Propaganda and disinformation are an important component of the hybrid war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine and the West for many years, but democratic countries have so far done little to counter these weapons.
This was discussed at the Truth of Justice conference, which was held on Saturday in Berlin, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
British writer and journalist, senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University Peter Pomerantsev (who has Ukrainian roots) believes that democratic European countries are in a certain form of war with Russia – political, hybrid, nonlinear, whatever you want to call it. The Russians, for their part, clearly believe that the Europeans are at war with them.
« But we have not officially adopted such a policy. And until this is done, you cannot begin to do anything. So we must admit that we are in a state of conflict … before the green light is given, and governments will start to act really on a large scale, will make it a priority, saying that deterring Russia and its allies is the challenge of a generation, and they will do it… At the moment, there is absolutely no desire to do anything like that» , – scolded Pomerantsev.
He also believes that simply convincing those who like Putin's propaganda, teaching them media literacy, citing the results of fact-checking, talking about noble liberal ideals – all this will have no effect. Such people will reject everything, deny reality. In Russia, the majority of people whom Putin has allowed to show their worst “selves”, releasing their darkest emotions, do not want any democratic changes at all, the journalist is convinced. “People do not want facts, they are not interested in them”, – he made a “diagnosis” not only for Russians, but also for everyone who easily consumes Russian narratives. The only possibility for change – is to break the “emotional connection” with the people with their leader, then they will stop following him.
The fact that this is not Putin's war, but a Russian war, because the Russians have an imperial mindset, was also spoken by the Ukrainian historian and journalist from «Detector Media» Yegor Brailyan. Such thinking is inherent not only to «ordinary Russians», but also to those who call themselves the liberal opposition, shift all the blame onto the bad Putin and dream of a «wonderful Russia of the future» from abroad.
Brailian noted that the new axis Russia-China-DPRK-Iran is united, although its parts have different national interests; but they are united by an anti-Western approach and a desire to humiliate the West, to defeat it. The expert called on democratic states to unite in their efforts, not only in their own countries, but also to confront Russian narratives around the world.
How powerful these narratives are on the African continent was told by the well-known independent journalist from Nigeria, Philip Obaji, who investigates the facts of crimes against humanity committed by Russian mercenaries on the Black Continent. According to him, «Russia says that it is the answer to Africa's problems, not the West… which colonized the continent». At the same time, the journalist admitted that Western countries often give Moscow a reason to take the initiative in their own hands, because they behave passively. Obaji also noted that Russia wants Africans to continue to live in fear, so that they are afraid to live in their countries and embark on a dangerous journey to Europe, creating migration crises. Russians are persistently promoting their culture, education, and narratives.
A journalist from the German investigative resource CORRECTIV, Alexei Gok, spoke about how inventive the Russian Federation can be in spreading lies. He showed very intricate schemes of how Russian «experts» organized the «Double» campaign, creating pages with their messages that looked similar to authentic Western well-known publications.
«The path to justice begins with the truth» – this phrase was often heard in the speeches of more than 30 experts in the field of media, political science and arts.
The conference participants were addressed via video link by Doctor of Philosophy and artist Olena Apchel, who joined the army, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Nariman Dzhelal, and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba. They called on Western societies, including Germany, to be more decisive and fearless in confronting lies and disinformation from Russia.
Eva Jakubowska, the conference curator, read out the names of dozens of journalists killed by Russia in Ukraine at the beginning of the event.
The large-scale conference, the first of its kind, was organized by the Berlin NGO «Viche», the Ukrainian Institute, and the Kyiv School of Economics with the support of the German Foreign Ministry.