DISINFO: Virologists working in Lombardy are from Cuba rather than NATO
SUMMARY
This is the current reality in Italian Lombardy. Not NATO, but Cuban virologists work. From that very Cuba, which has long been an outcast for the entire Western world.
RESPONSE
This claim exploits the coronavirus pandemic to push a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about West's crumbling solidarity. While Cuba has sent a medical team to Italy, there are numerous examples of solidarity in the Western world, including among EU Member States. The European Union is taking steps to cushion the blow of the pandemic to people’s livelihoods and the economy. The European Commission has adopted a comprehensive economic response to the outbreak applied the full flexibility of the EU fiscal rules, has revised its State Aid rules and set up a EUR 37 billion Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative to provide liquidity to small businesses and the health care sector. Read more about the EU's response to the COVID-19 pandemic here. US has sent medical aid to Bosnia and Herzegovina over the coronavirus. There are also examples of EU Member States helping each other in times of crisis, German hospitals offering to treat critical coronavirus patients from France and Italy. The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) and Bundeswehr medical teams transfer Italian patients to the German hospitals by the Airbus A310 MedEvac, the „flying intensive care unit“ of the Bundeswehr. See related pro-Kremlin disinformation cases about the coronavirus.