{"id":5154,"date":"2017-02-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/europeanvalues.cz\/kremlin-watch-monitor-february-23-2017\/"},"modified":"2021-12-16T12:22:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T10:22:09","slug":"kremlin-watch-monitor-february-23-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/europeanvalues.cz\/cs\/kremlin-watch-monitor-february-23-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Kremlin Watch Monitor February 23, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0<\/strong>Weekly monitor of pro-Kremlin disinformation effort in Europe. We follow best European analysts, best counter-measures and trends.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n New Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n Two of our colleagues, Jakub Janda and Ilyas Sharibzhanov, published on the\u00a0Atlantic Council<\/a>\u00a0an overview of\u00a0six main narratives that Russian disinformation pushed during 2016<\/strong>. Namely, they were:<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Putin’s Champion Award<\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n Our awards have been recently mentioned by\u00a0Politico<\/a>, reminding us of the first winner from January \u2013 Marine LePen.<\/p>\n Our\u00a0Expert Jury<\/a>\u00a0consisting of\u00a0Jessikka Aro, Anton Shekhovtsov, John Schindler and Michael Weiss<\/strong>\u00a0regularly vote on the dangerousness of several candidates you can nominate via e-mail or Twitter.<\/p>\n In the meantime, we already have the 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0Putin’s Champion Award Recipient:<\/p>\n \n Oliver Stone<\/strong><\/p>\n For helping Putin’s dictatorship by blaming the war in Ukraine on the United States and absurdly claiming Washington did it to \u201ckeep the concept of NATO alive\u201d.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n Gage Skidmore, CC BY 3.0<\/p>\n The Expert Jury ranked his Putin-supportive job with<\/p>\n 2,4<\/strong><\/p>\n (out of 5) mark.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Weekly update on Kremlin disinformation efforts<\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n Food for Thought from the Munich Security Conference Foundation<\/strong><\/p>\n The Munich Security Conference Foundation published an\u00a0annual\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0about the state of international security<\/strong>\u00a0titled \u201cPost-Truth, Post-West, Post-Order?\u201d Alarmingly, according to the analysis,\u00a0the number of people living in democracies and believing in authoritarian solutions increases<\/strong>. This is only highlighted by the fact that Russia and China, two countries representing authoritarianism in the modern world, ranked very high on the scale comparing budgets and social media reach of state-funded public international broadcasters.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Kremlin’s lies about killing civilians in Syria disproved<\/strong><\/p>\n According to the new report called \u201cBreaking Aleppo<\/a>\u201d published by the Atlantic Council, Russian forces bombed Syrian hospitals, using incendiary munitions and cluster bombs. The Syrian troops also used chlorine gas a lot more than\u00a0believed<\/a>. Furthermore, these revelations are enhanced by the MSC report mentioned above, which states that only 20 % of air strikes in Syria in 2016 were targeted at Daesh\/ISIS.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n In the\u00a0documentary<\/a>\u00a0called \u201cPutins Kalter Krieg\u201d broadcasted by the ZDFzoom, the defector \u201cIgor\u201d from FSB speaks in an interview about\u00a0how Russia wants to destabilize the Western countries<\/strong>. According to the BfV director Hans-Georg Maa\u00dfen, the FSB support the flow of Islamists to Germany.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Estonian Information Board<\/strong>\u00a0published a second overview of\u00a0International Security and Estonia<\/a>. It is mostly focused on activities of the Russian Federation. The report describes Russian influence operations and the main narratives it spreads in the Baltic states. It also mentions the harassment of European diplomats in Moscow and the very actual topic \u2013 cyber attacks.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n NATO far from obsolete<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite recent claims of both Russian and American leaders, it seems that a lot of European citizens still considers NATO to be an important organization for ensuring their safety. Russians, on the other hand, perceive the organization mostly as a threat. Find out more details in the results of the opinion polls conducted by\u00a0Gallup<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n \n \n Scientists as tools of propaganda<\/strong><\/p>\n Report about British academics visiting Crimea in order to carry out excavations linked with the Crimean War and develop \u201carchaeological tourism\u201d and promising a joint project with the Bristol University appeared in Russian media recently, for example in\u00a0RIA Novosti<\/a>. The information seems to be\u00a0manipulated<\/a>\u00a0since the University denied any connection to the three men. None of them is currently employed by the institution. Such kind of cooperation between the University and Russia would breach Ukrainian law as well as the UN sanctions.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Euroatlantic experts on disinformation warfare<\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n Even though Donald Trump has criticised almost everyone so far, he always finds words to defend the Russian president. Watch\u00a0Garry Kasparov<\/strong>\u00a0explain the relationship between the two leaders for\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Steven L. Hall<\/strong>, formerly working in the CIA managing Russian operations,\u00a0explains<\/a>\u00a0why it is so problematic to share intelligence with the Russian Federation even in the apparently commonly beneficial areas like organized crime or counter-terrorism.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Samanth Subramanian<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0Wired<\/a>\u00a0has taken a look at the lives and motivations od Macedonian teenagers making money by publishing pro-Trump disinformation online.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n Kremlin Watch is looking for interns!<\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n We are looking for new colleagues to start an internship in the Kremlin Watch programme in our think-tank. The main requirements are: interest in the study of disinformation campaigns and security policy, knowledge of European media and institutional environments, and a perfect knowledge of English. Find out the details on our\u00a0website<\/a>. The deadline for submitting the application is March 3rd<\/sup>\u00a02017.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Kremlin Watch Reading Suggestion<\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n Russia and Central and Eastern Europe: Means of Pressure<\/a>\u00a0and Channels of Influence<\/a>;<\/strong><\/p>\n by Pavel Baev, published by the Russie.Nei.Visions<\/strong><\/p>\n Since the annexation of Crimea, Russia has been shifting its influence operations from Western Europe towards East-Central Europe, where it has increased its economical, political and military pressure. Russia has used various instruments in order to boost its influence in the region, but none of them can be marked as successful.<\/p>\n Using energy as leverage is not a functional policy for Russia anymore due to the shifts in the global energy market and Russia\u2019s lack of success in negotiations. As for strategic allies, Putin did find new friends in the region recently, however, they are not so interested in breaking the EU apart as he would like them to be. On top of that, it has become harder for Russia to use money as a way of influence given its bad economic situation. The massive propaganda and disinformation campaigns caught Europe by surprise, but it managed to propose effective countermeasures. Russian military pressure, especially in the Baltics, met with NATO\u2019s determined stance to protect its allies.<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\n
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