Russian interference in the 2016 election, should be incompatible with the so-called “Western values”.
RESPONSE
Contrary to the claim, the so-called ‘Russiagate’ was neither a “fraud” nor a “campaign orchestrated by the West”. The investigation led by US special counsel Robert Mueller presented plentiful evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election, including testimonies and physical proof, as well as of cooperation in the process from members of Donald Trump's team and other US citizens. The latter led to the criminal indictment of 34 people, 26 of them Russian citizens or entities including the infamous Internet Research Agency. The 5-volume report of the US Senate Intelligence Committee widened the scope of the investigation and provided additional evidence of Russia’s meddling in the electoral process in 2016. Many other findings by The New York Times and The Washington Post, for which they received the Pulitzer Prize in 2018, were later backed by evidence presented in court, further investigations or confessions of those involved.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as allegations that neither the US Intelligence Committee report nor the Mueller report found any evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections, that there is no proof that Russia tried to influence the Brexit referendum or about the role played by RT and Sputnik in these and other processes, that “absurd” accusations against Russia are an attempt to demonise it, or that the US and UK are indeed the ones who try to interfere in Europe.