Chapter 19 From strategic depiction of conspiracies to conspiracy theories RT’s and Sputnik’s representations of coronavirus infodemic Mari-Liis Madisson and Andreas Ventsel University of Tartu Our study focuses on the coverage of coronavirus-related conspiracies/conspir- acy theories published in spring 2020 (n = 146) in Anglophone media outlets RT and Sputnik that are fnanced by the Russian government. In our analysis we rely on a semiotic approach to strategic (conspiracy) narratives. Our study demonstrates a signifcant shif in the representation of conspiracies: instead of the depiction of malicious acts of secret grouping, RT and Sputnik narrate about alarming efects of conspiracy theories. Coronavirus-related conspiracy theories are represented as a means that the US is using in blame games against China and Russia, as well as a propaganda-tool for scaring the Western audience. Keywords: strategic narratives, conspiracy theory, Model Reader, COVID-19 infodemic 1. Introduction Te year 2020 will go down in history as the year of the coronavirus pandemic, unprecedented restrictions on mobility, and infodemic. Already in an early phase of the global spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, on February 15 2020, a month before the pandemic was declared, the Director General of the WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave a talk that highlighted the dangers of an infodemic emerging side by side with the coronavirus. According to WHO an infodemic is an overabundance of information, which includes deliberate attempts to dissem- inate wrong information to undermine the public health response and advance https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.98.19mad © 2022 John Benjamins Publishing Company