Did you know ? Russia “did not attack Ukraine”.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
This was said recently by the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergey Lavrov, when a journalist asked him if Moscow was going to attack other countries.
It’s so hypocritical that it borders on madness.
And it shows how the lies of Vladimir Putin and his collaborators are more dangerous than ever.
We shouldn’t forget that, when we in Canada have to decide about Russian propaganda on our airwaves.
Let’s start by taking stock of the situation in Russia.
Lying has long since become second nature to the Russian regime.
However, since last week, it is even worse. Lies reign supreme.
A new law has silenced the few media that still gave the Russian population the truth. Anyone who publishes information that – according to Moscow – would discredit the Russian army is liable to 15 years in prison.
Now the truth is dead and buried in Russia.
Everyone who has looked at what is said in the Russian media about the invasion comes to the same conclusion: it is misinformation.
“The main television news of the country, Vremya (Le Temps) on Canal 1, a monument of information since the Soviet era, starts each evening by saluting the “heroism and courage” of Russian soldiers”, reports Agence France-Presse.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The Russian regime, through the media, distills tons of alternative facts about what is being called a “special operation” there. A euphemism that we use by throwing the blame on the Ukrainians, on the West, on NATO.
Vladimir Putin personally participates in this disinformation effort with enthusiasm – he has gone so far as to call the Ukrainian president and his ministers a “clique of drug addicts and neo-Nazis”.
He knows these lies pay off.
A majority of Russians (58%, according to a survey carried out by Russian firms shortly after the start of the conflict, the results of which were reported by the washington post) say they are in favor of the war in Ukraine.
By depriving the Russians of the facts, we prevent them from understanding what is happening. And we necessarily attenuate their anger with regard to the regime which is pushing them to war and leading them on.
But the Russian regime is not just trying to cover its tracks at home. His lies have no boundaries.
Together with its Chinese ally, it is these days making efforts to misinform all over the world. Objective: to sow doubt about the origins and course of the conflict.
China broadcasts Russian lies on its state media, but it also spreads them abroad, via social networks like Twitter and Facebook. A precious help for Moscow since Mark Zuckerberg’s platform has decided to limit Russian propaganda by filtering what is published by certain media affiliated with the government of this country, such as Russia Today.
Which brings us to the delicate question of Russia Today’s presence in Canada. Justin Trudeau asked the CRTC to look into this case, with good reason.
We have since learned that Rogers Communications believes that Russia Today and services controlled “by a state subject to Canadian sanctions” should be taken off the air in Canada.
Why indeed would we allow a media that serves as a mouthpiece for the lies of Russia, a State that deserves the fate that the West has reserved for it, to operate here with complete impunity?
A media that responded, even before the invasion of Ukraine, to one of the objectives of Russian foreign policy: to destabilize democracies.
It is legitimate to set some reasonable limits on freedom of expression, even within democracies. And these limits, the media controlled by the Russian regime have crossed them.