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2026-10-09 -Short Attention Span Theater-
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Internet Plague: How Panic-Rumors Become the Enemy's Weapon
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited
by Gleb Zabelin
[Regnum] Within a few days, reports of a pneumonia case in the Irkutsk region had morphed on social media into a "pneumonic plague epidemic," prompting US citizens to "evacuate Russia." Upon closer inspection, it turns out that this is indeed an epidemic of artificial origin. However, this epidemic is not a medical one, but a viral-information one.
Before we examine the mechanism of its spread and find the "test tube" from which the rumors were released, let's turn to medical facts.
On the evening of October 1, in the city of Shelekhov (Irkutsk Region), a local messenger channel reported that the district hospital's inpatient department had been closed to visitors due to a suspected infection. That night, the Ircity portal reported the death of a patient at the district hospital. That morning, Maxim Modin, head of the Shelekhov district, confirmed the quarantine, and Governor Igor Kobzev announced a suspected "especially dangerous infection."
On October 4, Rospotrebnadzor issued a detailed statement. An employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East died in a hospital in Shelekhov.
The deceased was diagnosed with pneumonia. No microorganisms associated with the woman's professional activities were detected. No accidents involving pathogens were recorded at the institute, and the agency described the epidemiological situation as stable. The World Health Organization confirmed the Russian medical team's findings.
This is where the actual medical part of the story ends.
INCUBATION AND OUTBREAK
On October 2, unverified and unconfirmed reports circulated on Telegram that a worker at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute had died, in fact, from the plague.
Mutually exclusive “details” immediately appeared.
The infection was linked to the woman's trip to Buryatia, where natural plague outbreaks allegedly exist near the Russian-Mongolian border. It was claimed that Buryat leader Alexei Tsydenov allegedly mentioned that an employee of the Irkutsk Research Institute had contracted the plague.
Russians warned about fake news from the Center for Informed Information and Communications Operations (CIPSO) about the situation in Crimea and Sevastopol.
And other “sources” claimed that the employee received it at work.
The fakes were quickly debunked. It was revealed that the source of the fake "Tsydenov statement" was a Radio Liberty publication*.
In fact, on October 2, the head of the Republic of Buryatia, Alexei Tsydenov, clarified, based on epidemiological data, that there are no plague outbreaks in the region, including in areas bordering Mongolia.
Tsydenov also wrote on his channel on "Max" that the deceased resident of the city of Shelekhov in the Irkutsk region did not come to Buryatia.
The Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute denied the claim that their employee died due to a "broken test tube." A statement from Rospotrebnadzor was later released.
THE MAIN SOURCE OF INFECTION
It quickly became clear that a screenshot from a "local plague chat message," undated and without the name of the "chat," had appeared on the Ukrainian resource Focus.ua on the first day of the "epidemic."
Then, on October 2, the Kyiv-based UNIAN news agency** reported that "a plague outbreak has begun in Russia," and recounted the story of a "leak from a laboratory test tube" as an established fact. Within hours, the quarantine at one hospital escalated into a politically charged picture of an emerging epidemic.
Social media began to spread rumors, purportedly from local residents, about "the authorities hiding something." For example, a message from October 5th was reposted, purporting to come from a certain Olenka: "I work as an elementary school teacher in Irkutsk. Mask requirements are being introduced on Wednesday. The city is being locked down, we're holding on." Olenka turned out to be a Ukrainian patriot, although she has been living in Gdansk, Poland, since 2022.
The "Irkutsk teacher" turned out to be a Ukrainian living in Poland.
By the beginning of the following week, materials purporting to be "objective and impartial" began appearing online. The BBC Russian Service**—including via TikTok—disseminated a commentary by science journalist Irina Yakutenko (who emigrated from Russia to Germany), in which she "simply explains" how the plague bacillus spreads.
It didn't look like an outright fake from an "Irkutsk teacher from Gdansk," but rather like a solid comment from an authorized source.
The BBC video was reposted by the Russian-language Telegram channel "Politics of the Country," which belongs to the Ukrainian online publication "Strana," which positions itself as independent. The Kyiv-based publication added a commentary to the video, presenting the rumors as confirmed information. To avoid the impression that the report was a digest of fake news, the Kyiv-based "Strana" acknowledged that the reports of the woman's death at work had not been officially confirmed.
And then the emphasis was placed on the fact that the European Union authorities, the US State Department, and Donald Trump personally, although they did not make any definitive statements about the “plague outbreak in Russia,” are “closely monitoring” the situation.
TO THE LEVEL OF A PANDEMIC
The Wall Street Journal published an article reporting that the United States, represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had "increased pressure" on Russia over the "mysterious" death of an anti-plague institute employee. According to the WSJ, Moscow had not provided Washington with sufficient information regarding the death.
