Minister: “Journalists should critically deal with Kremlin disinformation”

Foreign Minister of Russian Federation Lavrov at Saturday April 14 made a remarkable statement related to the Skripal poisoning.

This blogpost shows that Western media copied disinformation and half truth told by the Russian minister without doing some basic factchecks. The post also shows a statement by Dutch Foreign Minister Blok addressing journalist to be critical to information from Kremlin.

Lavrov April 14 press conference

Lavrov stated  that traces of the toxic chemical BZ were found in samples which were analysed by a Swiss lab on request by OPCW. The chemical was in the arsenal of the armed forces of the US, Britian and other NATO countries. The Sovjet Union and Russia did not develop nor storage the BZ chemical. Traces of the A-234 nerve agent, group of compounds referred to as Novichok agents, were also found in the samples. Experts concluded that the significantly high concentration of A-234 which were found would undoubtedly lead to a fatal outcome. The fact that Yulia Skripal and a police officer have been released from hospital, the clinical picture is corresponding more with BZ poisoning. None of these factors, or anything about BZ, is mentioned in the final report that was submitted by the OPCW.

This statement is contrary to the findings of both UK laboratory Porton Down and the OPCW. OPCW reported at April 12

The results of the analysis by the OPCW designated laboratories of environmental and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW team confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury and severely injured three people.

Not heard in the video shown below,  Lavrov also stated  :

“We, as you understand, have abilities to receive confidential information. And as this information concerns questions of life and death, we won’t keep this information secret”

The Swiss lab Lavrov mentioned is the Spiez Laboratory. This facility is a Swiss state research center controlled by the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection and, ultimately, by the country’s defense minister. The lab is also an internationally recognized center of excellence in the field of the nuclear, biological, and chemical protection and is one of the five centers permanently authorized by the OPCW.

 

Western media reporting about the statement

The statements by Lavrov were quickly reported by Russian media like RT and Sputnik. RT in the afternoon of April 14 wrote ‘Lavrov: Swiss lab says ‘BZ toxin’ used in Salisbury, not produced in Russia, was in US & UK service‘ . The first line reads ‘The substance used on Sergei Skripal was an agent called BZ, according to Swiss state Spiez lab, the Russian foreign minister said’.

All major Western media reported a couple of hours later on this news. One of the first reports was by Mirror (April 14, 16:04). Reuters reported hours later at 8:32 PM ‘Russia’s Lavrov says Skripals may have been poisoned by substance Russia never made‘

 

Response by Swiss Spiez laboratory.

However none of the media did some basic factchecking. Such a  factcheck could easily be done by looking at the Twitter account of the Swiss Speiz laboratory. Already at 19:28, long before most Western media published the statements by Lavrov, and about one hour before Reuters reported, Spiez Laboratory made the statements below using its Twitter account.

“As designated lab of the OPCW we cannot independently comment this assertion. OPCW has to clarify.”

The Tweet  included a reference to an April 5 2018 published article in  Swiss newspaper “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”. The titel is ‘«Kein Zweifel am Nowitschok-Resultat’ which translates to ‘no doubt on Novichok results’.

Mind  Spiez Laboratory did according Russia at the  end of March an analyse of the samples which were taken by OPCW from the blood of Skripal and his daughter.  However Spiez Laboratory is not allowed by OPCW to confirm or deny it was indeed involved in analysing the samples.

Stefan Mogl, a manager of the Chemicals department of Spiez Laboratory, is quoted in the Swiss newspaper. He worked for OPCW and investigated the chemical warfare attack in Khan Shaykhun, Syria. Mogl states he has no doubt that the UK Porton Down laboratory made no mistakes and concluded correctly the poison used was Novichok. He is so sure because a network of 20 laboratories are involved in analyzing chemical weapons, including the Spiez laboratory.

The Swiss newspaper also writes that OPCW took bloodsamples and two laboratories peformed the  analysing of the samples. It also states that it is common practice by OPCW to not share information with the party who is accused.

Stefan Mogl confirms what the British experts stated. Novichok is very difficult to make, so only a state is able to make this chemical warfare.

In another Tweet sent at the same evening ( April 14, 21:49) , Spiez Laboratory stated

“We have no doubt that Porton Down has identified Novichcok”.

 

Hours after these Tweets by the Swiss lab, media reported on the Lavrov statements, without mentioning the Swiss laboratory!

Examples of British media who copied the statements were Mirror (April 14, 16:04),  the Guardian (April 15 03:39) and the Independant.

Largest newsstation in the Netherlands NOS reported at April 14, 21:47 the news.  Initially it did not include the statement of the Swiss Spiez laboratory. About 30 minutes after the initial publication, NOS added the statement of Spiez laboratory, after I made a phonecall to the newsdesk 😉

Largest newspaper in the Netherlands Telegraaf around the same time published the statements of Lavrov. Likely Russian pressagency Tass was Telegraaf’s  source of the news. Telegraaf failed to include the statements made by the Spiez lab.

April 15 response by Swiss media

Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung again published interesting information ignored by all media. At April 15, so the next day after Lavrov statements, it published this article with headline saying “Russia attacks the Skripal investigation head-on and pulls Switzerland into the controversy”.

The newspaper reports that it is indeed likely Spiez Laboratory was asked by OPCW to analyse the samples. They have the experience and are located in a neutral country.

“Neue Zürcher Zeitung” explains that OPCW sent the real samples, blood obtained from Skripal, but also multiple control samples to laboratories. Basically in such a situation OPCW sends blank  and other forms of positive along with sample to a lab to ensure scientific confidence in results. It could well for this reason one of the control samples had BZ in it.

The translation  of this part of the article included below.

BZ symptoms

Another factcheck media should have done is some research on the effects of BZ. This video shows an experiment done on American soldiers. They were given amounts of BZ and then had to do tasks. The effect of BZ is that soldiers cannot put on their gasmask, fail to obey to orders. But BZ is not deadly like Novichok is.

 

Warning by Dutch minister for journalists

Dutch minister Stef Blok made an interesting statement  in a Dutch tv program called ‘WNL Op Zondag’. The complete program , which was aired at APril 15, can be viewed here. 

The journalist tells about the statement by Lavrov made the other day about BZ being the chemical used to poison Skripal.

Stef Blok response: “there is an continious stream of desinformation from Russia. I hope that Dutch journalists act critical on that just as they are critical on other information. There is some usefull work to do. ”

 

Conclusion

Many Western media copied Russian disinformation without even checking the statements of the Swiss laboratory and checking the effects of BZ.

Media should prevent being used as a conveyor belt of Russian disinformation.