EUvsDisinfo: The Kremlin’s futile disinfo trash catapult
Russia's relentless war of conquest in Ukraine was the first item on the agenda at the meetings of EU foreign and military ministers in Brussels on 29 and 30 August. As their host, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, made keynote speeches before and after the meetings, clarifying what was discussed.
Discussions at the meetings and Borel's statements provoked the Kremlin- and Russian state-controlled media to spread established anti-EU narratives, mostly directed against Borel himself. This move once again illustrates how news coverage is orchestrated in Russia and how disinformation techniques, anti-European narratives and messages are used to support Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Let's, figuratively speaking, plug our noses and get some dirt out of the Russian disinformation ecosystem.
The irony in threats of a third world war
When there are formal discussions of European aid to Ukraine, the usual reaction in the Kremlin is to fire back with unveiled threats of escalation and retaliation. RIA Novosti, a local source of disinformation posing as a legitimate news agency, published a column titled “Borel Leads Europe to War with Russia”. The article has been translated into German, Greek and other languages and has been circulated on disinformation networks.
Meanwhile, the head of the international affairs committee in the Russian Duma Leonid Slutsky stated that Borel risks ignited a third world war. And in his notorious Sunday evening program, TV propagandist Solovyov said that Borel had declared war and that Russia could retaliate by targeting “Brussels, Berlin, Madrid and all European capitals” where Ukrainian soldiers are being trained.
The Kremlin likes to warn of a “World War III” and its paid propagandists like to talk about bombing European cities and the nuclear doctrine. They want to scare people in Europe and prevent their governments from supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression.
People like Slutsky and Solovyov do not see the irony that the very country that started the biggest armed conflict in Europe since the Second World War is warning about starting a third one. According to their distorted worldview, Ukraine's Western partners are themselves to blame for the conflict, and Borel's statements about European support for Ukraine are proof of the EU's desire for escalation.
Kleptocrats worry about European coffers
The European Union is a project of peace and among its main achievements is the prevention of wars in Europe. Claims that it is the EU that is a warmongering organization that tries to escalate any conflict are absurd – but that doesn't stop the Kremlin from trying.
It is true that the absurdity of the message about the “militant EU” it is softened somewhat when it is used in combination with another false message: that European governments are acting at the behest of the US and thereby harming the interests of their own peoples.
This story is repeated often. It also appeared in reactions to Borel's speeches, for example in an interview with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on a TV show with the telling title – “Moscow, Kremlin, Putin“.
According to Peskov, the governments of the EU member states support Ukraine in fulfillment of orders from Washington. This harms their own interests and their taxpayers' wallets, and will have inevitable, long-term consequences “for the next decade”. Too bad Peskov fails to mention why kleptocrats like him are so concerned about the European treasury. Such remarks are intended to scare ordinary European citizens into believing that EU support for Ukraine could harm their finances.
Malicious or ignorant
When watching Russian disinformation, it is sometimes difficult to tell which is the result of a desire to discredit the EU and which – out of sheer ignorance. In a talk show, Borrell and the European Commission were accused of organizing informal meetings of ministers in areas outside their competence. This was presented as evidence that the EU was “looking for a way to become an imperial structure with more power”. As High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Borrell fulfilled his role precisely by hosting these meetings.
Such remarks are part of the established narrative that the EU is trying to take sovereignty away from member states. A kind of way out of this false situation was proposed in the above-mentioned Sunday evening program of Solovyov. One expert, often hired by the Kremlin, who bills himself as a “political researcher” – Henry Sardaryan, said that Russia should cut off its relations with the EU, call on the “global majority” to do the same and work for the dissolution of the Union. Moscow was then to maintain relations only with European nation-states. Such messages serve to portray the EU as an external enemy of Russian citizens in order to justify Russian aggression.
Borrell's vilification – manifestation of irritation
Along with the attacks on the EU, the reactions from the Russian leadership included a whole range of personal attacks against High Representative Borel. This is again not a coincidence, but part of a targeted disinformation tactic to discredit European leaders. Josep Borrell is a favorite target because of his unequivocal stance on Russian aggression, so the reactions to his statements around the meetings of European ministers are not a surprise.
In this case, propagandists used the fact that Borel's term will end this autumn and said that he wanted to escalate the conflict as part of his legacy and to “go down in history as the biggest Russophobe in Europe”, according to of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Lavrov also said that Borel's assessment that President Zelensky's peace formula was the only viable one was “ either dilettantism or madness”.
Other commentators went further and claimed that Borel organized the informal meetings to prepare Ukraine's annexation to the EU. With this, he allegedly overcame both Austrian neutrality and French nationalism – and all this because of a “political inferiority complex”.
Personal attacks such as these indicate that Borel's remarks have caused irritation in the Kremlin. It is clear that they are worried about how increased European support will affect the prospects of a Russian invasion.
Don't be fooled!
EUvsDisinfo/ translation: Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria