Ukraine, US, EU fight Russian propaganda

The government has launched a counter-messaging campaign against Russian propaganda, and officials are continuing to monitor the work of pro-Kremlin media representatives who are using their access in Kyiv to spread distortions and falsehoods.

According to media experts, these initiatives are crucial, as Russian journalists distort information about the situation in Ukraine, taking words out of context to manipulate the facts and mislead the audience.

“In my opinion, we cannot call them journalists, because when we call them journalists, we begin to perceive them as journalists, but they are propagandists,” Eugene Hlibovytsky, media expert and head of the Pro.mova think tank, which studies strategy development, analysis and communications, told SETimes.

“None of the Russian TV channels represent a media outlet in the normal sense,” he said. “We perceive them as media, because they have media attributes: studio, live broadcasts and so on. They produce toxic content. If a restaurant chef prepares poison, we would not call it food, because it does not match the accepted standards.” Despite ongoing Russian aggression, Ukrainian authorities were loyal to Ukraine-based Russian journalists until recently. However, the government was forced to reconsider its position.

In mid-February, deputies of the Verkhovna Rada abolished accreditation to several journalists from Kremlin-controlled Russian TV channels and newspapers that have been covering the government and politics in Ukraine.

“In fact, today Russian journalists go into the government buildings, record Ukrainian politicians, and then do the stories and use it in the information war against Ukraine,” Victoria Syumar, chairman of the parliament’s Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Policy, told the Verkhovna Rada.

According to Syumar, several Ukrainian journalists complained to the parliamentary committee about the work of Russian colleagues. Yulia Yanchar-Zahakailo, a reporter with Ukraine’s STB channel, who covers the Verkhovna Rada, helped to initiate the cancellation of accreditation for Russian journalists.

“It all started last spring, during the Crimea annexation,” Yanchar-Zahakailo told SETimes. “Russian journalists removed channel labels from their microphones and began to walk around the parliament. They did exclusive interviews of the marginal pro-Russian deputies, such as Oleg Tsarev [now the parliament speaker of the self-proclaimed Confederation of Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republic Republics] and presented their point of view as the position of the official authorities.”

Yanchar-Zahakailo added that Russian media brazenly distort information about the situation in Ukraine and “lies openly without any hesitation.”

“It is not just a lie, it is a whole strategy, the real propaganda,” Yanchar-Zahakailo said. “For example, journalists from Russia 24 can stand on a background of the Cabinet of Ministries and say that this building is occupied by people who were elected by radicals on Maidan and now they dictate the rules of life to all of Ukraine. They can simply cut words out of context and completely change the meaning of what the source says.”

On February 25th, Ukraine’s Security Service arrested and deported to Russia two journalists from the Russian channels NTV and Channel One. According to the secret service, these journalists were engaged in anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

Russian officials disagreed.

“Any steps, and there were so many from the Ukrainian authorities, directed at obstruction of the lawful journalistic activities is the position of breach of an international obligations,” Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, told Interfax news agency.

Experts said Ukraine was forced to take such steps to fight Russian propaganda.

“We cannot compete with Russian propaganda. It is a mechanism with a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars. Let’s look, for example, at Russia Today. This international channel has a budget of $300 million,” Taras Berezovets, political analyst and director of the strategic consulting firm Berta Communications, told SETimes.

According to Berezovets, it is important for Ukraine to inform Russians and the Russian-speaking population in other countries about the “real” situation in Ukraine.

“We need to involve in the process Ukrainian friends: liberal Russians, who have the authority, the so-called opinion leaders, singers and actors,” Berezovets said. “They can help us to loosen public opinion in Russia. We also need to work more actively with the Russian social networks: Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte, which are very popular among Russians and the Russian-speaking population.”

Experts said the government is already making progress in this direction. The Ministry of Information Policy has created an “Internet Army” to fight Russian propaganda. “Internet soldiers” are telling the truth about ongoing events by participation in Russian forums and social networks, where users discuss the situation in Ukraine.

“You may know that Russia’s war against Ukraine is a ‘hybrid’,” the Ukraine Information Army’s website said. “This is because the war is real but information about it is false. There are a lot of fronts opened against us and the information front is one of the most important. In a year we have created a strong army, which courageously protects us in Donbas. Now it is time to fight back Russian occupants on the information front.”

“It is positive that the government is trying to solve the problem of propaganda. Without it, we will lose,” Yanchar-Zahakailo said.

Ukraine’s Western allies are also taking measures against Russian propaganda.

“We’re working with the Broadcasting Board of Governors [BBG] to ramp up efforts to counter lies with truth,” Victoria Nuland, the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs said during testimony on Ukraine before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on March 4th. “This year, the BBG is committing $23.2 million to Russian-language programming, a 49 percent increase over FY14, and is requesting an additional $15.4 million for FY16.”

Berezovets said the EU has also “decided to create a Russian-language channel for Russians, Ukrainians, as well as residents of the Baltic countries.”

He said the new project, financed by European Commission, will be “a good mechanism for counter-propaganda of Russia Today.”

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