The statement comes in response to the article "'This situation is very scary': Coronavirus is disrupting Vladimir Putin's Russia" that was published earlier on Thursday.
"Low-level propaganda by state media coverage of Russia's anti-COVID-19 efforts: presenting dire picture by quoting doubtful sources, disinforming intentionally to make public believe there're places even worse in terms of a pandemic than at home", the Russian embassy said via Twitter on Thursday evening.
Low level propaganda by state 🇨🇦 media coverage of #Russia's anti-#COVID19 efforts: presenting dire picture by quoting doubtful sources, disinforming intentionally to make public believe there're places even worse in terms of pandemia than at home
— Russia in Canada (@RussianEmbassyC) April 30, 2020
Weak and irresponsible pic.twitter.com/no8im1vcjv
The article suggested that Russia is covering up the COVID-19-related death toll, an accusation leveled at several countries by western media outlets.
The Russian Embassy characterized CBC’s disinformation efforts as being "weak and irresponsible".
The statement comes a week after the Chinese Embassy in Canada slammed another of the country’s media outlets - The Globe and Mail - for similar activities with respect to Beijing’s efforts to contain COVID-19.
The Russian and Chinese missions have discussed and strongly condemned efforts to politicize the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russia has reported 106,498 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,073 virus-related deaths, while Canada has confirmed 52,056 COVID-19 cases and 3,082 virus-related fatalities.
