{"id":5128,"date":"2016-08-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-08-16T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/europeanvalues.cz\/kremlin-watch-monitor-august-15-2016\/"},"modified":"2021-12-16T12:21:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T10:21:57","slug":"kremlin-watch-monitor-august-15-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/europeanvalues.cz\/cs\/kremlin-watch-monitor-august-15-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Kremlin Watch Monitor August 15, 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
Weekly monitor of pro-Kremlin disinformation effort in Europe. We follow best European analysts, best counter-measures and trends.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n New publication!<\/span><\/p>\n The Atlantic Council published our<\/strong>\u00a0<\/b>analysis<\/a>\u00a0of how Russian domestic propaganda portrays Western\u00a0leaders.<\/strong><\/p>\n Together with the\u00a0Semantic Visions<\/strong>\u00a0we analyzed\u00a0over fifty-nine million articles published in the last two years to make the picture clear.<\/p>\n \u00a0New Sputnik branch in Scotland<\/strong><\/p>\n The Russian state-funded\u00a0Sputnik<\/strong>\u00a0news agency has set up a\u00a0studio<\/a>\u00a0in Scotland and prepares for broadcasting. Sputnik UK director Nikolai Gorshkov said that the Scottish \u201cdeserve to have more news outlets\u201d informing about \u201cthe world at large\u201d. Defence secretary Michael Fallon\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0that although the Scottish and English citizens are \u201ctoo sensible to be taken in\u201d, they still have to be wary of Russian propaganda. He also stated that \u201ca free press and sound common sense are usually the best antidotes\u201d, which is why they are looking to \u201cincrease BBC transmissions to the Baltic to counter some of the blatant untruths.\u201d<\/p>\n The\u00a0consortium<\/a>\u00a0between ENGIE, OMV, Winterhall, Shell, and Uniper had decided to withdraw its application for a Polish joint venture to build the\u00a0Nord Stream 2<\/strong>\u00a0pipeline. Poland’s anti-monopoly watchdog objected against the pipeline on the grounds that it would cement Gazprom’s already dominant position on the European gas market.<\/p>\n Stopfake.org<\/strong>\u00a0together with the PolishCentre for International Relations<\/strong>and think tanks from the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Moldova, and Slovakia are launching a new\u00a0project<\/a>\u00a0called \u201cInformation Warfare on the Internet<\/em>\u201d. The aim of the project is to monitor online media, look for common patterns and key themes that are being manipulated, track the changes of disinformation strategies, etc.<\/p>\n Case from the Czech Republic<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n A\u00a0major Czech outlet (MF DNES) discovered that Michal Ha\u0161ek, the Governor of one of Czechs region, had paid a substantial amount of money (over 7000 EUR) to a PR firm, whose head co-founded one of the most aggressive conspiracy outlets (Protiproud). This outlet is part of the same media group as one of the biggest platforms for Czech disinformators which has been researched by Masaryk University for using \u201cmore manipulation techniques than Sputnik CZ\u201d. This further shows how disinformation outlets could represent a profit for their creator.<\/p>\n We use this weekly opportunity to award the Putinversteher of the Week to highlight the most obvious attempts, intentional or not, to go on Kremlin’s hand and assist it with spreading its view all over Europe. We believe it is necessary to appreciate in this ceremonial way that without these little helpers, Russian disinformation campaign could never reach its present lengths.<\/em><\/p>\n The\u00a0Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KhPF)<\/strong>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that Juri Rescheto, a journalist from\u00a0Deutsche Welle<\/strong>, has participated in a trip to Crimea. According to the Deutsche Welle, the visit was organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association. However,\u00a0RT<\/strong>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that the journalists came on the invitation of Russia’s Foreign Ministry. According to\u00a0Fort-Russ,<\/strong>\u00a0Juri Rescheto\u00a0confirmed<\/a>\u00a0this himself.<\/p>\n Furthermore, he was not the only one. Among other participants were for example: Zhong Su Ha, the head of the Moscow Korean Broadcasting System office, Corey Flintoff from the US National Public Radio, Liviu Iurea from TV Romania, and Khalid Abdalrahman from the Iraqi broadcaster Rudaw. RT also mentions another Deutsche Welle journalist, Evgeny Ushakov.