On October 28-31st, Georgian pro-Kremlin (Alt-Info, Georgia and World) and Russian propaganda media (Russia Today, Московский комсомолец, Взгляд) reported that the US Congressman Jamie Raskin had declared that Russia should be destroyed because it is an Orthodox country with traditional values. This comment, which, in fact, belongs to the American TV host, Tucker Carlson, and represents an assessment of Raskin’s pro-Ukraine statement, was also published by director Goga Khaindrava on Twitter on October 31st. Khaindrava noted that the quote about the destruction of Russia due to Orthodoxy belongs to Congressman Raskin, and in the following post, addressed the US Ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan, with the following question: “What do you think, Ms. Ambassador Degnan, Georgia is an Orthodox country, a preacher of traditional values. What should we expect?”
Notably, the statement ascribed to Congressman Jamie Raskin regarding the destruction of Russia due to Orthodoxy was initially covered by the Russian propaganda media. On November 1st, Khaindrava’s post on the same topic with an emphasis on the “quote” of Congressman Ruskin was shared by Georgian pro-governmental media outlets Imedi, POSTV, PIA.GE, Media Holding “Kvira”, news agency “info 9“, and Lider.ge in a coordinated manner.
None of the above-mentioned media outlets has verified whether the statement indeed belongs to Congressman Raskin or not, and Khaindrava, along with the appeal to Kelly Degnan, manipulates with religious topics and, using a false statement, links Russia’s intervention in Ukraine to Orthodoxy. The coordinated, unverified distribution of Khandrava’s tweets by media outlets with pro-governmental editorial policies reinforces the idea that the US is fighting Russia because of Orthodoxy, which contributes to the amplification of anti-US sentiments.
In order to discredit US Ambassador Kelly Degnan, pro-governmental actors have been disseminating anti-Western narratives in the past as well. For more information, see the article prepared by “Myth Detector”:
A statement ascribed to Congressman Jamie Raskin was fact-checked by Myth Detector on November 1st, revealing that the disinformation was disseminated among Georgian pro-Kremlin media outlets “Alt-Info” and “Georgia and World“, as well as the pro-governmental Facebook page “Ar Agarevinebt” and the Russian propaganda media outlets such as Russia Today, Ura.ru, Московский комсомолец and Взгляд.
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