Lying is not what it used to be. Consider Operation Infektion, a 1980s KGB “dezinformatsiya” operation that set out to convince the world that the CIA had invented Aids.
Back then the Soviets spent a lot of effort making their lies seem real. Operation Infektion involved medical “evidence” provided by East German biophysicists posing as French scientists and a front newspaper in India to place the story in. In 1987 the story appeared in 80 countries in 30 languages. When the US government accused the Soviets of spreading lies, this was met with outraged denial from the Gorbachev regime: how dare one accuse the Soviets of falsehoods?
Today the Putin regime also indulges in a sustained programme of dezinformatsiya through its official broadcasters and a