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Issue 49 - 29 November 2016
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Targeting the Baltic states
In the past week we have seen what looks very much like an orchestrated targeting of the three Baltic states in disinformation from the main talk shows on various TV channels.
The most strident claims were presented in Vremya Pokazhet (http://bit.ly/2g7gfIT), which stated for example that “The Baltic countries should show gratitude that they were allowed to leave the Soviet Union peacefully” (in fact both Lithuanians and Latvians were killed in the 1991 restoration of independence); and that "Russia gave the Baltic states the freedom they dreamed of” (ignoring the fact that the USSR had taken this freedom away in the first place). One of the speakers also accused the Baltic states of having no independent politics (http://bit.ly/2g7gfIT).
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Shortly after this programme, the attacks against the Baltic states continued on the NTV channel. In the talk show Mesto vstrechi (http://bit.ly/2gj7qLf), we heard that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are unable to protect their interests because of their bad economic policy - despite the evidence that the Baltic states are an example of successful transformation after 50 years of Soviet occupation (http://bit.ly/K11iGM).
In the same show, we heard the accusation that the Baltic countries are developing apartheid regimes to discriminate against Russian speakers. We heard too that the Baltic states have never been independent anyway. In the table, you will find precise time-codes of these disinformation claims, as well as detailed debunking of each of them.
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Russian media commemorate the Maidan
Last week, Ukraine commemorated three years from the beginning of the protests on Maidan that led to the Revolution of Dignity. Pro-Kremlin media marked this anniversary and took it as an opportunity to repeat their favourite pieces of disinformation on the subject.
REN TV once again multiplied the fabricated story that NATO was planning to base ships and missiles in Crimea to threaten Moscow (http://bit.ly/2fuCsSO). TASS repeated disinformation about the legitimacy of the referendum in Crimea (http://bit.ly/2gvbEjf). And Vremya Pokazhet repeated the longstanding myths about Maidan being a fascist coup and Ukrainians and Russians being a single nation (http://bit.ly/2gkhSmu).
According to Mesto vstrechi (http://bit.ly/2foAqFn), there was no ‘Revolution of Dignity’ in Ukraine - it was a successful mission of the Western secret services that were aiming at the overthrowing of the pro-Russian government of Yanukovych. We already saw similar historical claims about the Hungarian and Czech uprisings against Communist totalitarianism in the Disinformation Review this month.
Two days later in the same show, we heard that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine: a claim that has in fact been debunked by President Putin himself on more than one occasion (in December 2015 http://bit.ly/1kC94ch and again in October 2016 http://bit.ly/2enbpt2).
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"Countering disinformation is censorship"
Pro-Kremlin media objected strongly to the recent European Parliament resolution about “anti-EU propaganda from Russia and Islamist terrorist groups” (http://bit.ly/2fqP0KY). Vremya Pokazhet (http://bit.ly/2fFZg2a) objected to the resolution equating Russian media with propaganda from Daesh - though in fact the resolution clearly distinguishes between propaganda from third states and from non-state actors, and describes the differences between Russian and Daesh propaganda (http://bit.ly/2gzeFPz). In Vecher s Vladimirom Solovyovym (http://bit.ly/2gMOclM), it was claimed that the resolution proves that Catholicism in Europe has been passing through a process of de-Christianization.
Similar anti-disinformation initiatives in the Czech Republic were also targeted by pro-Kremlin media. The Czech Ministry of Interior was accused of creating a “government censorship body” (http://bit.ly/2fCigLA). In fact this is the Ministry’s new Centre for countering terrorism and hybrid threats. It will not censor anything; rather, it will monitor disinformation efforts and spread awareness about them among the public.
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The Vremya Pokazhet talk show presented a summary of most of the media-related claims from pro-Kremlin outlets: “There is no independent media in the West, everything is propaganda” (http://bit.ly/2fFZg2a). This common narrative encapsulates much of the tactical messaging that seeks to undermine the credibility of any source, and to sow confusion, cynicism and mistrust. In the table, you will find a detailed debunking showing the fundamental differences between the Western and pro-Kremlin outlets.
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Download the FULL TABLE (.pdf) of disinformation pieces
collected for the Disinformation Review issue No 49
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