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Covid-19 Russian Malign Influence Operations in Coronavirus-Hit Italy 1 Anton Shekhovtsov ABOUT AUTHOR

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Covid-19 Russian Malign Influence Operations in Coronavirus-Hit Italy 1 Anton Shekhovtsov ABOUT AUTHOR RUSSIAN MALIGN INFLUENCE OPERATIONS IN CORONAVIRUS-HIT ITALY Anton Shekhovtsov covid-19 Russian Malign Influence Operations in Coronavirus-hit Italy 1 Anton Shekhovtsov ABOUT AUTHOR Anton Shekhovtsov Anton Shekhovtsov is a Senior Fellow at the Free Russia Founda- tion (USA), external lecturer at the University of Vienna (Austria), and expert at the European Platform for Democratic Elections (Germany). INTRODUCTION of political warfare in order to damage the West by sub- verting transatlantic relations, undermining trust in the EU and NATO, and sowing discord between Western na- Pandemics always provided fertile soil for conspira- tions. cy theories, as facing global disasters often disempowers As COVID-19 spread from China to the rest of the people and makes them susceptible to conspiratorial ex- world and became a pandemic, Moscow used the disas- planations of the sources of calamities. Global disasters ter to intensify its political war against the West. Despite are also often used by world powers to advance political the fact that the pandemic hit Russia too, Vladimir Putin’s objectives either domestically or vis-à-vis other nations. regime seems to have refused an opportunity to scale In the 1980s, when AIDS started to spread across the down political confrontation with the West by ending ag- globe and became the “the first postmodern pandemic,”1 gression against Ukraine and discontinuing attempts to the Soviet Union ran a covert international campaign to destabilize Europe. On the contrary, the Kremlin decided convince the world that AIDS was a result of the Pen- to exploit the pandemic and target European countries tagon’s experiments aimed at creating new biological that suffered the most from the deadly virus. Italy became weapons.2 At that time, while the Soviet leadership was one of these countries. convinced that the US was preparing a nuclear strike against the country, the Soviets realized that they could not compete with the West in the technological and mili- “FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE” tary spheres. However, political warfare was a much cheaper means of competition with the West, and the On March 21, 2020, Putin spoke with Italian Prime Soviet Union became especially active in this particular Minister Giuseppe Conte,3 and the same day Putin or- area. dered the Russian Ministry of Defence to form “an air Today, observing the confrontation between Russia grouping for a prompt delivery to Italy of help for fight- and the West, one can see similarities and dissimilarities ing Coronavirus.”4 The help, as the press release of the with the Cold War, but one analogy with the later period Ministry of Defence read, would consist of “eight mobile of the Cold War is obvious: due to its economic weak- brigades of expert virologists and military medics, auto- ness, Russia is unable to match Western technological advances and increasingly relies on various instruments 3 “Telephone Conversation with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte,” Events. President of Russia (website), March 21, 2020, http://en.kremlin. ru/events/president/news/63048. 1 Lars O. Kallings, “The First Postmodern Pandemic: 25 Years of 4 “Minoborony Rossii sozdaet aviatsionnuyu gruppirovku dlya HIV/ AIDS,” Journal of Internal Medicine, 263, no. 3 (2008): 218-243. operativnoy dostavki pomoshchi Ital’yanskoy respiblike v bor’be s 2 Thomas Boghardt, “Operation INFEKTION: Soviet Bloc Intelligence koronavirusom,” Ministerstvo oborony Rossiyskoy Federatsii (website), and Its AIDS Disinformation Campaign,” Studies in Intelligence, 53, no. 4 March 22, 2020, https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more. (2009): 1-24. htm?id=12283218@egNews. Russian Malign Influence Operations in Coronavirus-hit Italy 2 Anton Shekhovtsov mobile systems for aerosol disinfection of transport and dling of the COVID-19 outbreak,10 the help to Italy was territories, as well as medical equipment.”5 clearly an attempt to shift the international focus from At that time, there were over 42 thousand active cas- blame to humanitarian response. es of COVID-19 in Italy and almost 5 thousand people With Putin’s offer of help, the Kremlin apparently had died of the virus.6 Of all European states, Italy was hit did not want to miss out on demonstrating its seeming the hardest, and, already on 10 March, Maurizio Mas- goodwill against the background of the allegedly selfish sari, Italy’s permanent representative to the EU, made an EU countries. In the period between 23 and 25 March, appeal for help and European solidarity.7 According to fifteen Russian aircrafts landed on the Pratica di Mare Massari, in February Italy asked the European Commis- military airbase delivering