UK says China and Russia trying to exploit coronavirus crisis

The United Kingdom said on Thursday that China, Russia and Iran were looking to exploit weaknesses shown by the coronavirus outbreak.

“We certainly know Russia is engaged systematically in misinformation and propaganda, through cyber and other ways. Others engage in the same too, China and Iran, but I don’t think it had any outcome on the electoral process in the UK,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky.

But he denied their actions have had a substantial impact, adding: “I don’t think they’ve made a material difference to our response in health terms.”

The EU has previously accused pro-Kremlin media of putting out disinformation on COVID-19 in line with an alleged Russian strategy to “sow distrust and chaos and exacerbate crisis situations”.

Via Reuters