Kremlin’s disinformation outlets dismissed the Summit as meaningless, focused on Putin’s distracting statement and recycled old narratives about Ukraine and the West rejecting peace.
By EUvsDisinfo | June 25, 2024 —
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Russia devoted considerable attention to the Summit on Peace in Ukraine organized by Switzerland in Bürgenstock on 15-16 June, both during the preparation phase of the Summit and immediately after it. The Kremlin’s ultimate goal was to dismiss the Summit as meaningless, by downplaying the number and level of attendees, portraying Ukraine and the West as the aggressors disinterested in peace, and pushing the narrative that Russia is the protector of a truly multipolar world order.
Last week, we already touched upon this important topic in our weekly Disinfo Review, but let’s have a more detailed look at how and why the Kremlin tried to co-opt the narrative of peace to derail the Summit.
Background on pro-Kremlin disinformation about peace
The Kremlin has been preparing the information space for eventual peace negotiations for already some time, essentially attempting to ‘own’ the peace narrative, by signalling Russia’s supposed openness to a peaceful settlement. Already in late 2022, early 2023, Russian leadership started to pivot their narrative to create the perception that Russia is fighting in Ukraine for peace and as soon as Ukraine surrenders, there would be peace. Essentially, pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets have been systematically pushing the narrative that Ukraine is the aggressor driving the war, not Russia.
Moreover, in pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives, the idea of ‘peace’ is inextricably linked to the calls for ‘accepting the new territorial reality’. This essentially means accepting the Russian annexation of Ukrainian lands as a reasonable pre-condition for peace. And if Ukraine or the West are refusing to accept this ‘reality’, they become the aggressors and the reason for prolonged war. The Kremlin’s efforts in this regard continued well into 2023 and 2024 to sustain the image of Ukraine and ‘the West’ as the aggressors.
Disinformation narratives ahead of the peace summit
When the Summit on Peace in Ukraine was announced, the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs started doubling down on these previously established disinformation narratives. Particularly focusing on pushing the notion that the Summit is meaningless (without Russia); that it will fail; that it is a Western plot to issue ultimatums to Russia, or to escalate the war and isolate Russia; that the Summit organisers and participants are not really interested in peace; and that the Summit is a waste of Swiss taxpayer money; or that the Swiss officials, particularly President Amherd, are American puppets. Some outlets also tried to use the occasion to dismiss the Ukrainian Peace Formula as unworkable since it was not put on the Summit agenda in its entirety.
In the days leading up to the Summit, the pro-Kremlin narratives got more creative. Some outlets linked peace in Ukraine to the outcomes of the European elections, claiming that peace will only be possible when Europe abandons Ukraine, or that that supporting Ukraine will be the undoing for the West. Others tried to deride Ukraine, claiming that the event is only held so that Zelenskyy can beg for money or they ridiculed the Summit as ‘another Eurovision’.
Putin’s statement on ‘conditions for peace’
Following a long pattern of signalling false openness to peace, on the eve of the Summit, Vladimir Putin released a statement outlining Russia’s conditions for ceasing hostilities. However, these ‘conditions’ were merely a list of demands that essentially amount to asking Ukraine to surrender to Russian aggression, give up its land and relinquish its sovereignty. While this release of Russian ‘conditions for peace’ largely failed to derail the Summit discussions and were quickly dismissed as completely unworkable, the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem actively promoted and amplified them, labelling them ‘Putin’s generous peace initiative’. Conversely, the pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets also used this false peace signalling from the Russian leadership to once again accuse the West of war mongering and to portray Russia as the one fighting for peace.
Incidentally, focus on ‘Putin’s peace initiative’ became one of the main angles for the pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets addressing the Summit to push the narrative that the Summit was overshadowed by a much more successful and realistic proposals made by Putin. This was aided by amplifying some statements issued by some Western commentators (e.g. John Mearsheimer, David Sachs) supporting Putin’s proposals.
Recycling disinformation after the Summit
The Kremlin’s approach to skew the perception of the Summit on Peace in Ukraine followed previously observed disinformation patterns. Since Putin’s statement did not effectively disrupt the Summit, pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets proceeded to claim that it was an utter diplomatic failure or a mere ‘Western get-together’. They also tried to slander Switzerland as unfit for facilitating any peace efforts and accuse the West for standing in the way of peace.
Prior to the Summit, the pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets actively claimed that the Summit will fail to bring together world leaders and hence will amount to nothing. However, since it was attended by representatives from 92 countries around the globe, the Kremlin’s disinformation dispropor-tionately focused on the handful of countries that did not sign the Summit communique. Some outlets also tried to delegitimize the Summit as the first step toward peace by emphasising on the absence of Russia and China.
Like usually, there were also more attention-grabbing narratives, for example, comparing the Summit to a ‘panopticon’, or calling it a ‘Satanist ball’, or even comparing the Summit to Orwell’s “Animal Farm” or calling it a ‘war conference’.
Other narratives included claims that the Summit had no content; that all the participants admitted that peace without Russia is unthinkable; that Ukraine’s approach to peace is based on self-deception (this is a variation of the narrative about accepting ‘territorial reality on the ground’); that Ukraine will lose more territories if it does not negotiate with Russia; that the Summit violated the UN Charter; that Ukraine is running out of opportunities for negotiating with Russia; that the Summit participants rejected Ukraine’s Peace Formula; that the Summit was a waste of everyone’s time and money.
Claims that Ukraine rejected peace in 2022
Notably, in the context of the Summit on Peace in Ukraine, the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem has been trying to resurface the disinformation narrative that Ukraine rejected peace during the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in the spring of 2022.
Pushing this narrative is in line with the Kremlin’s overall goal to portray Ukraine and its supporters as responsible for starting and sustaining the war and to claim that Russia is merely acting in justified self-defence.
Already in late 2023, pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets where pushing the falsehood that Ukraine had rejected peace. Then in early 2024, they spread the debunked allegations that the West is ultimately responsible for disrupting a Russia-Ukraine peace deal because the then UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanded Ukraine to walk away from the negotiation. Now, these same narratives were recycled to discredit the Summit by claiming that Ukraine (and by extension its supporters in the West) have not been interested in peace since spring of 2022.
In terms of volume (see graphs below), unsurprisingly the pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets were particularly prolific just before and during the Summit between 14-16 June. In English, French, German and Spanish, there was a steady build-up of pro-Kremlin narratives starting in increase about three weeks ahead of the Summit. Notably, the mentions of the Summit in Russian-speaking pro-Kremlin outlets far exceeded other monitored languages, possibly indicating that that the spreading disinformation about Ukrainian or Western lead peace efforts is particularly important for Russian domestic audiences.
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in English (26.04.24-20.06.24)
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in French (26.04.24-20.06.24)
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in German (26.04.24-20.06.24)
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in Italian (26.04.24.-20.06.24)
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in Spanish (26.04.24.-20.06.24)
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in Polish (26.04.24.-20.06.24)
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in Russian (26.04.24-20.06.24)
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in Ukrainian (26.04.24.-20.06.24)
Mentions of Summit on peace in Ukraine in pro-Kremlin outlets in Belarusian (26.04.24.-20.06.24)
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