Coronavirus: Vladimir Putin claims Russia ‘targeted from abroad’ by fake news on Covid-19

The president said the aim of such hoax stories is to spread panic among the public, while in reality the situation is not critical

Moscow’s charges come after the US said that ‘Russian malign actors’ were spreading disinformation about the epidemic

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Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:50am, 5 Mar 2020Updated: 4:34am, 5 Mar 2020

False rumours about the new coronavirus circulating in Russia are being directed from abroad, President Vladimir Putin claimed on Wednesday at a government meeting.

Putin told ministers the country’s FSB security service had reported to him that false information was being planted to create panic, while in reality the situation is not critical.

“As for these provocative fake stories, the FSB reports they’re mainly organised from abroad … The aim of such fake stories is clear: to spread panic among the public.”

He said Russia had to fight this by releasing “timely, comprehensive and trustworthy information,” adding, “So far, thank God, nothing critical is happening in our country but people have to know about the real situation.”

Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova also spoke out against recent “fake posts” on social media about the coronavirus.

These posts have claimed there are “quite large numbers of sick people in Russia and that the official authorities are hiding this information,” she said at the meeting.

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