Sowing discord and minimizing panic
Dissecting Russian interference, minimizing panic in news reports, and Eastern European countries dismissing health ministers amid the coronavirus outbreak
Welcome back to another edition of the “From Russia With Mila” newsletter! ’Tis the season for voting and political analysis 🇺🇸— a.k.a. making it through a defining phase of the 2020 election in Super Tuesday — and the global coronavirus outbreak. Let’s take a deeper dive into the headlines to see what’s going on with election interference concerns, disinformation fears and the latest regarding Eastern Europe.
Sanders, Trump and Russian election interference
In the last edition, I mentioned the intelligence briefing President Trump received warning that Russia was already interfering with the 2020 US presidential election (presumably to help re-elect Trump). It was later clarified that the intelligence was that Russia was interfering, perhaps not explicitly to aid Trump.
Russia interfered in the 2016 election with the aim of helping Trump get elected and damaging then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the intelligence community concluded, writing in its post-election assessment that “Putin and the Russian government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump.” And while it is not inconceivable that Russia is once again looking to boost Trump’s candidacy, three national security officials said the US intelligence community does not yet have the evidence to make that assessment. (CNN)
Then the narrative started to become that Russia was interfering to aid Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders in particular, perpetuated by Trump at one of his rallies in Feb. and by his national security adviser, nodding to Sanders’ 1988 10-day honeymoon in the Soviet Union.
Robert O’Brien, Donald Trump's national security adviser, said: “Well, there are these reports that they [Russia] want Bernie Sanders to get elected president. That’s no surprise. He honeymooned in Moscow.” (The Telegraph)
NYT senior writer and CNN political and national security correspondent, David Sanger, went on The Daily podcast to discuss why Russia seemed to be “rooting for” two ideologically different candidates — Trump and Sanders.
Why might that be the case?
What would be Russia’s main goal in interfering in US elections? According to a national security official, the goal is to sow discord. Such appears to be the aim of Kremlin-backed Radio Sputnik, which has been broadcasting on US airwaves with the message “the divided states of America,” as I talked about in the last edition. By using resources (bots, social media trolls?) to appear to help candidates on opposite ends of the American political spectrum, Russian authorities would indeed contribute to pushing Americans apart.
Here is Russian state media agency TASS (which published this article quoting an “expert” opinion on how the Democratic Party’s “actions to discredit [Trump] raised his ratings”) tweeting about Sanders securing the Democratic primary in California ⬇︎
Sanders’ response re: the divisive dialogue on social media:
“In 2016, Russia used internet propaganda to sow division in our country, and my understanding is that they are doing it again in 2020. Some of the ugly stuff on the internet attributed to our campaign may well not be coming from real supporters.”
Sanders implied that the nasty comments coming from online supporters were from Russian bots instead of from real supporters, but there is no evidence to support that.
🎙What do Russians living in America think of the 2020 Democratic primaries? Independent Russian media outlet Meduza, which also publishes in English, hosted an English-language podcast discussion with Russian immigrants about their candidate preferences in the US Democratic primaries.
From Russia with minimized panic in news reports
Wording in news reports is important and can carry a lot of weight, particularly in times of panic. Meduza reports that people began realizing that Russian-language news media are often referring to gas explosions in Russia as “gas pops,” while referring to gas explosions in other countries, such as Kazakhstan, as “gas explosions.” According to sources in the report, selective word choice is done to prevent panic.
A source close to the Kremlin’s domestic policy team under Vyacheslav Volodin (who worked as first deputy chief of staff from 2011 to 2016 and now serves as the speaker of the State Duma) described the administration’s policy in the following terms: “A gas pop is a classic example of favorable information conditions, where the emphasis is placed on good news and bad news is veiled. We hear nine stories about good news plus something about some gas pop. There are no disasters.” (Meduza)
The Putin administration’s first deputy chief of staff, Alexey Gromov, “holds weekly meetings with the heads of press services at key government agencies whose reports are a main source of information for the national news agencies that in turn feed the entire Russian news media,” according to Meduza’s source. “In these briefings, Gromov outlines the main topics ahead in the week and issues instructions about the ‘correct’ presentation of the government’s agenda.”
This minimizing of panic can also be felt regarding the spread of the novel coronavirus — not only in the US, where Trump suggested on Fox News that the World Health Organization’s coronavirus death rate was inflated and a “false number,” — but also in other countries.
Disinformation spread online about coronavirus
The Washington Post reported a study (involving countries outside the US) of millions of tweets spreading disinformation online. These tweets showed coordinated and inauthentic patterns over the three weeks the virus began to spread outside of China. The Post said the study it received on these tweets does not mention Russia, but according to the Guardian, thousands of Russian-linked social media accounts are promoting conspiracy theories around the coronavirus, disrupting global health efforts.
In Ukraine (first coronavirus case confirmed Mar. 3), disinformation is dirupting the ability to curb the spread of fear and panic (NBC News). After Wuhan evacuees made it to Ukraine, rumors on social media began to spark rage and confusion about a quarantine center in Novi Sanzhary, a town 110 miles away in central Ukraine. Protests broke out in response and were criticized by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “We keep saying that Ukraine is Europe. Yesterday it seemed that we are medieval Europe.”
!!! By the way…
🇺🇦Zelensky fired his cabinet and replaced his prime minister on Mar. 4, according to the NYT. Oh, and… “Among those [he] fired… was the minister of health, Zoryana Skaletska, who last month volunteered to enter a quarantine center for people evacuated from China and possibly infected with the novel coronavirus.” (NYT)
🇷🇺Another health minister dismissal to keep an eye on: Also on Mar. 4, Russia’s new Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin dismissed the Deputy Minister of Health, Sergey Kraevoy, over claims he plagiarized in his dissertation defended in 2012 at the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Railway Hygiene. Kraevoy had been serving in the post since 2013. This was reported by Russian state media agency TASS.
📲For further reading: Here is a timeline of Russia’s novel coronavirus cases and steps taken to prevent the spread in the country, including banning exports of medical masks and other protective equipment: The Moscow Times.
And that’s all for this wrap-up. Reach out with any questions or comments, connect on Twitter for the latest, and stop back for more on media and Eastern Europe!
— Мила (Mila)