The Kremlin propaganda machine continues to spread lies and until now more than 16,000 cases of disinformation have been reported and debunked, the EU East Stratcom Task Force reported on Thursday morning.
The task force was set up by the EU in 2015 as part of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Its flagship project is a database of articles on fake news. From the start of the war in Ukraine, it has been publishing weekly news about Russia’s disinformation and information manipulation.
As previously reported, Russia justified its invasion of Ukraine by claiming that “genocide” is committed in the two pro-Russian breakaway regions, that Ukraine poses a military threat to Russia and that Ukraine is ruled by neo-Nazis and antisemites. Kremlin is now trying to divert the attention from its war of aggression against Ukraine and its war crimes.
While the EU and many countries across the world immediately condemned Hamas surprise, terrorist attack against Israel on 7 October, Russia’s official statement was ambiguous, the Task Force writes. Worse still, several top-ranking Kremlin officials went on an information manipulation offensive and tried to pin fault for the escalation on the West.
In addition, pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets did not hesitate to cynically use the Hamas attack to draw a false parallel between Hamas and Ukraine. One of the figureheads of the Kremlin’s propaganda apparatus asserted that the atrocities committed by Hamas resemble how Ukrainian so-called ‘Nazis’ supposedly maltreated Mariupol civilians who supported Russia and Russian prisoners of war.
‘60 Minutes’, an infamous Kremlin-controlled propaganda show, drew another false parallel when claiming that the Israelis are indiscriminately bombing Gaza, while Russia’s armed forces only hit military targets in Ukraine. There is ample evidence that Russian armed forces intentionally bombed civilian targets, such as hospitals and power plants, tortured Ukrainian soldiers, and maltreated civilians.
While calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, Russia has vetoed resolutions in the United Nations Security Council condemning Hamas attack. It has received a Hamas delegation in Moscow. What matters most for Russia is the global conflict with the US. Anything that diverts attention from its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and reduces the support for Ukraine serves it interests.
The Brussels Times
