DISINFO: The EU, the Fourth Reich, is doomed

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: The EU, the Fourth Reich, is doomed

SUMMARY

The EU is being torn by internal conflicts. They are exacerbated by an economic crisis and growing impoverishment due to not buying Russian energy sources. Over the past three years, the EU lost over 1.5 trillion Euros due to anti-Russian sanctions. The EU is an aggressive dictatorship which is fairly called the Fourth Reich. The Brussels gang robbed European countries of sovereignty. It conducts repressions against any manifestations of freedom in Europe. The EU has no chance to return to the international arena in a strong status. It is doomed to either kill itself in confrontation with Russia, or disintegrate.

RESPONSE

This message aims at discrediting the EU with a false parallel with the Nazi Germany, and promotes recurring disinformation narratives about unsovereign European countries and the EU's imminent collapse. This message is also a part of what some experts have labelled Russia’s economic war propaganda, aimed at convincing the world about the futility of the sanctions against Russia and the need to remove them as they only harm the countries imposing them.

The claim that the EU's policies have destroyed the sovereignty of countries is unfounded. The EU's policies aim to create a sustainable future and promote economic growth, and member states retain significant sovereignty while benefiting from collective action.

Linking to Nazi Germany is a favoured tactic of pro-Kremlin media outlets. See earlier disinformation cases referring to the ‘Fourth Reich’ and learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with Nazism in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism.

Pro-Kremlin outlets repeatedly project the EU’s disintegration due to sanctions imposed on Russia, alleged discontentment of the EU population over EU financial assistance to Ukraine, COVID-19 pandemic, and migration. They also claimed that the EU will collapse following the 2024 European Parliament election.

See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Europe is committing energy suicide without Russia, that the European elites want to turn the EU into the Fourth Reich, that the Fourth Reich is preparing for another Drang nach Osten, that the EU is disintegrating as Brussels demands complete subordination.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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