In a continuing attempt to discredit the U.S. and the West amid the coronavirus pandemic, pro-Kremlin outlets put a misleading spin on the news that the U.S. military had transported 500,000 COVID-19 test swabs from Italy to the United States to meet increased U.S. demand. The outlets framed the operation as if the United States was taking tests away from “suffering” Italians. This story emerged as pro-Kremlin media and social media actors made efforts to draw positive attention to Russia’s humanitarian shipment of supplies to Italy, both in English-language information environments as well as domestic Russian-language media outlets.

On March 18, Defense One reported that the U.S. Air Force had transported half a million coronavirus test swabs from Italy to Tennessee. In an interview, Air Force Brig. Gen. Dr. Paul Friedrichswere said that the mission was “a great example of how nations are working together to ensure that we’re meeting the global demand.” Two days later, an article appeared on Business Insider claiming that United States had already transferred one million test swabs, adding that further logistical supply operations were expected. According to an analysis using the social listening tool Buzzsumo, the Defense One story garnered 53,000 engagements, and subsequent reporting amassed attention as well. Despite the high engagement rates, however, a CrowdTangle analysis did not suggest that any of the highly engaged Facebook posts were responding negatively to the story.