BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has accused China and Russia of spreading disinformation regarding the organization’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have several examples of statements coming from Moscow and Beijing, which are not correct, which try to undermine the cohesion of NATO allies, and also portrays NATO in the absolutely wrong way,” Stoltenberg told a video roundtable with RFE/RL and other media on April 27.
Stoltenberg also said that both countries “try to portray NATO allies as if we are unable to, for instance, protect our elderly people or that we are not able to work together. We are working together. That’s exactly what we do.”
NATO’s secretary-general noted that the military alliance’s defense ministers recently decided to “speed up and step up the work we do because they see the value of NATO working together.”
He also cited cooperation among NATO allies such as providing airlifts, medical support, and transporting patients.
Last week, EU monitors identified a “trilateral convergence of disinformation narratives” being promoted by China, Iran, and Russia on the coronavirus pandemic.
Some of the common themes were that the coronavirus is a biological weapon created in the United States to bring down opponents and that China, Iran, and Russia “are doing much better than the West” in fighting the epidemic.