Today, with strong support from the delegations of Estonia, Latvia and Poland, we have sent a letter asking the #EESC to tackle the issue of propaganda @EESC Plenary Session by inviting Edward #Lucas. Propaganda is a tool even more dangerous than military actions and it has to be understood properly #isolaterussia #supportukraine *** Mr. Henri Malosse, The conflict in Ukraine, despite the democracy-related issues, revealed another very important aspect – lack of objective information about the reasons and intentions of the conflict. Military actions were accompanied with an intense and aggressive disinformation campaign during which people were shown fake imagery of violence and fascism in Ukraine, ‘plotting by the West’ and Russia’s moral and military strength in this context. The reality is being shaped by Kremlin media as Kremlin needs. During the occupation of the Crimea, Russian television, which is widely watched in Crimea, played as much of a leading role as the military by raising the loyalty of the local population and justifying Moscow’s actions. This disinformation campaign was already ongoing at the very beginning of Maidan protests in Kiev, when Kremlin media portrayed Maidan as being organized by the West. The protesters were shown as nationalists and fascists who had staged an overturn of power. Media faked stories of Ukrainian refugees fleeing to Russia by using video of a border crossing between Ukraine and Poland, and, during the occupation of Crimea, all independent Ukrainian media channels were turned off. In the Crimea, websites of Ukrainian and Russian opposition movements were blocked as well. The threat posed by propaganda is often underestimated. Heavily funded disinformation is being spread not only via media, but also through culture and public figures - its presence is strong and influential to the citizens of Europe, especially to the vast Russian speaking populations in the Eastern European region, and, at the same time, quite a few residents of the Western Europe. Its main objectives are to agitate and mobilize the audience, cause fear, create a doubt in the minds of the people and split-up the position of the Western countries (including the EU) in order to safeguard Russian interests during the military occupation of Crimea and possible other military moves. It seeks to cause a post-imperial nostalgia for the Soviet Union, together with the hatred towards the West. Therefore, if Mr. Victor Yushchenko is already invited to participate at the next Plenary Session of the EESC, in addition to his presence and in the context of events in Ukraine, we would also like to suggest tackling the issue of propaganda – how, why and in what scope the propaganda works. We believe that it is very important for the EESC to get acquainted with the functionality of propaganda today and ways of dealing with it, as its main victims are the citizens. Therefore we would like to suggest tackling this issue at the Plenary Session by inviting: - Edward Lucas – journalist of ‘The Economist’, who was the director of its Moscow bureau from 1998 to 2002 and now specializes on geopolitics in Central and Eastern Europe. And, if there is a possibility, the following persons could also be invited: - Vladimir Pozner – former TV journalist of the Soviet Union during Cold War, grown up in the United States, or - Yevgeny Kiselev, who currently resides in Kiev – former Director General of NTV television channel and Chief editor of the newspaper Moskovskye Novosti”. This initiative is strongly supported by the representatives of Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and Polish delegations. Best regards, Indrė Vareikytė, on behalf of the Lithuanian delegation at the EESC
Posted on: Tue, 08 Apr 2014 12:40:45 +0000