Skip to main content

Democracy Dies in Darkness

Get one year for $29 USD

AD

Home

Share

WorldViews

Before ‘fake news,’ there was Soviet ‘disinformation’

A photograph of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin lies on a floor outside a courtroom in Moscow, on
Oct. 13, 2009,

A photograph of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin lies on a floor outside a courtroom in Moscow, on
Oct. 13, 2009, (Pavel Golovkin/Associated Press)

By

Adam Taylor

Reporter

November 26, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. GMT+7

On July 17, 1983, a small pro-Soviet Indian newspaper called the Patriot published a front-page
article titled “AIDS may invade India: Mystery disease caused by US experiments.” The story
cited a letter from an anonymous but “well-known American scientist and anthropologist” that
suggested AIDS, then still a mysterious and deadly new disease, had been created by the
Pentagon in a bid to develop new biological weapons.

“Now that these menacing experiments seem to have gone out of control, plans are being
hatched to hastily transfer them from the U.S. to other countries, primarily developing nations
where governments are pliable to Washington's pressure and persuasion,” the article read.

The Patriot's article was subsequently used as a source for an October 1985 story in the

1
Literaturnaya Gazeta, a Soviet weekly with considerable influence at the time. The next year, it
ran on the front page of a British tabloid. After that, it was picked up by an international news
wire. By April 1987, it was suggested that the story had appeared in the major newspapers of
more than 50 countries.

AD

The problem? The story was patently false.

A variety of credible experts quickly came out to say that the idea that AIDS had been
deliberately or inadvertently created in a laboratory was ridiculous; even the president of the
Soviet Academy of Medical Sciences went on the record saying AIDS was of natural origin. Yet
even after the Cold War was over and the threat of AIDS became more widely understood, the
idea that the disease was man-made persevered around the world.

The conspiracy theory even persisted in the United States: A 2005 study found almost half of
African Americans believed that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was man-made.

In the parlance of 2016, we would probably refer to the Patriot's front page story as “fake
news.” It's not so dissimilar to the flimsy or outright false stories that spread online in the
United States this year. There may be a shared Russian link too: This week, a number of groups
alleged that a Russian propaganda effort had helped spread these “fake news” stories to hurt
Democrat Hillary Clinton's chances in the 2016 presidential election.

AD

But during the height of the Cold War, these false stories were referred to as something else:
“disinformation.”

That term came into use in the early 1960s, and came into widespread use in the 1980s. It is
based upon a Russian word: Dezinformatsiya. According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, a high-ranking
official in Romania's secret police who defected in 1978, the French-sounding word was
invented by Joseph Stalin after World War II. A definition from the 1952 Great Soviet

2
Encyclopedia called it the “dissemination (in the press, on the radio, etc.) of false reports
intended to mislead public opinion” and suggested that the Soviet Union was the target of such
tactics from the West.

In his book “Disinformation,” Pacepa wrote that the Soviet manuals he read as a young
intelligence officer described disinformation as a tactic used by Moscow with roots in Russian
history. According to Pacepa, these manuals suggested the history of the tactic lay in the fake
pasteboard villages that 18th-century nobleman Grigory Potyomkin had built in Crimea to
impress Russian leader Catherine the Great during her visit in 1783. (Ironically, that story itself
is now considered largely apocryphal, but the phrase “Potemkin Village” remains in use as a
description of government falsehoods.)

AD

Even so, there's little doubt that the United States engaged in its own disinformation campaign,
too. In 2000, the New York Times reported that the CIA's covert 1953 operation to overthrow
Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh install Mohammed Reza Pahlavi involved
planted newspaper articles. Reuters later reported that after the invasion of Afghanistan by the
Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the CIA would plant fake stories in other Muslim countries about
“invasion day celebrations” at Soviet embassies.

“You would try and recruit a journalist and he would become an agent of influence,” an
unnamed former U.S. intelligence officer told Reuters of the practice. “The Russians did it, the
Brits do it, the French do it — it's regular intelligence procedure to try and influence a country's
policies through the press.”

However, the scale of the Soviet efforts appears to have dwarfed others. A number of other
stories have been linked to Soviet “misinformation” over the years — the idea that the CIA was
involved in the assassination of President Kennedy is one, for example. The AIDs story is
especially notable because Yevgeny Primakov, a former intelligence chief who later went on to
become a post-Soviet prime minister, told Russian reporters in 1992 that the KGB really did
orchestrate the whole thing.

AD

3
The truth is, that may be overselling it. In a 2009 issue of Studies in Intelligence, a journal
published by the CIA, historian Thomas Boghardt noted that theories about the U.S.
government creating AIDS predated any KGB manipulation. In the end, Boghardt noted, even in
the perhaps less chaotic pre-Internet media world, the Soviets ultimately had little control over
a rumor they'd helped spread.

“Once the AIDS conspiracy theory was lodged in the global subconscious, it became a pandemic
in its own right,” Boghardt wrote. “Like any good story, it traveled mostly by word of mouth,
especially within the most affected subgroups. Having effectively harnessed the dynamics of
rumors and conspiracy theories, Soviet bloc intelligence had created a monster that has
outlived its creators.”

More on WorldViews

‘Fake news’ threatens Germany’s election, too, says Merkel

Adam Taylor

Adam Taylor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. Originally from London, he
studied at the University of Manchester and Columbia University. Follow

More from The Post

Inspector general will investigate whether any Justice Dept. officials improperly sought to
help Trump overturn the election

Opinion

Can Democrats exercise a mini-nuclear option against McConnell?

Opinion

The Trump era’s depredations are still emerging

Coke’s new canned coffee tastes like a Coke — until it doesn’t

4
 Dogs are officially back in the White House

Newsletter in a Mailbox

Today’s Headlines

The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every
morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

PAID PROMOTED STORIES

In 30 Days You'll Be Sorry You Didn't Start This Body Type Health Plan. In 30 Days You'll Be
Sorry You Didn't Start This Body Type Health Plan. Health-intelligence.com

Poverty In Indonesia: Will COVID-19 push millions into extreme poverty? Poverty In
Indonesia: Will COVID-19 push millions into extreme poverty? CNA - Insight

The Disadvantages Of A Reverse Mortgage - Might Surprise You The Disadvantages Of A

Reverse Mortgage - Might Surprise You Reverse Mortgage | Search Ad

Indonesia - Latest news and coverage Indonesia - Latest news and coverage CNA

Where Do The Richest Americans Live? Where Do The Richest Americans Live? Mansion
Global

Why is it never too late to love? Why is it never too late to love? DateMyAge.com

Recommended by

Today’s Headlines

5
The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every
morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

About Us

Public Relations

Careers

Diversity & Inclusion

Newspaper in Education

Today's Paper

WP BrandStudio

Events

Policies & Standards

Get The Post

Home Delivery

Digital Subscription

Gift Subscriptions

Mobile & Apps

Newsletters & Alerts

Washington Post Live

Reprints & Permissions

Post Store

6
 Books & eBooks

e-Replica

Help

Contact the Newsroom

Contact Customer Care

Reader Representative

Advertise

Licensing & Syndication

Request a Correction

Send a News Tip

Terms of Use

Digital Products Terms of Sale

Print Products Terms of Sale

Terms of Service

Privacy Policy

Submissions & Discussion Policy

RSS Terms of Service

Ad Choices

washingtonpost.com © 1996-2021 The Washington Post