Tag "EU"
The Netherlands and Poland are to launch a Russian-language news agency in order to counter Russian propaganda. Bert Koenders, the Dutch foreign minister, told press in Brussels on Monday (20 July) the project will “give the tools and the capacities for Russian language [media] and Russian social media to work on the basis of objective information … with the exchange of different viewpoints”. Grzegorz Schetyna, his Polish counterpart, said it…
Russian propaganda influences not only Russia’s neighbours but also the European Union, writes Grigory Mesezhnikov, the director of the Slovakia-based Institute for Public Affairs, specially for charter97.org. One of the directions of foreign expansion of the current Russian regime – apart from the ongoing military aggression against Ukraine and systematic pressure on the countries of the former Soviet Union with the aim to prevent a rapprochement with Europe – has…
London-based bank Barclays has frozen the accounts of major state-run Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya, in a move that may be tied to Britain’s sanctions on its firebrand chief, Dmitry Kiselyov, news agency RIA Novosti reported Monday. Barclays has not issued an official statement saying it has frozen the accounts, but an unnamed bank representative told RIA that the accounts had been frozen and that an official announcement would be forthcoming. When contacted for comment by The Moscow Times, the bank said that it…
Larry King’s back on the air, beaming his high-octane brand of talk to households around the world. Where can you catch him? Kremlin-backed television. Moscow wants you to pay better attention to what it’s saying, and to better reach your eyes and ears it’s spending around a half-billion dollars a year and carrying top-name talent like King and former governor and professional wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Worried that the Russian message is getting through, Western countries are pushing back, including with a proposed “action…
The Kremlin’s propaganda machine has been disrupting public discourse in the European Union not only through media outlets like RT and Sputnik, but also by luring European journalists, analysts, and even popular actors to support Russia’s stance. Elena Servettaz identifies several Putin apologists in the French media. Last week, Russian Facebook was buzzing with news of the resignation of Konstantin Goldenzweig, NTV’s Berlin bureau chief, after 15 years of service. Goldenzweig told Meduza that to do his job he had “learned to strike…
EU institutions aim to counter Russian propaganda with “positive” messages, media funding, and closer regulation, a new action plan says. The plan, a nine-page paper drafted by the EU foreign service and seen by EUobserver, will be discussed by ministers at a general affairs council on Tuesday (23 June), with a view to adoption by leaders on Thursday. It notes that Russia’s “use and misuse of communication tools” has “played…
Kremlin media are shaping the views of a sizeable pro-Russia constituency in the EU, experts and officials warn. The numbers show, according to US pollster Pew, that one in three Germans and one in four French people think the EU should relax Russia sanctions. Overall approval of Russian leader Vladimir Putin is down in Europe. But one in four Germans, especially in east Germany, do have confidence in him, in…
Russia’s propaganda assault on the West is well-organized and well-funded. However, it is also predictable, and this is its weakness. Executive Summary One of Russia’s great successes in its campaign around Ukraine has been what Peter Pomerantsev and Michael Weiss call its weaponization of information. It uses a network of officials, journalists, sympathetic commentators and internet trolls to create an alternative reality in which all truth is relative, and no…
“In war, avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak”, Sun Tzu said. Russia has taken this to heart in spinning its narrative surrounding the Ukraine crisis, leaving Europe at a loss on how to counter Moscow’s relentless propaganda campaign. Russia’s success in the propaganda war is chiefly due to the Kremlin’s grip on the country’s main media outlets, and the ease with which these can penetrate our…
The EU foreign service is recruiting a handful of new experts to help counter Russia’s anti-Western propaganda. The job description, sent out on 20 March to EU states’ embassies in Brussels, says their task will be “correction and fact-checking of misinformation/myths”. It will also involve “development and regular updating of EU ‘narrative’ via key messages/lines to take, articles, op-eds, factsheets and infographics, with an emphasis on communicating the benefits of…
