The Journal said in talks with U.S. officials that Russia uses online publications to conduct the disinformation campaign, with one State Department official identifying four stores that “serve as front” for the effort.
Although the newspaper noted that the readership is small, the sites play the risk of side effects against the vaccines, questioning their effectiveness and saying the US has rushed the Pfizer vaccine through the approval process, including false or misleading allegations. ”
“We can say that these stores are directly linked to Russian intelligence services,” the State Department official told the Journal. “They are all foreign-owned and are outside the United States. They vary greatly in their reach, their tone, their audience, but they are all part of the Russian propaganda and disinformation ecosystem.”
CNN reached out to the State Department for comment.
A Kremlin spokesman denied the Journal that the country’s intelligence services were at the forefront of the disinformation campaign.
“This is nonsense. Russian special services have nothing to do with any criticism of vaccines,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the newspaper.
The Journal said that in addition to the campaign run by the four outlets, ‘Russian state media and the Russian government’s Twitter accounts have made open efforts to raise concerns about the cost and safety of the Pfizer vaccine, according to experts. outside the US government says an attempt to promote the sale of Russian competitor Sputnik V vaccine. ‘
However, social media accounts linked to the four stores have mostly been removed from leading platforms, the Journal said.
“The emphasis on the downsizing of Pfizer is likely due to its status as the first vaccine after Sputnik V to see mass use, which poses a greater potential threat to Sputnik’s market dominance,” reads an upcoming Alliance report. for Securing Democracy, according to the Journal.
Among the disinformation campaign is News Front, a publication that has used international reports to “increase the risk that someone receiving the Pfizer or Moderna Inc. vaccines could develop Bell’s paralysis, in which facial muscles are paralyzed,” according to the Journal. , who noted that although a small number of side effects have been reported by vaccines, the shots are overwhelmingly safe and effective.
Pamela Eisele, a spokesperson for Pfizer, told the newspaper that so far “millions of people have been vaccinated with our vaccine after the approval of regulators in various countries.”
A spokeswoman for Moderna did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Journal.
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.