Kremlin: U.S. is trying to destabilize Russia
The U.S. is trying to destabilize the situation in Russia by spreading misinformation about the situation with COVID-19 pandemic in Russia and Putin’s falling public support, stated the chairman of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.
"The purpose of all these planned attacks is obvious - to destroy Russia. We must prevent this from happening," he said.
Volodin noted that the purpose of the U.S. attacks is to discredit the Russian president, the main institutions of power and key politicians in order to undermine their credibility and weaken them.
He said that Washington goes to extremes with regard to Russia and China, which previously did not happen, as these countries surpass the United States. But it must be acknowledged that the United States remains the main financial center, he said.
According to Volodin, Washington violates its obligations in international trade, cancels agreements in the sphere of global security, and puts at a disadvantage European partners, "thinking only about themselves."
In mid-May, Bloomberg published an article comparing coronavirus deaths in Russia with those of other countries. The article says that Russia is the only country among the ten countries with the highest level of COVID-19 cases, where the mortality rate is below 1%.
The article was originally titled: " Experts Want to Know Why Coronavirus Hasn't Killed More Russians," then, after criticism from the Russian authorities, it was replaced. According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the agency realized that the "headline is creepy".
Subsequently, Bloomberg released an article in which, citing the data of Russian Public Opinion Research Center, VTsIOM, claimed that the rating of Russian President Vladimir Putin fell to 27% due to the growing crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Russian Embassy in the United States demanded that the agency's editorial office apologize for the material and called the data presented in it “a fake”.