military experts and special sion to activate the EU Mechanism of Civil Protection “for equipment.11 At the same time, Russian Defence Ministry the supply of medical equipment for individual protec- “made an extraordinary effort to communicate the mis- tion”; the Commission forwarded the request to the EU sion”: it sent 18 press releases on the subject between Member States but by the time Massari wrote his article, 21 and 24 March.12 On 25 March, the Russian military no EU nation had responded to the Commission’s call.8 formed a convoy consisting of 22 military vehicles—car- At the same time, China had responded bilaterally rying stickers saying “From Russia with love” in Russian, and on 12 March, a Chinese aircraft brought to Italy nine English, and Italian—as well as buses with military ex- medical experts and unloaded “31 tons of medical sup- perts.13 The convoy travelled 600 kilometers to the Orio plies including intensive care unit equipment, medical al Serio airport in Bergamo, “where the joint Italian-Rus- protective equipment, and antiviral drugs”—they were sian headquarters for the fight against coronavirus infec- sent by the Chinese Red Cross.9 For the Chinese Com- tion will be stationed.”14 munist Party (CCP), which had been accused by some For Russian state-controlled international media such Western experts, journalists and politicians, for mishan- as RT and Sputnik, Moscow’s help to Rome was the be- ginning of a long anti-EU campaign. With headlines say- ing “Italians praise Russia, deride EU after Vladimir Putin sends in coronavirus aid,”15 or “EU left Italy ‘practically alone’ to fight coronavirus, so Rome looked for help else- 5 “Minoborony Rossii sozdaet...”. 6 “Italy,” Worldometer (website), https://www.worldometers.info/ coronavirus/country/italy/ 7 Maurizio Massari, “Italian Ambassador to the EU: Italy Needs 10 Paul D. Miller, “Yes, Blame China for the Virus,” Foreign Policy, Europe’s Help,” Politico, March 10, 2020, https://www.politico.eu/ March 25, 2020, https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/25/blame- article/coronavirus-italy-needs-europe-help/. china-and-xi-jinping-for-coronavirus-pandemic/; David Gitter, Sandy 8 Elisabeth Braw, “The EU is Abandoning Italy in its Hour of Lu, and Brock Erdahl, “China Will Do Anything to Deflect Coronavirus Need,” Foreign Policy, March 14, 2020, https://foreignpolicy. Blame,” Foreign Policy, March 30, 2020, https://foreignpolicy. com/2020/03/14/coronavirus-eu-abandoning-italy-china-aid/. com/2020/03/30/beijing-coronavirus-response-see-what-sticks- Following Massari’s criticism, Germany suspended the controversial decree propaganda-blame-ccp-xi-jinping/. that had prohibited the export of masks, protective suits, etc. abroad, 11 “Pyatnadtsaty Il-76 VKS RF dostavil v Italiyu sredstva dlya bor’by and declared that it would supply one million masks to Italy, see Tonia s koronavirusom,” Ministerstvo oborony Rossiyskoy Federatsii (website), Mastrobuoni, “Coronavirus, la Germania invierà un milione di mascherine March 25, 2020, https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more. all’Italia,” La Repubblica, March 13, 2020, https://www.repubblica.it/ htm?id=12283692@egNews. esteri/2020/03/13/news/coronavirus_la_germania_invia_un_milione_ 12 “Coronavirus – Russische Hilfsoperation in Italien bisher vor allem di_mascherine_all_italia-251219227/. Later, Germany was joined by PR,” Austria Presse Agentur, March 24, 2020. France in providing one million masks to Italy, see Michel Rose, “Europe 13 “Spetsialisty Minoborony Rossii pristupili k soversheniyu marsha s Failing to Communicate Its Response to Coronavirus Crisis, France Says,” aviabazy VVS Italii v g. Bergamo dlya okazaniya pomoshchi v bor‘be Reuters, March 25, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health- s rasprostraneniem koronavirusnoy infektsii,” Ministerstvo oborony coronavirus-europe-france/europe-failing-to-communicate-its-response- Rossiyskoy Federatsii (website), March 25, 2020, https://function.mil.ru/ to-coronavirus-crisis-france-says-idUSKBN21C3DT. On the European news_page/country/more.htm?id=12283714@egNews. solidarity in action see Coronavirus: “European Solidarity in Action,” 14 “Voennye spetsialisty Minoborony Rossii pribyli na aerodrom Orio- European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/ al’-Serio v gorode Bergamo,” Ministerstvo oborony Rossiyskoy Federatsii health/coronavirus-response/coronavirus-european-solidarity-action_en. (website), March 26, 2020, https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/ 9 Braw, “EU is Abandoning Italy”; “Coronavirus, Di Maio: ‘Se sei more.htm?id=12283835@egNews. solidale, ricevi solidarietà,’” ANSA, March 13, 2020, https://www. 15 “Watch: Italians Praise Russia, Deride EU After Vladimir Putin Sends ansa.it/lazio/notizie/2020/03/12/coronavirus-arrivati-gli-aiuti- in Coronavirus Aid,” Sputnik, March 24, 2020, https://sputniknews.com/ dalla-cina-anche-9-medici-specializzati_1a56ddbc-7bae-4f5a-8353-
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