Peace and democracy requires defeating Putin’s “industry of lies” – Borrell

EU High Representative Josep Borrell wrote about this in a blog on the page of the European External Action Service (EEAS) following the results of the conference on countering information manipulation and threats of external interference.

"The EEAS has organized in Brussels an important conference on information manipulation and foreign interference with many international experts. At this occasion, I underlined the importance of the fight against Putin’s “industry of lies” for the future of peace and democracy, not only in the EU but worldwide. We need indeed to work even closer with our partners around the globe and be more actively present in local languages in different parts of the world. I am looking into options to ensure that we make the EU voice better heard." Borrell wrote.

He also separately emphasized that the president of the Russian Federation not only started this war, he also created a powerful "industry of lies" and manipulations to prevent people from understanding what is happening in reality, to sow doubts and deflect accusations of aggression. Russian information manipulation is global and operates on an industrial scale, it is one of the critical tools of this war.

"Putin’s bombs kill people in Ukraine while his information manipulation industry attacks the minds of people in Russia and globally, trying to mislead them from realizing who is responsible for the killings, for the electricity bills they cannot pay, the economic hardship they face and for the hunger that has worsened due to the war Russia started. Putin is cynically aiming to deceive people to believe that ‘might is right’; and that autocrats can get away with atrocities. Africa is one of the main targets of this “industry of lies”, but I also see it when I go to Latin America and Asia," he noted.

Borrell also reminded that steps have already been taken in the EU to protect against such disinformation. In particular, the EU applied restrictive measures against the Kremlin's propaganda. Kremlin propaganda publications that have nothing to do with the code of conduct of international journalism and engage in information manipulation were banned. At the same time, the EU has taken measures to protect professional and independent journalism both in the EU and around the world.

"Accurate information is the fuel of democracy. Without access to facts and independent media, democracy withers and elections are hampered. This is why we should not be treating this as a communication issue: this is a political issue we need to address politically, at the highest level," he emphasized.

He noted that the European External Action Service has been active in solving these problems since 2015 in close coordination with other European institutions and international partners. At the same time, there is currently a need to proceed with this work in order to give the world more accurate and analytical information. For this purpose, within the framework of the EEAS, they can create an Information Sharing and Analysis Center to collect information on disinformation and threats of external interference, which will allow the exchange of experience in the fight against disinformation and better protect democracies from external authoritarian intervention.

• On Thursday, February 9, Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with European leaders. The officials discussed straightening the EU military industry.

• On February 10, the European Union together with its partners announced that they will more actively use frozen Russian assets for the purpose of restoring Ukraine.