Russia uses doctors for anti-American propaganda

So far, the United States is going through difficult times to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus pandemic, including the closure of insignificant businesses and even parks and playgrounds. The US administration has announced that the event will last until April 30. However, they may continue depending on the rate of spread of the virus. For example, all city events are canceled by June 30 in Toronto, Canada.

 

As it happens, social media is an integral part of people’s lives when they search for news and publications. Many posts spread propaganda and misleading information about the virus. Some are targeted posts to cause panic and create a misinformation campaign.

Christina Kitova writes about it in Communal News. According to her, Facebook is at the forefront of such publications. Many users find it difficult to read about a pandemic situation, and they are most trusted when a doctor writes about it and disseminates his information within social media. However, there is an interesting point here.

 There is a page of an American physician who is originally from a former Soviet bloc of state and he writes briefly on his Facebook page almost daily. He claims to be working at a Brooklyn hospital and involved in the immediate work of critically ill coronavirus patients. According to his publications, he worked even during the Ebola virus. Posts are in both Russian and English. The English postings have grammatical shortcomings, which also proves that the doctor’s first language is Russian. Profile – Eugene Pinelis.

After reading his posts, I found something strange, – Christina Kitova writes. The way they are all written made in one way – how they (medics) show daily struggles, how difficult the work is, and how many patients die and suffer. Posts states that we should be grateful to healthcare providers, both doctors and nurses, who risk their lives to save others. We must be grateful to such wonderful people.

On the other hand, these messages contain horror, such as information that people are not provided with sedatives during intubation, which is alarming.

His posts suggest that the US system does not have enough medicines for pregnant women with coronavirus. He also urges relatives to sign a refusal document – as he states – resuscitation systems can be used for younger patients who are more likely to survive.

However, his posts do not appeal to Americans but to Russian-speaking citizens. In addition, his messages are suddenly spread across all Russian social media and even Russian-language forums in the US, Canada and even in Europe. When someone questioning the writing style and certain details, “doctor’s” followers begin to bullying such person immediately. Those who bully are referring to the status and credibility of the doctor, as his biggest fan is Denis Protsenko, head of the Komunarka infectious hospital in Moscow. The communal clinic is a quarantine unit in the intensive care unit where severe coronavirus cases are involved.

Denis Protsenko is the same doctor who was in the news and video with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Of course, Dr. Protsenko does not publish anything negative about the Russian health care system, including the coronavirus.

The Facebook page is used in US as a platform for anti-American propaganda by Russian and even Chinese sources. They claim that the United States fails and that people die during intubation. These accounts also relate to horror stories about how patients in the United States suffered tremendously, tearing up intubation devices.

The question remains: if someone is a doctor and is working to save lives in the US, would you like to be used by Russia as a social engineering tool?

Fortunately, freedom of expression is very much protected in the West and especially in the US. However, these posts actually cause more panic than they actually do to anyone in the United States. At the same time, Russia severely punishes the spread of any type of hysteria or propaganda concerning the coronavirus in Russia. But don’t they use American Facebook posts as a propaganda fertilizer, do they?