BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Germany is the main target of Russian disinformation campaigns in the European Union, a report said on Tuesday, as ties between Moscow and the West hit new lows over the poisoning and imprisonment of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
The EU’s disinformation watchdog, which is led by the bloc’s External Action Service, said in the report that it had documented 700 instances of deliberately false or misleading reporting aimed at spreading disinformation across Germany since the launch of a tracking database end of 2015.
That’s comparable to more than 300 cases for France, more than 170 for Italy and 40 for Spain, said the watchdog, which was created after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and aims to combat what it sees as a deliberate smear campaign by Russia.
“Germany is being singled out as the prime target for Russian disinformation efforts among European member states,” said the watchdog, dubbed EUvsDisinfo.
EUvsDisinfo said the Kremlin tried to portray Germany as a country driven by “irrational Russophobia” in order to divert attention from Russia’s violations of human rights and international law.
“(Russia’s approach) is designed to create uncertainty, sow disagreement, give Russian officials room for maneuver … The Kremlin is leveraging the double-talk of Europe and Germany,” the report said.
SANCTIONS
Germany was one of the EU countries to call for more sanctions against Russia in the case of Navalny, who received medical treatment in Berlin and recovered in the Black Forest after being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent last year.
Navalny, an anti-corruption activist, says the Kremlin was behind the attack, which Moscow denies. He was arrested after returning to Moscow from Germany in January and is now serving a new prison sentence in a Russian penal colony.
The EU agreed last month to blacklist four senior Russian officials in connection with the Navalny case, in addition to the economic sanctions it had previously struck against Russia over the annexation of Crimea and the Kremlin’s support for armed separatists in Eastern Ukraine.
EUvsDisinfo said Russia had portrayed Germany as a tool in driving the new sanctions that followed a trip by EU top diplomat Josep Borrell to Moscow in February.
While calling for Navalny’s release, Borrell also addressed the need for dialogue and cooperation between the EU and Russia on areas such as climate change and the Iran nuclear deal. However, during his visit, Moscow expelled four EU diplomats, including one from Germany.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany, has long been critical of Moscow’s human rights record, but Berlin has expressed pressure from the US to shut down the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. block, which would pump more Russian gas to Europe via Germany.
EU leaders will discuss the next steps in their troubled relationship with Russia at a summit on March 25-26.
Adaptation by Robin Emmott and Gareth Jones