What does the Russian propaganda war mean for Ukraine and the world? How do you fight it? Experts from the United States, Britain and Ukraine attempted to answer these and other questions at the Kyiv Post Tiger Conference. Below are some of the highlights from their talks.
Macon Phillips,
coordinator of Bureau of International Information Programs at the
U.S. Department of State
“Russia,
the Kremlin push a lot of disinformation and you nearly want to argue
about every individual piece of information, why it’s right or
wrong. … We need to do more in terms of response. We need to
actually protect the open system of media that is by far the best way
to respond to these things.”
“The most
effective way to counter the information war here in Ukraine is for
Ukraine to succeed. We can spend all of our time trying to respond to
this or that. But ultimate reality is going to drive that. If the
Ukrainian government continues to implement reforms, continues to
move forward, continues to sustain itself, eventually the reality
will reach everyone.”
“The best way to
respond to misinformation is with the truth. But the truth is a
difficult thing to talk about.”
Dmytro
Kuleba, Ambassador-at-Large for Strategic Communications at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
“Russian
information aggression is a threat not only to Ukraine but to all
democracies. … The only difference is that Ukraine is in the front
line.”
“What
Russians are doing is not information attacks or information
campaigns or information operations. They created a comprehensive
reality encompassing all aspects of their interests. When you have to
confront reality you have to create your own reality.”
“Russian
information machine is built on fakes and manipulation, so if we want
to win this game we have to focus on credibility.”
“It’s
about changing communication culture inside the Ukrainian government.
For example, minister of defense is key here. And we are working to
change the communication culture to become more available for media.
This is critical.”
“Russian
strategy is based on the use of weapons of mass destruction. By this
I mean Russia Today, Sputnik, army of trolls, bots, proxies, paid
commentators. We base our strategy on something completely different,
we base it on opinion leaders. I call them precision weapons. What
cannot be done by us, can be done by opinion leaders in their
countries. They can help us to disseminate the message. All we have
to do is make them trust. They need to have trust in us.”
Ariel
Cohen, director of the Center for Energy, Natural Resources and
Geopolitics at the Institute for Analysis of Global Security
“We believe that
Ukraine can make it as a European, free, Western-minded country. So
does Vladimir Putin. And he is scared of that because an alternative
Slavic, Eastern Slavic, Orthodox, half-of-the-country
Russian-speaking country next to Russia is
something they cannot tolerate. And information warfare is a
very-very important part of the fight that has been launched.”
“To me Ukraine is
now fighting its war for independence. This is where the United
States was in 1776, where Israel was in 1948. This is creation of a
nation. A part of it is an understanding that information is one of
the battle fields, it’s an integral part of the strategy, of the
war fighting.”
“To answer your
question about Ukraine, what this is going to be in terms of the
information campaign or information warfare, there is a famous quote
from the cult novel of the Soviet times “The Twelve Chairs”:
”Saving of those who sink is the matter for those who sink
themselves.” So, it will be up for Ukraine.”
Timothy
Ash, London-based head of emerging market research for Standard Bank
“Over
twenty years Russian interests infiltrated the West.”
“To
know your enemy is key. The Russian state knows exactly how West
functions because they infiltrated business, banking, academia,
journalism, politics in the West. … The infiltration of Russian
interests in the West is a huge threat to Western values and Western
civilization. … The weaknesses of European Union is certainly been
exploited.”
“This
is a wonderful opportunity for radical change. Countries very really
get this opportunity. Crises create opportunities, they force change.
Ukraine is in desperate need of deep structural change. Putin has
done a huge favor by uniting the population around this concept of
European values. There is the price, but the fighting for democracy
and freedom is worth it.”
Paul Niland,
managing director of PAN Publishing
“The
Russian media is acting to continue this fight to encourage people as
volunteers to come and to kill people in the east of Ukraine. And for
that reason my conclusion is that the Kremlin is directly responsible
for all those deaths. They are directing media campaign, they are
responsible.”
“The
second conclusion is as long as Russia’s media campaign against
Ukraine continues we can expect the hot war continue as well. They go
hand in hand one to support the other.”
