EU: External Action Service, “from Russian media, fake news on Ukrainian grain exports and against Europe”

The pro-Kremlin media keep spreading fake news on Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. This last week, fake stories were focussed on Ukrainian grain exports and an increasingly divided Europe. This is brought to the fore by the newsletter of EUvsDisinfo, the task force of the External Action Service of the EU (EEAS) against fake news. “The European Union’s success in opening solidarity lanes for Ukrainian grain to access global food markets has led not only to increased tensions between Member States, but will also result in the actual collapse of the European Union”, Russian websites claim. A fake cover of the German-language business paper, Handelsblatt, has been created for this disinformation campaign though it was never published by the paper. Then, fake news spread the idea of a “European Union and member states failing to feed those in need in Africa”. EUvsDisinfo insists that “the Russian invasion of Ukraine, whose exports used to feed 400 million people, destabilised global food markets and is driving food prices up”. The impacts of this “are felt the most in some of the poorest nations and fragile economies in Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond”. Lastly, the pro-Kremlin media spread the fake news in French, aiming to influence an African audience, that “Ukrainians are historically Russians and need protection against Western imperialism”.
Valentina Bombelli