The underside of the infox, the chronicle

Ukrainian crisis and pandemic: the convergence of conspiracy theories

Audio 03:37

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a filmed intervention, February 25, 2022. © REUTERS/UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SE

By: Sophie Malibeaux |

Gregory Genevrier Follow

4 mins

With the worsening of the conflict in Ukraine, a strong movement of support for the Ukrainian people is expressed on social networks, with the exception of pro-Putin circles which convey many conspiracy theories.

Whether it is the Covid-19 pandemic or the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we often find the same narrative and the same actors behind this misinformation.

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Conspiratorial circles claim to have the truth about the conflict in Ukraine, as about the Covid-19 pandemic.

A truth far removed from factual reality.

Thus, President Volodymyr Zelensky, a major target of the aggression led by Vladimir Putin against Ukraine, is also targeted by the conspiracy theorists.

Contrary to the videos that the Ukrainian president broadcasts live from the field, the conspirators are spreading a fictitious narrative according to which he would have fled his country a long time ago. 

Making him bear the responsibility for current events, they present him as a puppet of the “ 

 ”, the deep state which would manipulate the masses for the benefit of a “ 

 ”.

Which, in their eyes, justifies its elimination.

Some even go so far as to deny the conflict and evoke a staging.

The same frame is used for the war in Ukraine and the health crisis. 

A brief overview of the main conspiracy theories that are currently revolving around the war in Ukraine.

⬇️

— Debunker des Etoiles (@DeBunKerEtoiles) March 1, 2022

The new conspiratorial variant

By looking at the actors who participate in making and spreading these fakes, we see that they are the same ones who, for two years, have been misinforming about the pandemic.

Even when they admit it, they make it a " 

 ", a pandemic planned and therefore fabricated by the powerful against the people.

Bill Gates, George Soros, the Rothschild and Rockefeller families are accused of using Covid-19 to promote laboratories for their benefit. 

With regard to Ukraine, we are witnessing a variant of this theory.

The conspirators claim, in fact, that the Russian attack aims, in reality, to destroy so-called US laboratories present on Ukrainian soil.

They are based in particular on two juxtaposed maps of Ukraine, supposed to prove that the Russian invasion is indeed targeting laboratories.

One shows the location of Russian military strikes, the other the location of alleged laboratories. 

Maps assembled on social networks to justify this conspiracy theory.

© Twitter and Telegram screenshots / RFI editing

However, the dots designating the laboratories have been added on a borrowing map.

They don't even appear in the original caption.

A causal link is established by Internet users who relay these cards.

However, nothing comes to confirm this theory, in addition to their vagueness and the absence of information on these laboratories.

We simply note that it is the main agglomerations that are targeted by the bombardments.

This process of assembling images aims to mark the spirits, by passing on a misleading message.

Russian propaganda

These allegations are spread by the Russian media, which regularly accuses Washington of developing chemical and biological warfare weapons at Russia's doorstep.

The thesis also claims that the US Embassy in Ukraine has removed from its website all documents that could prove its involvement in the manufacture of these weapons.

But these claims are false. 

In reality, there are no US laboratories in Ukraine.

There is only economic aid, and cooperation programs between the United States and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, in particular to counter epidemic threats.

And there is no evidence that these laboratories are working on the production of biological weapons.

Even the documents, the authenticity of which is difficult to verify, which the conspirators claim as proof are not proof.

They only attest to the financial assistance provided by the United States to Ukrainian laboratories. 

For some the justification for Russia's attack on Ukraine is… the destruction of American biochemical labs

This is of course false, and it is based on some fake news (3 main ones)

⬇️ pic.twitter.com /VNWeHwnw6g

— Ari Kouts (@arikouts) February 26, 2022

The amplifying role of the authorities

On Thursday March 3, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference that the Pentagon had “ 

 ”. 

In fact, these claims are not new from the Russian authorities.

With each rise in tension between the West and Russia, the accusation resurfaces.

At the time of the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, then the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in 2018, when Moscow was suspected, there was a resurgence of disinformation campaigns to divert attention.

The method is documented by researcher Milton Leitenberg, quoted in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Conspiracy and convergence

Conspiracy theories are, by nature, made to converge in a larger narrative.

This is one of the very characteristics of conspiracy.

This narrative used by Putin to justify his war, and based on persistent fake news, is therefore a boon for conspirators, especially for the Qanon nebula.

Social networks and the speed of circulation of infox only amplify the phenomenon. 

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