Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed to an attempt to draw “absolutely inappropriate parallels” between Russia’s efforts to combat the coronavirus and “the Islamic State organization, banned in the Russian Federation, which has no justification for terrorist activity, after the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on his blog in one paragraph pointed to the actions of Russia and terrorist organizations in connection with the pandemic.
“Along the way, Borrell, by spreading ‘fake information’, demonizes the Russian media and journalists. Calling for opposition to manipulation in the media, he himself seems to be demonstrating clear symptoms of infection with “infodemia,” Zakharova said.
The Russian representative responded to accusations against Russia and China of disinformation during the pandemic. Borrell pointed out that the Russian media “openly ridiculed” Western vaccine developments, which “is clearly aimed at countries where Russia wants to sell its Sputnik V vaccine.” Borrell believes that any misinformation during a pandemic threatens public health, and terrorist organizations use the confusion in the COVID-19 situation to spread their own propaganda.