Gennady Maksak:Ukraine has to start forming a new concept of information defence almost from nothing

In an information war launched by Russia against Ukraine Russia is, obviously, winning. However, Ukrainian media and civil society structures are learning to resist.

In Belarus, one can only get truthful information about Ukrainian events from the Internet. The majority of pro-state Belarusan media are trying to be neutral in their reportages about Ukraine. But the fact that a lot of Russian TV-channels are broadcasting at our territory while there is no Ukrainian TV-channels, despite the “mutual friendship” between the official Minsk and the official Kiev, affects the moods in the society. I.e. it is Russia that wins the information war in Belarus, while Ukraine is lagging far behind. What is the situation in Ukraine? What are Ukraine’s strong and weak sides in these information battles?

These questions were answered by Gennady Maksak, the President of International and regional Research Polesky foundation (Ukraine) in the talk with the "EuroBelarus" Information Service:

In Belarus you can feel one of the three directions in the information war, which is being led by Kremlin.

The first direction is designed for moulding an alternative reality inside Russia, as well as in the countries of post-Soviet area, among Russian speakers. Its aim is to form a custom of approving the position of the Russian authorities and look upon Ukrainians as upon enemies. Belarus together with Russia perceives this information which has little to do with the reality. Belarus and Russia share information instruments; the difference lies in the amount of information, which is much larger in Russia.

At the same time, we shouldn’t disregard Belarusan state media in this confrontation, in which Minsk has its own goals, though it’s not the topic of our discussion now. However, the neutral position of the Belarusan state media at this point is lost probably a tactical move and isn’t likely to last for long. All will depend on how the situation in the region will be developing in the future and how the Belarusan leader will assess the possible risks. By the way, Aliaksandr Lukashenka found a possibility to visit the inauguration of Petro Poroshenko; but we don’t know whether he appreciated the statement made by the Ukrainian President that “Crimea has always been, is and will be a part of Ukraine”.

The second direction of Russian information attack is aimed at the West, and its goal is to demonstrate the incompetence of the new Ukrainian authorities, the presence of the civil war that was inspired from within, the war that is extremely bloody and where fratricide takes place. And Russia only wants to help in resolving the conflict and bring peace to Ukrainian land. However developed information technologies and social networks are, this constructed reality easily finds its place in European capitals. For instance, the cliche “civil war” can already be heard from some European officials.

Third direction is designed for Ukrainian consumers, who live mostly at the south-eastern part of the country. Its goal is to show how “Banderov’s junta” ignores the interests of Donbas’ citizens, violates their rights, deprives them of their money and leaves nothing in return.

Of course, all the three directions are supported will the necessary resources, use all available myths and stereotypes that the specialists from KGB and GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation) have been developing for years.

Ukraine has more than once felt the effects of the information war designed by Russia, in result of which it lost international reputation and the material side of the reputation as well. Now we are dealing with well-elaborated mechanism of Russian foreign policy expansion, while information serves as an extra argument similar to the factor of tough power.

However, it should also be noted that it is not only quantity that Russia leads in, it is also quality. It is the instruments that we are talking about; and these instruments were considerably diversified by the common decision making centre on information war in Kremlin. Unfortunately, in the current situation it is impossible for Ukraine to reach such undivided authority. During information attacks Kiev had to react to the actions of Russia, i.e. to catch up. Even though National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine made its contribution to building information confrontation, with few resources it wasn’t enough.

It is important that in the situation when there were no strong coordinating links, it were civil society leaders who took upon  themselves responsibility to defend Ukraine from information attacks. Special information resources aimed at providing objective information about the Ukrainian events and debunking “fake” Russian news. Thank to that Internet has become a certain window into reality available when all the other channels provide disinformation. 

New Ukraine President and his team will have to start forming a new concept of information defense almost from nothing, anew, as the former program documents didn’t prove their workability even at the first encounter with the reality.