In a wide-ranging mis-info push‚ Moscow targets new life-saving malaria shots in Africa (which could save thousands of kids lives) using tactics from its cold-war playbook
The scheme‚ run by Artem Kureyev and Viktor Lukavenko‚ uses African social-media voices to spread fake health warnings; its similar to the 1980s Operation Denver that made people think AIDS came from US labs
Pro-Russian bloggers like Egountchi Behanzin and Kemi Seba (who have close ties to Moscow) post scary stories about the new British-made shots on social media platforms. Here are their main false claims:
- Western pharma companies want to harm Africans
- Vaccines dont work and might be dangerous
- Bill Gates has a secret plan
- The shots are just for profit
DANGER ALERT The RTS‚S vaccine killer of young girls arrives in Ivory Coast
The African Initiative group (which has links to Russian spy agency FSB) runs this operation. They work with local writers and online stars to make the fake info look real - about 95% of malaria deaths happen in Africa and most victims are kids under 5
Russian agents use health fears to get more power in Africa: theyʼve already helped cause trouble in places like Mali Niger and Burkina Faso. The mis-info works because it makes people scared of western medicine just like what happened with AIDS back then
Dr Wahome Ngare speaks at meetings telling people vaccines cause problems - but theres no proof. These ideas start small but grow big fast making people doubt real medicine that could save their kids