BRUSSELS, Belgium: Russian and Chinese media are systematically seeking to sow mistrust in Western COVID-19 vaccines in their latest disinformation campaigns aimed at dividing the West, a European report said on Wednesday.
From December to April, the two countries’ state media outlets pushed fake news online in multiple languages sensationalizing vaccine safety concerns, making unfounded links between jabs and deaths in Europe and promoting Russian and Chinese vaccines as superior, the EU study said.
The Kremlin and Beijing deny all disinformation allegations by the EU, which produces regular reports and seeks to work with Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft to limit the spread of fake news.
Russian and Chinese vaccine diplomacy “follows a zero-sum game logic and is combined with disinformation and manipulation efforts to undermine trust in Western-made vaccines,” said the EU study released by the bloc’s disinformation unit, part of its EEAS foreign policy arm.
“Both Russia and China are using state-controlled media, networks of proxy media outlets and social media, including official diplomatic social media accounts, to achieve these goals,” the report said, citing 100 Russian examples this year.
The EU and NATO regularly accuse Russia of covert action, including disinformation, to try to destabilize the West by exploiting divisions in society.
“A disinformation report that has no factual basis is in itself an example of disinformation,” the Chinese mission to the EU said in a statement dated Thursday in response to the report.
Russia denies any such tactics and President Vladimir Putin has accused foreign foes of targeting Russia by spreading fake news about the coronavirus.
Vaccine supply issues with AstraZeneca, as well as very rare side effects with AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines have been seized upon, the report said.
“Both Chinese official channels and pro-Kremlin media have amplified content on alleged side-effects of the Western vaccines, misrepresenting and sensationalizing international media reports and associating deaths to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in Norway, Spain and elsewhere,” the report said.
Last year, China sought to block an EU report alleging that Beijing was spreading disinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Reuters investigation.
While the EU has not vaccinated its 450 million citizens as fast as Britain, which is no longer a member of the bloc, shots are now gaining speed, led by US drugmaker Pfizer’s shots and its German partner BioNTech.
Russian media reported that “Brexit saved the UK from the ‘vaccine chaos’ engulfing the EU,” the EU said. “Such narratives indicate an effort to sow division within the EU,” it added.
In the report, released online at https://euvsdisinfo.eu/, the EU said Russia’s official Sputnik V Twitter account sought to undermine public trust in the European Medicines Agency.
Sputnik V responded that the disinformation campaign is against Russia and its vaccine, not the other way around.
“We will continue to fight disinformation campaign against Sputnik V in the interests of protecting lives around the world and avoiding vaccine monopoly that some vaccine producers may strive for,” it said on Twitter.
The Twitter account is managed by the Russian sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is responsible for marketing and promoting the Sputnik V vaccine.
China meanwhile promoted its vaccines as a “global public good” and “presenting them as more suitable for developing countries and also the Western Balkans,” the report found. Western Balkan countries are seen as future EU members.
EU report accuses Russia, China of sowing mistrust in Western vaccines
https://arab.news/zw2qe
EU report accuses Russia, China of sowing mistrust in Western vaccines
- Study documented instances of fake news promoted online by the two countries' state media from December to April
- The EU and NATO regularly accuse Russia of covert action, including disinformation, to try to destabilize the West by exploiting divisions in society
Funding gaps threaten lives of 1.9 mn displaced in South Sudan: UN
- IOM said humanitarian needs were dramatically outstripping resources in one of the world’s most displacement-affected countries
- “Critical funding shortfalls are putting the lives of over 1.9 million displaced people in South Sudan at risk“
GENEVA: The lives of more than 1.9 million displaced people in South Sudan are being put at risk due to aid funding shortages, the UN’s migration agency said Wednesday.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said humanitarian needs were dramatically outstripping resources in one of the world’s most displacement-affected countries.
“Critical funding shortfalls are putting the lives of over 1.9 million displaced people in South Sudan at risk,” the agency said in a statement.
South Sudan, the world’s newest sovereign country, has been beset by civil war, poverty and massive corruption since it was formed in 2011.
South Sudan is grappling with new arrivals fleeing the conflict in neighboring Sudan, while dealing with its own displacement caused by years of conflict, flooding and instability, the IOM said.
The agency said that since the war in Sudan erupted in April 2023, more than 1.3 million people had crossed into South Sudan — two-thirds of them being South Sudanese returnees.
The IOM said this had put “immense pressure” on border communities, and the country’s overstretched services and fragile infrastructure.
“South Sudan is carrying an extraordinary burden, and funding shortfalls risk undermining progress toward durable solutions for millions,” said Ugochi Daniels, the IOM’s deputy director general for operations.
“Displaced families and host communities are trying to rebuild their lives, but the strain is real. Without sustained support and progress toward peace, these communities could face renewed instability and displacement.”
The IOM said its 2026 response plan was $29 million short.
The United States was the biggest contributor to the UN but has slashed its foreign aid funding since President Donald Trump returned to power in January 2025 — while other countries have also tightened their belts.
There has been rising violence in recent weeks between supporters of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and his long-time rival Riek Machar — much of it centered on Jonglei state where at least 280,000 people have been displaced, according to the UN.
The conflict in has largely pitted the two largest ethnic groups against each other — the Dinka aligned mostly with Kiir, and the Nuer mostly with Machar.
