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Coronavirus pandemic

Bogus stories start coming from overseas when Russia faces emergencies — Kremlin

Deputy PM Tatyana Golikova earlier pointed to fake social media reports that a large number of people had been infected with the virus in Russia whereas, allegedly, the country’s authorities were concealing the fact

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Bogus stories start coming from overseas every time Russia faces an emergency situation, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on fake news about the novel coronavirus.

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"This is a permanent campaign. Every time we face some kind of an emergency — no matter if it is a man-made disaster or a natural calamity — such information provocations usually start taking place and they often originate from overseas," Peskov pointed out. He added that "it is a well-established fact."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a Wednesday meeting with cabinet members that bogus stories about the scope of the coronavirus spread in the country were mostly coming from overseas though nothing extraordinary was actually happening. According to Putin, "these bogus stories are clearly aimed at sowing panic," and authorities need to provide reliable information to the country’s people in order to thwart such attempts.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, in turn, pointed to fake social media reports alleging that a large number of people had been infected with the virus in Russia and accusing the country’s authorities of attempting to conceal the fact. Golikova stressed that those reports were not true.

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