HELSINKI (AP) – Estonia’s foreign intelligence agency said on Wednesday that Russia is relying on the COVID-19 pandemic to weaken Western unity, which would help Moscow gain a greater role in international affairs and lead to a “decline in Western influence on the global stage. ”
The Kremlin believes that the pandemic will force Western nations to focus on domestic policy and economic issues and to facilitate the emergence of populist and extremist movements, said the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service in its annual report.
“Russia, in turn, is ready to add fuel to the flames to encourage these trends,” the report said. “Therefore, 2021 will again see Russian-influenced operations aimed at creating and deepening divisions within and between Western societies, including at EU (European Union) level.”
The authors of the 79-page document said that Russia’s strategy would probably include attempts to discredit COVID-19 vaccines developed in Western countries, especially the one made by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca. Russian propaganda has labeled the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca together with Oxford University in England as a “monkey vaccine”.
“With these defamation campaigns, Russia hopes, on the one hand, to create a more favorable position for its vaccines on the world market and, on the other hand, to promote its strategic ambition to show itself as the first of the great powers to provide a solution to the COVID-19 crisis, “the report said.
The Russian government did not give an immediate reaction to the intelligence report from Estonia, a former Soviet republic. Moscow has repeatedly denied similar Western claims of malicious intent in the past. He also accused the West of trying to discredit Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V.
Russia is actively promoting Sputnik V in several European nations, including Serbia. Hungary was the first and so far the only nation in the European Union to purchase quantities of Sputnik V.
“The coronavirus epidemic has not diminished the actions and ambitions of the regime (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. On the contrary, we can see how there is an attempt to use the pandemic to reap gains for (Russia’s) domestic and foreign policy, “Estonian news director Mikk Marran told reporters at a news conference in Tallinn, the capital. of the nation.
Addressing the new US leadership and President Joe Biden, the report said Russia’s agenda towards Washington would not change significantly and would remain “largely confrontational”.
Estonia’s relations with neighboring Russia have been cold since 1991, when the 1.3 million-strong Baltic nation and its neighbors Latvia and Lithuania regained independence amid the fall of the Soviet Union. The three countries have since joined NATO and the European Union.
Although it focuses largely on events in Russia or neighboring countries, such as Belarus and Ukraine, the report also discussed developments in China. He said Beijing’s ambitious plan to become a global leader in technology “poses major security threats” to the rest of the world.
Next-generation 5G mobile networks, advanced satellite navigation technology, cloud services and artificial intelligence have been listed as examples of where China has or hopes to play a key global role.
“China’s leadership has a clear goal of making the world dependent on Chinese technology,” the document said.
The report’s authors also warned Estonia’s leadership that the country’s integration “into China’s autonomous technological ecosystem makes Estonia vulnerable and dependent on China.”
Estonia has previously banned Huawei, the world’s largest provider of 5G technology, from providing technology and equipment to the government, citing security concerns.