<\/p>\n RT<\/strong>\u00a0focused significantly on the visit,\u00a0stating<\/a>\u00a0that the Western reporters observed that \u201creunification with Russia has served a beneficial purpose for Crimea and its people\u201d. It cites Mr. Rescheto saying that \u201cCrimea now became a Russian territory regardless of whether we [the West] want it or not \u201c, and that \u201eit is now a fact, a reality. \u201c<\/p>\n It is difficult to distinguish which parts of the visit and alleged statements are authentic and which are propaganda. But to legitimize the illegal annexation by a visit which does not seem to have been approved by Ukrainian authorities is a serious misstep; regardless if undertaken by a journalist or a politician. And as Halya Coynash from the KhPG accurately wrote, \u201cWinning favours with regimes breaking international law should not be the aim of any journalists, let alone a journalist from a public broadcaster representing Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n For these reasons we decided to name Juri Rescheto\u00a0Putinversteher of the Week<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0The Middle East Media Research Institute<\/a>\u00a0put together a set of pictures and cartoons promoted by several pro-Kremlin websites and social media. They describe how they perceive the relation between Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama in a very eloquent way. You can go through more of them\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0First old lady: \u201cAlcoholic\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Second old lady: \u201cProstitute\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Third old lady: \u201cDrug addict\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Fourth old lady: \u201cVladimir Vladimirovich\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0 Barack Obama wrote \u201eWAR\u201c, but Putin paints it over: \u201eWe are choosing peace\u201c.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>Winning the Information War, Techniques and Counter-strategies to Russian Propaganda in Central and Eastern Europe<\/strong><\/a>\u201d; by Edward Lucas and Peter Pomerantsev<\/strong><\/p>\n Russian disinformation campaign has a significant effect on Central and Eastern European countries. Integral part of propaganda is Sputnik, an official Russian news agency trying to provide coverage and space for anti-system parties and politicians closely related to the Kremlin in a matter of ideology or opinions. Polish MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke who has gained 3 % share of votes in the latest elections and is not even a member of any fraction of the European Parliament is a good example.\u00a0 In recent years he was cited fifteen times by Sputnik, among other things in connection with alleged US hostility to Russia or Ukrainian hostility towards Poland, whereas other mainstream Polish politicians were not addressed by Sputnik whatsoever.<\/p>\n To improve the resistance against disinformation campaign it is necessary for the EU Member States to focus on short-term as well as long-term strategy goals. One of the objectives is to enhance cooperation with social media which are currently focusing on the de-radicalisation of the far-right audience. Similar scheme can be used when it comes to the people who became victims of the Kremlin propaganda. Other contributing step would be an attempt to publish liberal, Russian-language content in already existing news agencies as well as in the lately established media.<\/p>\n Peter Dickinson<\/a>\u00a0describes the role of international media in the matter of the Russian aggression in Ukraine in an article published by\u00a0The Atlantic Council<\/strong>. He highlights the main disinformation stories used so far originating in the Kremlin.<\/p>\n Arkady Ostrovsky<\/a>\u00a0argues in a commentary for\u00a0The<\/strong>\u00a0New York Times<\/strong>\u00a0how the West itself contributed to the success of Vladimir Putin’s information war.<\/p>\n Andrew Weisburd and Clint Watts<\/a>\u00a0focus on Twitter becoming a platform for promoting disinformation in their article for\u00a0The Daily Beast<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u00a0The alleged threat of a Third World War remains a huge topic of the pro-Kremlin websites although the first place belongs to the speculations and disinformation concerning the failed coup in Turkey and the US presidential elections.<\/p>\n For example, one of the Slovak servers\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0an article according to which the North Atlantic Alliance has been creating a narrative presenting Russia as an aggressive country and a threat, although Russia is allegedly a peaceful state and its role in the conflict in Georgia and Crimea had been purely humanitarian and in the Eastern Ukraine non-existent whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n
\u00a0Weekly update on Kremlin disinformation efforts in Europe<\/h2>\n
Putinversteher of the Week<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\nPictures of the Week<\/h1>\n
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<\/p>\nKremlin Watch reading suggestion<\/h1>\n
Euroatlantic experts on disinformation warfare<\/h1>\n
Current state of pro-Kremlin scene in the Czech Republic<\/h1>\n
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