DISINFO: EU-funded Horizon and MOCCA programmes are used to spy on Central Asia
SUMMARY
The EU's research and innovation initiative known as "Horizon Europe" in Central Asia includes the "MINARET" project (Multilevel Orders of Corruption in Central Asia- MOCCA), which involves the collection of data on corruption practices in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. From open sources, it is known that "MINARET" was an internal espionage project managed by the US National Security Agency (NSA). This implies that Europeans are embedding their agents of influence or mechanisms for obtaining information at all available levels, enabling them to influence political and economic projects.
RESPONSE
A pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russia as the ultimate target of EU programmes which also accuses the West of having an anti-Russian agenda.
Horizon 2020 was the EU's research and innovation funding programme from 2014-2020 with a budget of nearly €80 billion. All news, events, programme details, project lists and more are available on the archived Horizon 2020 website.
The programme has been succeeded by Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth.
The programme facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges. It supports the creation and better diffusion of excellent knowledge and technologies.
Finally, MOCCA: Multilevel Orders of Corruption in Central Asia is a research and staff exchange programme intended to contribute to the global and national efforts of understanding and counteracting corruption by conducting research on the multilevel orders of corruption in five countries in post-Soviet Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan). All details of the programme can be found here.
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