Kiev thinks Imperialism is within Russian DNA

 January 31 , 2017 -  FRN -

 Politnavigator -  translated by Inessa Sinchougova   

 

In Kiev, a presentation took place for the book titled "Words and wars: Ukraine in the fight against Kremlin propaganda" - a review of the Ukrainian experience of combating Russian propaganda and disinformation.

The publication was prepared by the NGO Internews-Ukraine with the support of the EU and Soros Foundation "Revival" , on the basis of research and interviews with representatives of such Ukrainian organizations as "Detector Media", StopFake and others.

One of the main messages of the book is the alleged kinship of Russian and Soviet propaganda.

"Russian propaganda is not an invention of the recent past. It has deep roots, which can be traced at least from Soviet times, "the authors assert.

According to them, unlike the Soviet one, the goal of Russian propaganda "is not to provide own narrative, but also to weaken existing democratic narratives of Western societies."

In addition, "Russian propaganda, uses a specific discourse that has a clear semi-militaristic tone and is aimed at winning the war. "

The Ukrainian authors explain that the term "Russian propaganda" in the title of the book has been replaced by "Kremlin propaganda" for political reasons, to underline that they are fighting not with Russia, but with the Kremlin. Nevertheless, the creators recognize, in Russia there is the problem of  "imperial mentality at the genetic level".

"When we were working on the text and then on the cover, we had long discussions. As a result, we came to the fact that in order not to victimize everything Russian, we will call it "Kremlin propaganda". We can say that this is our inner working term. We understand that there are certain structures and verticals that control this machine. On the other hand, whether we want to accept it or not, there is still a certain imperial mentality in which these narratives are sewn into Russian DNA."- said the director of the NGO "Internews Ukraine" Andrei Kulakov.

The book has recommendations for the Ukrainian authorities, in particular the proposal to start financing counter-propaganda, to restrict the activities of Russian media, to support "correct" journalists, and also to admit that the employees of "Russian propaganda information resources are not journalists", and therefore not allow them to participate in events, which are held for journalists, and not to provide accreditation and access to information.

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Inessa Sinchougova is an Editor and Journalist at FRN, as well as a research fellow and translator of the Belgrade based think-tank, the Center for Syncretic Studies. She was educated at Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), in the field of Political Science and was previously employed in Marketing and Communications Strategy for a Multi-National Corporation. She runs a popular YouTube channel for translations of key Russian Foreign Policy figures and appears regularly on other alternative media channels. Currently, she is attempting to migrate to Dtube, but the platform is having some issues! If you like her work, you can support her Patreon here.