RUSSIA: The Disinformation Wars

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While Russian soldiers are dying on the battlefields of Ukraine in droves, the Kremlin is busy spreading their disinformation towards the West. One big target for the Russian Federation now is Finland. We have been pushed to consider NATO membership very strongly. More than half of the Finnish population now supports being part of the North Atlantic Treaty. However, this is something that puts fear in Putin's heart because it would mean that NATO is coming even closer to Russia's borders. 

As a former KGB agent, Vladimir Putin knows the power of lies and manipulation quite well. This is one reason why Russia instigates a lot of disinformation campaigns as part of its propaganda warfare. By deliberately spreading false information, Russians try to cause mistrust, conflict and disorder amongst citizens. This is to make people easier to influence and to create friction and panic in the population.  

President Vladimir Putin, Russian Federation 

MISINFORMATION VS DISINFORMATION

Before we get further in this blog post, let's clarify what these two words mean. Sometimes, they are used interchangeably by media, and people around us. However, not all misinformation is disinformation. 

Misinformation is defined as ''false information that is spread, regardless of intent to mislead''. Everyone is guilty of spreading misinformation at one time or another. This can occur when we spread information that is incorrect, but we don't realise it. This can be in the form of an false social media post that you believed is true and then tell your friend about it. Or, something that you saw on TV and remember wrongly. 

It can even include things like imprecise dates and times. When we break it down linguistically misinformation just means wrong information. The intent is the factor that distinguishes from disinformation. 

Disinformation, on the other hand, is the spreading of misinformation with the intent to manipulate facts or narratives. Basically, propaganda to influence people, governments or key figures one way or another. One definition is ''false information, as about a country’s military strength or plans, disseminated by a government or intelligence agency in a hostile act of tactical political subversion.”

This can be part of information warfare that can be employed by governments to sway their targets to either support their cause or to create fear and uncertainty. Russia is a master at manipulating their own population to support heinous things like the war in Ukraine. Or, they use disinformation to try to cause fear and uncertainty in their opponents. One such example is Finland and Sweden, and their decisions whether to apply to NATO. 

''USEFUL IDIOT!''

Another thing we should look at is useful idiots. These are people who unknowingly support dishonest and dangerous causes or regimes while attacking those who criticize them. The term ''useful idiot'' came around in the Cold War to describe non-communist sympathisers who would spread communist propaganda. They would be susceptible to the manipulation and lies of these communistic regimes, without fully understanding the atrocities of communism. 

Useful idiots are a key part of any good information war. They help to spread the propaganda and to add some credibility to the cause. Often, this creates a dangerous combination. Thankfully, with modern technology and some good old debunking we can often poke holes in these disinformation campaigns. 

FAKE MISSILES ON THE BORDER? 


This video started circulating on Monday evening that shows Russian K-300P Bastion Costal Defense Missile Systems being moved towards the Finnish border. The video was shot from an Aris petrol station, which we can geolocate by the street sign on the highway. 

The video makes a point to show this sign with the capital of Finland, Helsinki

By showing military equipment being transferred towards the border, Russia is trying to intimidate Finland into making a negative decision to joining NATO. 

As we can see, yesterday Colonel Petteri Kajanmaa, who is the Commander of the Warfare Department at the Military University, released a tweet that informed that this military equipment was moved as part of a military exercise. This  was announced by the Russian government on 5th April. However, a military exercise can be a pretext to build up forces on the border, as we saw with Ukraine. 

Officials say that Finland will be exposed to such videos regularly in the future. These videos can be real or fake, but their intent is the same: to cause fear and dissuade the public and politicians to supporting any NATO applications. 

If Finland actually applies for NATO, then the Alliance partners that have to make the decision will also be subjected to similar tactics. This is how disinformation works. To try to influence, intimidate and cause discord to favour the Russian propaganda and narrative. 

Useful idiots will use videos such as these to argue that we must not join NATO, or we must stand up to American ''influence''. Or, another argument can be that NATO is an aggressor and Vladimir Putin is just ''defending the homeland and protecting Mother Russia's borders.''

WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

The simple answer, ignore such videos. Don't share them. Don't support them. Any publicity is bad. The less audience Russian propaganda has, the less it has influence. We must trust that the government knows what they are doing and has the best interest of national security at heart. 

We should remember that the Russian Federation has lied many times about not wanting to invade Ukraine, about their soldiers committing war crimes, and about the reasons why they have invaded Ukraine. They are a state run by war criminals who belong in  a court of law, not on the international stage dictating world politics. 

References: 

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