Leaked Russian memo to state media reveals Putin’s information war strategy
A secret 12-page document sent by the Kremlin to state media has been leaked. It reveals exactly what Putin wants the world to believe about his war in Ukraine.
A secret 12-page document sent by the Kremlin to state media has been leaked. It reveals exactly what Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the world to believe about his war in Ukraine.
The memo, sent to media on March 3 by Russia’s Department of Information and Telecommunications Support, was translated by US media magazine Mother Jones.
It shows in great detail what Putin is willing to say and do to win the information war.
The document outlines specifically what state media operates should say about Russia’s intentions, who they should feature in their broadcasts and how they should report on the atrocities taking place over the border.
One section is actually entitled: “Victory in Information War”.
According to Mother Jones, who spoke with a contributor to a Russian media outlet on condition of anonymity, the memo tells broadcasters to ram home that Ukraine is guilty of “war crimes” and that Moscow “is the target of a massive Western anti-Russian propaganda” operation.
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It stresses the need to remind the public of a new Russian law that punishes any person who spreads “false” information with up to 15 years in prison.
The magazine also reports that Russia wants the world to believe its invasion is part of a strategy to prevent the “possibility of nuclear strikes on its territory” and that Western media coverage has reached “hysteria”.
Among hand-picked reporters favoured by Russia is Fox News host Tucker Carlson who is referred to specifically in the memo, Mother Jones reports.
The translated memo reads: “It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticises the actions of the United States (and) NATO, their negative role in unleashing the conflict in Ukraine, the defiantly provocative behaviour from the leadership of the Western countries and NATO towards the Russian Federation and towards President Putin, personally.
The information war Russia is waging was shut down by Australia last week when the Kremlin’s top envoy had his invitation to speak at the National Press Club withdrawn.
The Russian Embassy in Australia says the move to ban Russian Ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky from speaking is regrettable but not surprising.
Dr Pavlovsky and the top Ukrainian diplomat Volodymyr Shalkivskyi had both been invited to speak at the National Press Club.
“The invitations were issued at a different stage in the conflict in Ukraine before allegations of war crimes and bombing of civilian targets,” the press club said in a statement on Friday.
Mr Shalkivskyi gave his address on Thursday, where he called on the Australian government to expel Dr Pavlovsky from his post.
He said he was not in a position to be “diplomatically polite” when his parents, aged in their 70s, were spending their nights in a bomb shelter in Kyiv.
“I’m a diplomat. I have to play along my diplomatic narratives. I do what I can in order to play it,” he said.
Announcing the decision to withdraw Dr Pavlovsky’s invitation, National Press Club chief executive officer Maurice Reilly insisted the forum believed in free speech.
“The club stands by its principles of encouraging free speech and promoting a balanced national discussion of the big issues of the day and reserves the right to revisit this decision at a later date,” he said in a statement.
“The National Press Club is a vigorous champion of media freedom and strongly condemns the media censorship in Russia.”
Social media is also doing its part to prevent Russian disinformation.
Twitter will put warnings on tweets sharing links to Russian state-affiliated media, the platform said on Monday, as Kremlin-tied outlets are accused of spreading misinformation on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Pressure is on social media giants to squelch misleading or false information about the attack, which has drawn fierce international condemnation.
Twitter’s head of site integrity, Yoel Roth, wrote that the platform has been seeing more than 45,000 tweets per day that are sharing links to state-affiliated media outlets.
In addition to adding labels that identify the sources of links, Roth said the platform was also “taking steps to significantly reduce the circulation of this content on Twitter”.
The cyber security team at the tech giant – also parent to Instagram – said it blocked a set of Russia-linked fake accounts that were part of a social media scheme to undermine Ukraine.
– With AFP
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