Disinfo: Washington and Brussels implement information war against people of Russia and Belarus

Summary

The West is using information warfare to destroy cultural and worldview spheres of life in Russia and Belarus. It is the war for consciousness. The purpose is to re-format the consciousness of the people of Russia and Belarus according to the matrix from Washington and Brussels.

Disproof

A recurring narrative about alleged Western information war against Russia and Belarus.

The claim that Washington or Brussels want to affect or change the consciousness of inhabitants of Russia or Belarus is not supported by evidence.

The EU declared that “the EU and Russia recognise each other as key partners on the international scene and cooperate on a number of issues of mutual interest”. The EU is supporting dialogue with Russia. However, the EU had to introduce sanctions on Russia due to the illegal annexation of Crimea and the conflict in Eastern Ukraine supported by Moscow (see more about relations between the EU and Russia here).

The EU introduced restrictive measures on Belarus. The decision about these measures was made in view of the escalation of serious human rights violations in Belarus and the violent repression of civil society, democratic opposition and journalists after the presidential elections in August 2020 (see more about the EU restrictive measures on Belarus here).

The US also declared that they aim for constructive relations and cooperation with Russia while at the same time stating that “Russia ultimately rejected this approach” (see more about relations between the US and Russia here).

The US also “supports a sovereign, independent Belarus which respects the rights and voices of the Belarusian people”. At the same time, Washington reacted to repressions against people in Belarus after the presidential elections in August 2020. The US imposed additional sanctions and visa restrictions on Belarusian authorities (see more about relations between the US and Belarus here).

The EU and the US are using economic sanctions on authorities of such states like Russia and Belarus to respect human rights and international law. The information war as a tool of influence is not in the inventory of Washington or Brussels. “Information war” is a term used by the Kremlin to justify its own disinformation efforts, applied to anything that challenges its disinformation narratives or calls out Russia’s illicit behaviour on the international stage.

See other similar cases of disinformation: The UK and the West fund an information war against Russia; Riga, Tallinn and Warsaw develop anti-Russian “information weapons”; The West is waging a Culture war against Russia.

Go to search

publication/media

baltnews.lt (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 258
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 09/09/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia, Belarus, EU, US
  • Keywords: Information war, West, culture, Sanctions
see more

Disinfo: The EU continues to pursue a discriminatory policy with the Crimea Platform

The provocative nature of the Ukrainian leadership’s idea of holding the so-called “Crimea Platform” “summit” was recorded, despite the fact that the question of the return of Crimea to the Russian Federation was closed in March 2014. In this regard, attention is drawn to the fact that the European Union continues to pursue a discriminatory policy against inhabitants of the peninsula.

Relations between Moscow and Kyiv deteriorated after the 2014 coup in Ukraine, which led to the return of the Crimea to the bosom of Russia, and to the outbreak of armed conflict in the Donbas region (southeast of Ukraine) between Kyiv on the one hand and the "unrecognised" Donetsk and Luhansk republics on the other, which demanded more cultural and economic autonomy.

Sep 08, 2021
Disproof

An emerging disinformation narrative in response to the Crimea Platform Summit, a high-level international conference held on August 2021 that was initiated by Ukraine and focused on Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, while claiming that the foundation of the DPR and LPR came as a response to the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv painted as a coup d'état.

Although Russia attempted to disguise its military occupation of Crimea with a hastily organised sham referendum in March 2014, there is no international recognition of Russia's actions. Several major countries and international organisations have overwhelmingly rejected this charade, including in multiple UN General Assembly resolutions and EU statements. European Council President Charles Michel emphasised during the first Crimea Platform Summit the “EU's unwavering stance: we do not and will not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia."

Disinfo: The West uses Russian protest movements as a fifth column to destabilise Russia

The West – the US and its satellite, the EU - uses a fifth column and a sixth column inside Russia to destabilise Russia and attack its sovereignty. The 5th column is made up of protest movements and the liberal press in Russia. The 6th column is made up of Russia’s liberal pro-Western elite that enjoys a dominant position in Russia's economy, educational system, foreign policy, and culture. The 5th column and the 6th column both have the same supervisors, sources of support, and systems of communication. The sixth column secretly sympathises with protest movements but is outwardly loyal to Putin. Russian actors that support and develop a culture of liberalism are usually involved in providing classified information to the West and in organising direct actions of sabotage and destabilisation in Russia.

Sep 08, 2021
Disproof

This article repeats a narrative, increasingly spread by pro-Kremlin outlets, claiming that the West is waging a hybrid war against Russia. This narrative fits into the broader disinformation themes about the West’s allegedly belligerent and hostile agenda against Russia, about its alleged plans to destabilise and encircle Russia, and about Western support for “colour revolutions”.

The article’s message is also consistent with the recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Western intelligence services have recruited Russian opposition politicians and independent journalists to conduct espionage, sabotage and destabilisation operations against the Russian state. It adds a new twist to this narrative by alleging that many highly influential top-level Russian officials have also been recruited as Western intelligence assets and are also carrying out such operations. There is no factual evidence to support the article’s claims.

Disinfo: Latvia has been promoting Nazism for the last 30 years

Since the day of Latvian independence 30 years ago, its domestic and foreign policies are aimed at the glorification of Nazism, justification of war crimes, and rewriting of history.

Sep 08, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Nazism in the Baltic countries. The accusation of Nazism is one of the favourite techniques of pro-Kremlin outlets as explained in our past analysis Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest.

It is also worth noting that in 1991, Latvia did not gain its independence for the first time but restored it after the long period of Soviet occupation. The Kremlin conducted a forced annexation of the Baltic states in June of 1940 following Soviet military occupation and the forced installation of “people’s governments”. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression (Molotov-Ribbentrop) Pact whose secret protocols divided the territories belonging to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Romania into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence. The Pact gave Stalin a free hand in the Baltic states.