Written by: Zharko TRAJANOSKI
It is no secret that the Olympic Games have been undermined by Russian (and Soviet) disinformation campaigns in the past, especially those games in which Russia (and the USSR) did not participate. The Olympic Games in Paris have been the target of organized Russian propaganda since last year, as revealed by a Microsoft research. After the anti-gender attacks on the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Paris (see The Russian Military Propaganda Satanizes The Olympic Games Too ), and after the orchestrated hate speech attacks on two female boxers (Iman Kelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting from Taiwan), we can talk about a “new discipline” in the media and social networks – “boxing” with anti-gender disinformation .
Anti-gender Russian propaganda with disinformation after the aggression against Ukraine
After the start of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine in 2022, some of Russia’s propaganda focused on vilifying the West as a threat to “traditional family values,” by spreading all kinds of disinformation. A classic example is the disinformation of the Russian propagandist Simonyan that in the West they “forbid breast milk” and that my children “will be taken away from me if they call me ‘mom'”.
The connection between the rise of the anti-gender movement and the dissemination of Russian and pro-Russian propaganda with disinformation was also noticeable in our country – at public forums and at the protest of the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) against “the gender ideology” in 2023. For example, the leaders of the pro-Russian party “Rodina Makedonija” publicly boasted that the striking banner of the protest of the MOC (of the “Coalition for the Protection of Children”), was their party’s banner, with a party message, held by party activists dressed in branded party T-shirts. Additionally, the spokeswoman for the so-called “Coalition for the Protection of Children” which is part of the leadership (and a donor) of the pro-Russian party “Rodina Makedonija” – is one of the most explicit sources of Russian disinformation and propaganda in Macedonia.
Expectedly, after the opening of the Paris Olympics, Gordana Gojo posted on her Facebook account conspiracy theories that “the world was ruled by Satanists”, as well as unsubstantiated claims about “mocking the Last Supper and Christianity” – which were debunked as disinformation ( see DISINFO: Olympics opening ceremony is a mockery of Christianity).
In her posts on Facebook, the Rodina activist spread disinformation about boxer Imane Kelif from Algeria as “about the man, that is, the so-called trans-woman’, although claims that it was a transgender person who changed gender were debunked by fact checkers.
Who spread disinformation that Olympic boxers were “born as men” and that they “changed their gender”?
Unfortunately, disinformation was spread not only on social networks, but also in our media that the Olympic boxers were “born as men” and that they “changed their gender”. For example, in the sensational headline “BEATING WOMEN IS NOW AN OLYMPIC SPORT”! Born as men, they changed their gender and now box with women boxers Imani Khelif from Algeria and Lin Yu-Ting from Taiwan are mentioned, although both were not born male, nor did they change gender. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has affirmed their right to play sports without discrimination, noting several times that it is about people who were born and raised as women. As the spokesman of the IOC pointed out for Kelif, ” was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport..”
Contrary to the official explanations of the IOC, some media preferred the president of the “International Boxing Association” (IBA) Umar Kremlev to be a relevant source of information, as portrayed in the sensational headlines: “I don’t understand why they killed women’s boxing, I couldn’t watch Kareena’s tears”, and The president of the World Boxing Federation: “Don’t kill women’s boxing”. Several media reported that Kremlev would have awarded the defeated boxer from Italy (and the Italian Boxing Federation), and some also reported that Serbia will award her a gold medal, although the text is not about Serbia at all, but about the “Serbian sports club “Ushche”. The Italian Boxing Federation, which is not a member of the Russian-controlled MBA, denied what was published by some media regarding the hypothesis of accepting any monetary award from the IBA under the lead of Umar Kremlev.
Umar Kremlev is not a reliable source of information, but a Putin’s propagandist
The media that provided data on the credibility of Umar Kremlev as a source of information were very rare (The International Boxing Association, WHICH disqualified female boxers Helif and Yu-ting and banned them from the OLYMPICS, has ties to the Russian mafia and a troubled history). If they did a credibility check on Kremlev as a source of information, the journalists could come up with information that he was practically appointed by the chief of Putin’s security service and that we are talking about a business tycoon, who in a short time became the “King of Betting” in Russia, thanks to his close ties with the Putin regime.
If they also checked Kremlev’s posts as an influencer on social networks, they could see that his views on the opening of the Olympic Games, which he brands as “pure sodomy”, are in line with Russian propaganda with disinformation. If they followed his personal attacks and threats against IOC’s President, they probably would have been able to figure out that he was not a credible source of information, but a Russian propagandist close to the Kremlin.
Both on social networks and at the IBA’s press conference, Kremlev continued to campaign not only with disinformation, but also with conspiracy theories, slander, insults and hate speech, against the Olympic Games, against the IOC and its president, against France and against the West, branding them as “Sodom and Gomorrah”.
Putin’s Russia – champion in “boxing” with anti-gender disinformation
Despite the fact that the IOC warned that the IBA headed by Kremlev is running a disinformation campaign against the Olympic Movement, several media, public figures, and even politicians in Europe and the United States continued to share and spread anti-gender disinformation, wrong and unsubstantiated information, leading to sources close to the Kremlin. Such transphobic campaigns with disinformation and hate speech cause great damage not only to the Olympic movement and Olympic athletes, but also to the West, which is satanized, demonized and “sodomized” by such a campaign.
With the anti-gender campaign against the two female boxers and the IOC, Russia has once again demonstrated that it can deliver informational blows to the West, especially in its favorite propaganda discipline – “boxing” with anti-gender disinformation.
(the author is the head of research at IMA – The Institute for Media and Analytics)
