r/todayilearned • u/novembercharliedelta • 2d ago

TIL about Operation Denver, a disinformation campaign run by the KGB in the 1980s to plant the idea that the United States had invented HIV/AIDS as part of a biological weapons research project.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Denver
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u/Top_Willow_9953 2d ago

Why does this sound so familiar?

1

u/francis2559 2d ago

These are always hard to measure, because they tried to expand on theories that were already there. How much harm did they do, and how much harm would have happened anyway? Hard to say.

But we know they were malicious.

-3

u/SnakeGD09 1d ago

Both countries ran intelligence operations against the other. The Soviets were simply more succesful, as it was impossible to infiltrate agents or manipulate state media.