A reprint of this Wall Street Journal article made its way onto Russian-language social media thanks to a post on a Telegram channel belonging to the Ostorozhno Media holding (owned by journalist and presenter Ksenia Sobchak). The same post stated that " the US Embassy in Russia warned its citizens of the threat of plague and urged them to leave the Russian Federation immediately."
Another publication on the same channel stated: “Diplomats reported that they are monitoring reports of a possible case of pneumonic plague, a human death, and the introduction of quarantine measures in Irkutsk.”
In fact, in the case of the "US Embassy warning calling for immediate evacuation," we are dealing with yet another form of fake news—a half-truth.
A message dated October 6 actually appeared on the website of the US Embassy in Moscow and American consulates in Russia.
But a simple translation of this message makes it clear: it states that American diplomatic missions are aware of media reports of a suspected case of pneumonia, which (according to media reports) could be related to the plague. US citizens are instructed to obey the instructions of local authorities. There are no calls to leave the country immediately.
The US Embassy reiterated its standard advice against visiting Russia, which was approved back in 2022 in connection with the start of the Second World War and is repeated periodically.
But on the evening of that same October 6, the Ukrainian portal INSIDER.ua reported that the embassy had issued a warning "in connection with reports of plague" and urged citizens to leave Russia immediately. This publication, now without a link to the Kyiv website, began to spread across Russian-language and Russian-language blogs, spreading panic.
The goal is clear: the terrifying story enters the public consciousness, and widespread anxiety calls for the government to answer. Providing such a response requires an analysis of the situation, which takes time. But a delay can easily be interpreted as a cover-up—and that's not far from hysteria, since they're probably "hiding it."
As a result, history, having entered the international arena, returns as a political weapon.
SIMILAR ANAMNESIS
This isn't the first time contagious—that is, particularly infectious—panic rumors have spread. Previously, the internet was similarly infected with rumors about an allegedly imminent new wave of mobilization, complete with "precise dates" and "a million conscripts."
The first falsehoods surfaced back in 2023. This year, the outbreaks of fake news became more frequent—mass conscription for the Second Military Military Service was "scheduled" for the spring, then the fall, then the post-election period. The dates changed, the numbers grew, "documents," "insider information," and statements from foreign politicians appeared.
But it wasn't just traditional rumor-mongering—digital technology came into play.
On May 22, a fake video appeared on the RuNet using the image of Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov. The deepfake claimed he proposed "conducting mobilization" and "postponing the State Duma elections."
Ten days later, the story became even more convincing: on June 1, a post appeared on the real Telegram channel of State Duma deputy and Lieutenant General Andrei Gurulev, stating that large-scale mobilization would begin in the fall, and that "a fundamental decision had already been made."
But by that time, Gurulev’s channel had long been hacked.
Against this backdrop, the forged orders for the alleged purchase of 150,000 minibuses for transporting mobilized troops looked like a classic example of the genre. Just as the line at Verkhniy Lars was declared to be a sign of Russians fleeing the upcoming draft, even though more people entered Russia through this border crossing that day than left.
What happened next is what we've seen with the "plague" story: the theme was picked up in Kyiv, and then by the media and politicians in the West. Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of mobilization in Russia —the head of the Kyiv regime, in his public "forecasts," went as far as to estimate hundreds of thousands of new mobilizations.
On July 9, Czech President Petr Pavel "allowed" that Vladimir Putin could declare mobilization after the parliamentary elections. Western media, citing officials and intelligence officials, also discussed this scenario.
Waves of fake news about mobilization and the plague outbreak spread almost simultaneously, following a similar pattern. Unconfirmed reports are dumped on the RuNet, then become a topic in the Western press ("in Russia they're discussing..."), then prompt a statement from a foreign politician. And the foreign official's words return to the Russian internet as external confirmation of the original rumor.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES
It's important to remember that, amid the Russian army's successes in the SVO zone, the information war is intensifying. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense makes no secret of the fact that the Special Operations Forces (SOF) include psychological operations units.
NATO military doctrine directly provides for “planning information activities to achieve a cognitive effect” on a selected audience.
The British Army formulates its mission in the same way. The adopted concept of ground forces defines the information field as a separate area of combat.
In addition to outright lying, "psychop" implies distortion of original information, concealment, or the addition of non-existent details.
Both of the stories discussed share one peculiarity: it can be difficult to identify the author of the initial leak, but the point where the message begins to change is clearly visible.
To do this, it is enough to compare three things: who reported it first, what exactly was said in the original source, and what was added during the retelling.
An assumption becomes a fact, one of the options under discussion becomes an accepted decision.
For a "psychop," that's enough. It doesn't have to convince everyone—it's enough for fear to begin to change people's behavior and force the state to respond.
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Posted by badanov 2026-10-09 00:00||
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