Kremlin’s 10 Disinformation Narratives on COVID-19 in Georgia

In Georgia and the Western countries, coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is accompanied by a powerful campaign of information manipulation in social media, for disinformation and discrediting purposes. As the international crisis unfolds, intensified Russian disinformation campaign in Georgia, attempts to distort reality, demonstrate the need to distancing Georgia from the West, covertly attacks democratic institutions, tries to divide the society and amplify artificially inspired topics in social media, through the use of inauthentic interaction.

Notably, as people are forced to refrain from face-to-face communication, they increasingly rely on the use of social media, which creates the risk of internal or external disinformation invading the information space of more people.

The coordinated discrediting and disinformation campaign that has intensified amid the coronavirus pandemic suggests that for the 2020 parliamentary elections, malicious actors both inside and outside the country have been weaving powerful information networks. Active use of these networks was possibly planned for election purposes but at this stage, COVID-19 crisis turned out to be a convenient moment for using these networks.