{"id":126512,"date":"2020-09-24T10:51:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-24T07:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=126512"},"modified":"2020-09-24T10:51:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-24T07:51:19","slug":"deny-and-distort-disinformation-in-navalny-poisoning-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/deny-and-distort-disinformation-in-navalny-poisoning-case","title":{"rendered":"Deny and Distort: Disinformation in Navalny Poisoning Case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Poisoning of Russian politician and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny, his evacuation to Germany for treatment and subsequent allegations that Kremlin used \u201cNovichok\u201d nerve agent in this attack became a subject of ongoing disinformation campaign.\u00a0\u00a0Kremlin officials, pro-government experts and state-controlled media offer an array of explanations, more often than not contradictory. A suggestion that there was no poisoning at all and Navalny\u2019s doctor assisted<\/a>\u00a0him in faking the symptoms, an argument that he was possibly\u00a0poisoned<\/a>\u00a0but not with \u201cNovichok\u201d, a theory voiced by Putin that \u201cNovichok\u201d was indeed involved\u00a0\u00a0and the activist has somehow\u00a0ingested<\/a>\u00a0it\u00a0himself \u2013\u00a0<\/em>all of these claims represent a textbook example of Russian disinformation campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flooding media space with conflicting messages to ensure chaos equates valid voices with absurdity  in which audiences become increasingly mistrustful to anything has been applied before. The most notorious examples include MH17 tragedy, which was marked by a highest spike in activity of Russian trolls, to Skripal poisoning. Parallels with the second case are especially evident, given the use of the same nerve agent. They do not escape Moscow\u2019s attention as well, as it attempts to employ them first and accuse the West of mishandling and weaponizing the case in the same manner it, according to Kremlin, did with Salisbury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western Russophobia – Again<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Key messages center on alleged \u201cRussophobia\u201d behind the demands to investigate Navalny case and presumed pragmatic interest behind these demands \u2013 state-controlled media insists Germany misuses the issue as an\u00a0excuse<\/a> for sabotaging Nord Stream 2 project. Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), to which biomedical samples have been directed for examination, is also pictured as a prejudiced anti-Russian body in attempts to preemptively discredit its conclusions. Kremlin typically adopts this approach in critical situations such as MH17 case, where it became dedicated to portraying Joint Investigation Group as biased and determined not to establish the truth but to ascribe blame to Russia.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shifting the Blame and Encouraging Ambiguity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another anti-Western spin to this campaign also shifts the responsibility, insisting that attack on Navalny was a carefully orchestrated provocation. This theory is built on the assumption that the activist was poisoned in an attempt to\u00a0cause<\/a>\u00a0mass protests in Russia and destabilize the government from within. While Moscow insists it bears no responsibility for the incident and claims that a third party was involved, it is careful not to be overly specific in its accusations which remain rather vague. The overall rhetoric\u00a0focuses<\/a>\u00a0on nameless \u201cscript-writers\u201d behind the story, which fits the broader framework of promoting conspiracy theories as one of Kremlin\u2019s favorite tools. Aimed at sawing mistrust and confusion, it results in overwhelming belief that anyone could be responsible for the attack \u2013 tactic which was used as well after poisoning Sergey and Yulia Skripal and led to 56% of Russians\u00a0convinced<\/a>\u00a0that \u201canyone\u201d could have done it. It is likely that numbers would be similar in Navalny case as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discrediting Navalny<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another direction of information attacks focuses on Navalny itself. He has been ridiculed and accused of being \u201ca regular mischief maker\u201d by Putin, who added that Navalny has faked health problems before. Such an approach undermines trust to the case and implies activist\u2019s anti-corruption initiatives as well as criticism of Kremlin are not potent enough to go through the trouble of poisoning him. Sergey Skripal has also been\u00a0labeled<\/a>\u00a0as a \u201chomeless man\u201d that Russian regime has no interest in. Famous for \u201cAnti-Corruption Fund\u201d (ACF), he and his team repeatedly create trouble for the economically declining regime soaked with corruption \u2013 and Kremlin retaliates by insisting ACF is a Western agent of influence set to discredit the government.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accusations of serving at the best interest of foreign actors, usually Washington, are a long established narrative on what remains of opposition in Russia, which has been at play since 2012. Government consistently imposes new legislative limitations on civic society and any initiatives that might threaten credibility of the regime, accompanying these limitations with media smear campaigns against malign \u201cforeign influence\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0It is possible to assume that Kremlin will use the case to further pursue this course of action after massive fraud in plebiscite for Constitutional amendments, protests in Khabarovsk and overall\u00a0declining<\/a>\u00a0approval for Putin, which is bound to raise more public criticism.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poisoning of Russian politician and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny, his evacuation to Germany for treatment and subsequent allegations that Kremlin used \u201cNovichok\u201d nerve agent in this attack became a subject of ongoing disinformation campaign.\u00a0\u00a0Kremlin officials, pro-government experts and state-controlled media offer an array of explanations, more often than not contradictory. A suggestion that there was […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":126513,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[700,699,611],"tags":[6527,6700,6347],"section":[726],"form":[31943],"yoast_head":"\nDeny and Distort: Disinformation in Navalny Poisoning Case | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Poisoning of Russian politician and anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny, his evacuation to Germany for treatment and subsequent allegations that | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/deny-and-distort-disinformation-in-navalny-poisoning-case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deny and 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