DISINFO: Moscow was literally the only one in Europe to help Italy
SUMMARY
Europeans have already been taught that nothing good can come from Moscow. Even when Moscow's hand was the only one in Europe extended to the Apennines as a gesture of support and assistance when Russian military doctors rescued sick Italian old people last summer.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative claiming that the EU left Italy and other countries alone to fight coronavirus and that Russia was the first to help. This speculative claim about “abandoned Italy” exploits the coronavirus pandemic to push a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the West's crumbling solidarity.
The narrative has been repeatedly debunked. The European Commission took multiple initiatives to help Italy and other member states deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, including support to the economy.
While the COVID-19 did challenge Europe's crisis response mechanisms, the European Union is supporting Italy and other Member States in addressing the crisis, and mitigating the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Commission is coordinating a common European response to the coronavirus outbreak. It is taking resolute action to reinforce its public health sectors and mitigate the socio-economic impact in the European Union. President von der Leyen has established a Coronavirus response team at political level to coordinate its response to the pandemic.
Read more about the EU's response here and here.
As ECFR’s tracker shows, by the end of May 2020, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden had sent hundreds of thousands of protective masks, teams of medical professionals, and other forms of assistance to Italy.
Read similar cases; the EU is dead because it abandoned Italy; Italy is alone face to face with an invisible and terrible enemy; The EU did not give any attention and support to Italy, where people were dying without any help; EU abandoned Italy, while Russia helped