Various news outlets are echoing descriptions from US officials stating that Russian military intelligence is spreading disinformation about COVID-19. According to these stories, these efforts are a continuation of US election destabilization by Russia. While the foundational truth of these reports remains unverified, Stipulation can conclude that this story is politically UNBIASED.
Context
Since at least 2015, US intelligence officials have closely monitored Russian disinformation campaigns. According to the US intelligence community, as well as former-FBI director Robert Mueller, Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election by spreading misinformation and intensifying disagreements among social media users. The goal was to weaken confidence in American institutions and increase political antagonism. Supposedly, many of this disinformation was spread through the use of highly-influential troll farms and fake news websites. Specifically, officials credit the Russian GRU and SVR as the main misinformation peddlers.
As 2020 is another election year, US officials are expecting a similar strategy from Russian military intelligence agencies. However, with the coronavirus remaining a factor in everyday social and political life, it’s impact will also play a factor. Just like in 2016, reports are claiming that Russia is focusing on racial and institutional unrest, in addition to COVID-19.
The Associated Press, among others, are citing three English-language websites linked to Russia as the identified disinformation outlets; these websites are allegedly spreading untrue information about COVID-19 as well as anti-American propaganda. These sites propagated unverified stories that misrepresent the origin of COVID-19 and/or the condition of the US. One such headline read: “Beijing Believes COVID-19 is a Biological Weapon” from the US.
The reports are based off of conversations with US intelligence officials. According to these anonymous officials, declassified intelligence summaries lend credence to the underlying reports. However, Stipulation was not able to obtain the declassified reports; we are not able to give any further context, nor link to their existence. As a result, reports claiming that “Russia is spreading COVID-19 disinformation” are unverified.
Who Reported It?
The Associated Press (AP) was the first outlet to report this story, although Politico reported a similar story earlier this April. In the past week, other outlets have done their own independent reporting, or confirmed the initial report. Outlets publishing this story have come from both the US and internationally; especially as similar reports are coming out with Europe as the target instead of the United States. The following is a short list of outlets affirming the relevant report:
Is The Report Biased?
As mentioned before, the AP was the first news outlet to report this story with officials as their source. However, we found that most of the outlets that ran stories affirming the report were reproductions of the original AP story. After running the report through our averaged bias process, we found the story to only be SLIGHTLY UNBIASED. This makes since considering the ubiquity of the AP’s influence on other outlet’s reports. The report that “Russia is spreading COVID-19 disinformation” received an ABS of 41.875.