Uladzimir Matskevich: Europe is misusing such category as “correctness”

The plan for resisting Russian propaganda should be related to reviewing the whole European and world security system.

At the Summit held on March 20 the leaders of 28 European countries announced about the coordination of sanctions against Russia with the implementation of Minsk agreements. The continuation or abolition of sanctions will depend on whether the documents adopted din Minsk will be fully realized, i.e. whether concrete actions of the conflicting parties before the end of 2015 are realized.

At the same time, towards the end of March the EU will start elaborating the plan against Russian propaganda. About ten experts in the sphere of communication and public relations will start thinking about concrete action plan aimed at opposing “the spread of the intended disinformation under the auspices of Kremlin about the role and aims of Moscow in Ukraine and other European regions”.

What is the further fate of EU sanctions against Russia? Why some European countries refuse to prolong and toughen sanctions against Crimea? What can the EU set off against the information war launched by Russia?

Uladzimir Matskevich, the head of the Board of the International Consortium “EuroBelarus “, answers the questions of “EuroBelarus” Information Service.

- The EU preserves sanctions against Russia until Minsk agreements are fully realized. However, the existing sanctions haven’t really made Russia realize Minsk agreements. What is the EU really counting at?

- Sanctions are aimed at fulfilling Minsk agreements. Though with great difficulties, now the parties are trying to implement these agreements.

The situation is bad; it’s chaotic. Russia is attributing its inconsistent actions to its inability to control the gunmen; Ukrainian side isn’t controlling everything in the truce-zone either. Sometime the parties are pretending to be observing Minsk agreements.

And even though the situation is sometimes exploding with provocations, in general, the truce is kept.

- Some European countries have rejected the idea of expanding and toughening sanctions against Russia. Has Europe reached the maximum of nonviolent pressure it is able for?

- I don’t think so; the thing is that Russia is alert. The information war launched against Ukraine is being spread to European countries in the form of economic pressure, pro-Russian lobbying that is putting serious pressure on the governments of European countries, or pure information war.

There is no unity of actions re Russian aggression in Europe; however, the official EU’s stance coincides with the stance of the main EU players: Germany, France, and Great Britain.

- The pro-Russian lobby and propaganda divide Europe. What can EU oppose to Putin’s methods of policymaking?

- We need to admit that Europe came to be absolutely unprepared for the large-scale information war launched by Russia in Ukraine. During the first months the EU was at a loss and couldn’t oppose anything to Russian propaganda.

With time the society and politicians started responding with adequate actions at the information area. Now Europe is actively trying to track trolls and corrupt journalists.

However, all actions are not very effective. Even in the Baltic countries, in Poland, not to mention Belarus, Russian propaganda is very efficient. Recent actions of Lithuanian intelligent services aimed at revealing the fifth column of the “Russian World” in Lithuania also testify to that.

Europe has no adequate proportional answer to a new form of propaganda.

- At the end of March the EU is going to start elaborating a plan against Russian propaganda that presupposes “correction and recheck of facts kept in disinformation”, as well as “elaboration of methods to present information in the European way through key messages, articles, editor’s comments, information sheets, and infographics, including materials in Russian”. How efficient does this plan seem to you?

- It confirms what I’ve said earlier: if Europe is starting an expert group for elaboration of such plan as late as in the end of March, it means that before that it was acting without any plan and it is late overdue.

If we try to imagine the plan that can oppose the information war launched by Russia, it will be very hard to do as it will require reviewing the clichés that exist in the journalistic community and in the world mass media.

We underestimate the power of monopolization of media at one certain language, whereas it might lead to large-scale changes in the public conscience and affect the state of the society. The actions of such media that fall under control of oligarchs can be compared to the weapon of mass destruction, and that is the reason why this plan should be related to reviewing the whole European and world security system.

We need to provide for the ban on monopolization of mass media at any language, as the information war launched by Russia against Ukraine is linked to the concept of the “Russian World” that is much broader than the Russian geographic borders.

There are large and sometimes influential Russian communities in some European countries, such as Germany, Cyprus, Greece, and Czech republic. For instance, in London more than 100 thousand out of 300 thousand of the expatriates from the former USSR are very wealthy people, who have large influence on the public conscience.

Monopolization of TV, Internet, and mass media’s accountability to oligarchs presents formidable power compared to the weapon of mass destruction, and media monopolization should be banned just as its usage.

The working group faces very serious challenges that cannot be removed with simple decisions. We need political decisions, concept changes in the democratic liberal media.

Unfortunately, Europe is misusing such category as “correctness” that isn’t described anywhere. Political correctness is equaled to censorship, which influence on the public conscience isn’t comprehended yet.

To oppose the information war on the part of Russia thoughtful road map for transformation of information area will be required.