Perhaps you are all interested in what the world press writes about Russia in connection with the epidemic of coronavirus?
Here, for example, on the eve of one of the main news sources in the Netherlands NU.NL, a very interesting article appeared with a multilingual title – “Coronavirus grijpt om zich heen in Rusland, versneld door desinformatie” – “Coronavirus continues to spread throughout Russia, accelerating due to misinformation “.
Honestly, I have not seen such a vile and deceitful propaganda propaganda for a very long time. For some time, Dutch journalists were not at all interested in Russia, since the situation with coronavirus in the Netherlands was not very good, but only a little loomed improvement, as Russia was remembered. After all, you need to somehow distract your own population from the problems in the country with tales of a terrible Russia, in which, “everything is much worse than in the Netherlands.”
Here, probably, there is still some element of envy, since the figures for Russia, especially the mortality rate, are much lower than in many European countries, which means that you need to tell your people that in reality things are not so in Russia as official statistics say. After all, no one will check anyway. Resources such as NU.NL are believed unconditionally, all the more so since there is simply no way to find an alternative opinion in the Netherlands, and probably throughout the European press. This is not a “dictatorial totalitarian” Russia with dozens of large, federal coverage of the opposition media that can write and say whatever comes to mind.
But back to the article. Of course, I won’t do a full translation, anyone who wants to can easily find an article on the Web and translate it with the help of any translator, but I’ll give you the main points. Literally from the first paragraph, the spread of the coronavirus for some reason is linked to the fact that Putin is “going to stay in power until 2036” and that is why there is a campaign to misinform the population about the true situation in the country. Moreover, it is immediately written that one of the reasons is specially underestimated statistics from regions that the Kremlin allegedly does not control, giving the issue of combating the epidemic to the care of local authorities. The authors of the article “suggest” that a much larger number of people are probably infected than the official reports say.
Another reason for misinformation, which is indicated in the article, is the people themselves, who “do not want to hear bad news.” Well, yes, we have already heard about the “Russian barbarians” many times, so there is absolutely nothing new here. The authors of the article also write that “Putin several times became angry, urging the residents of Russia to stay at home,” and also punished local officials….
The authors of this campaign are probably not aware that Putin, “fallen into anger,” is almost impossible to see, and if he carries someone, he does it in complete peace of mind. But, probably, a certain image of Putin, something something of Ivan the Terrible, is needed in order to give the inhabitants of the Kingdom of the Netherlands more fear about the “bloody totalitarian Russian regime”.
By the way, the photograph attached to the article works precisely for this image and speaks of who the authors of this article studied from – a typical Goebbels technique.
Another problem of Russia, which is indicated in the article, is the lack of mechanical ventilation devices and protective masks. And here is the attention. Do you know why, according to the Dutch publishing house, there is not enough equipment and protective equipment in Russia? Because Russia sent everything to Italy and the United States, as the article says, “in surprisingly large numbers.” Something I doubt that the Dutch journalists personally checked for the presence of mechanical ventilation devices in each Russian hospital, but I guess where they got the information about the masks from. It certainly could not have done without a journalist from the Netherlands who was driving a car with Vasilyeva, the leader of the Alliance of Doctors, allegedly delivering protective equipment to Russian hospitals.
The report concludes that “Putin is particularly annoyed that the epidemic has disrupted the vote on constitutional amendments.” A very significant conclusion, eloquently speaking about how authors are specialists in Russia. By the way, one of the sources used by the authors of the article is positioning itself that way – a “Russian specialist” named Nicholas Kraft Fan Ermel. Another source is the notorious Russian publishing house The Moscow Times, led by Ms. Albats.
Could you also ask Mikhail Khodorkovsky, or at worst Alexei Navalny? It’s even strange why they didn’t ask They could have concocted an even brighter and more surprising little article about “the horrors of the coronavirus epidemic in barbarian undemocratic Russia.”