Infoguerre

More Kremlin lies are sowing distrust and anxiety. Russian state media claim Ukraine is preparing to invade Moldova’s Transnistria region. Recent weeks have seen an escalation of Moscow’s manipulative allegations which involve claims that Ukraine will attack Transnistria, that Maia Sandu is plotting with Kyiv, and that the dark forces of the US and the West are pushing Chisinau into a conflict. Possible goals include fostering instability, if possible, and diverting attention from the battlefield in Ukraine and from atrocious attacks on and deportations of civilians. The Kremlin’s accusations also come at a time when the Moldovan government has been taking steps to regain control of its information space.

Worn-out disinformation tropes cannot disguise the cynicism and real intentions behind the Kremlin’s Special ‘Peace’ Operation. Meanwhile, we witnessed another collusion between Chinese and Russian manipulative actions… Time and again, the Kremlin continues its cynical exploitation of ‘peace’. In Kremlinese, the word ‘peace’ equals a thinly veiled way of demanding that Ukraine surrender, give in to occupation, lose sovereignty, and accept Russifi-cation. At the same time, the Kremlin aims at misleading and distracting Western audiences unaware of the real Kremlin intentions behind their ‘peace’ talks.

The Kremlin’s disinformation and manipulation machine keeps churning out lies resulting in newly dug graves and immeasurable human suffering. Putin’s annual address to the Russian Federal Assembly was a farrago of paranoia and lies meanwhile President Biden humiliated the Kremlin by walking the streets of Kyiv in broad daylight wit Volodymyr Zelensky ! « A barrage of lies, grievances, and bizarre historical revisions in his attempt to justify the bloodletting he began a year ago » as Tom Nichols writes in Putin’s Desperate Hours.

A year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked, illegal, and barbaric invasion of Ukraine. On 24 February, in his invasion speech broadcast in the early morning hours, Putin imagined a quick victory. Some Russian military units told officers to pack their dress uniforms and medals to wear in parades that would take place in Kyiv after their glorious entry. That never happened. Putin’s assumptions have been proven wrong. Actually, it is noteworthy how he has managed to achieve the opposite of his declared aims.

In his state of the nation address, Russian President Vladimir Putin falsely accused once again the West of starting the war in Ukraine. Putin laced his televised speech with disinformation speaking to an audience of military and political elites in Moscow. He vowed Russia would not be defeated on the battlefield, and that the offensive would continue. He also said that the majority of people in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region want to be Russian and, last but not least, announced that Russia would suspend its last major nuclear disarmament treaty with the US.

Pro-Kremlin disinformation about the EU and Western sanctions is an example of contradictions. Somehow sanctions are an illegal, unacceptable form of coercion, but they also have no impact on Russia at all. This disinformation narrative downplays the impact of sanctions for domestic audiences in Russia, and creates the false image that the West is collapsing. Internationally, the Kremlin wants to stoke unsubstantiated fears that Western actions against Russia have negative global consequences.

On 16 December 2022, the Moldovan Commission for Emergency Situations suspended the broadcasting licenses of six pro-Russian TV stations. They are still active, however, through web platforms, social media or, in some cases, on other TV channels. The decision was taken ‘in order to protect the national information space and prevent the risk of misinformation by spreading false information or attempts to manipulate public opinion, based on the list of individuals and legal entities subject to international sanctions’.

On 8 February, Seymour Hersh self-published an article alleging that the US and Norway were behind the sabotage of the two Nord Stream pipelines last year. The problem with Hersh’s story is that his central claim relies on a single anonymous source claiming expert knowledge of all aspects of the matter. This one source supposedly knew about everything… Naturally, Hersh’s story meant a field day for the pro-Kremlin information manipulation ecosystem. The prime time Russian state TV news programme, an agitprop beacon, dedicated a long report to the story on Sunday 12 February.

History in Russia is a minefield. A popular saying in the Soviet Union went like this: ‘We know what the future will bring. It’s much more difficult to predict what the past will look like.’ Telling the truth about what happened in Mariupol or Bucha last year can land you several years in jail. Ilya Yasin was sentenced 8.5 years for telling the truth about atrocities committed by Russian forces in Bucha. Alexander Nevzorov (in absentia) received an 8-year sentence for repeating what most of the world recognises: Russian forces bombed a maternity in Mariupol.

Church on fire! A false news story shows how lies and manipulation are made in the Kremlin ecosystem and spread with dramatic effect. We investigate the story.
Try to imagine your feelings if you saw your church on fire in the evening TV news. Then imagine your reaction if told that a despicable neighbour had carried out the arson attack upon the mayor’s instructions. This small but provocative question captures the desired effect most propagandists try to ignite.