by Michael Weiss

03.18.16 1:00 AM ET

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite was blunt about her neighbor’s aggression after it took over Crimea—and in an interview, she sounds the alarm about her nation’s vulnerability.

Not many world leaders call Vladimir Putin a terrorist and get away with it.

But Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite refused to resort to diplomatic euphemism in describing Vladimir Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. “If a terrorist state that is engaged in open aggression against its neighbor is not stopped,” she declared in November 2014, about eight months after Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, “then that aggression might spread further into Europe.”

Sometimes referred to as the Baltic Iron Lady, Grybauskaite is outspoken about NATO’s responsibility to fortify its eastern periphery and forestall any future acts of Russian military adventurism into Europe. Lithuania, she has said, is “already under attack” from Kremlin propaganda and disinformation, a targeted campaign she considers the possible curtain-raiser to an invasion of her country.

The Daily Beast got in touch with Grybauskaite via email to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Article V’s relevance in the 21st century, the Mideast refugee crisis, and Lithuania’s vulnerability as the smallish neighbor of re-militarized and revanchist Russia.

You were one of the few European heads of state to boycott the Sochi Olympics over the Kremlin’s crackdown on human rights, particularly LGBT rights. This was, of course, before the invasion of Ukraine and what many consider to be the West’s “waking up” to Putin’s Russia. What has Lithuania experienced during your presidency that made you an outspoken critic of Putin and his policies?

We are not critics, we simply call Russia’s actions by their real names. The Kremlin conducts confrontational policy, violates international law, destroys the global and regional security architecture, and seeks to divide Europe and weaken trans-Atlantic structures.For the Kremlin, silence signifies consent. We cannot be complicit or create a climate of impunity that encourages dangerous behavior. That is why speaking the truth is our obligation.

For the Kremlin, silence signifies consent. We cannot be complicit or create a climate of impunity that encourages dangerous behavior. That is why speaking the truth is our obligation.

Along with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, you used the word “terrorism” to describe the actions taken by Russian-backed separatists (and Russian soldiers) in Donbas. Obviously this is the word used by Kiev to describe its military response to these activities, but doesn’t accusing a major power of terrorism suggest that something more than sanctions is in order to confront it? What should NATO and the EU and United States be doing that they aren’t?

It’s evident that having a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council that occupies and annexes territories of its neighbors poses a serious threat to the international security system. This is the goal pursued by the Kremlin. Divide and rule is the name of the game.

We cannot accept any “new normal” in our relationship with Russia. With the war continuing in eastern Ukraine, Crimea occupied, and the Kremlin directly helping the murderous Assad regime to stay in power in Syria, cooperation cannot be built on blackmail and menace. The EU and NATO should see beyond Kremlin propaganda. The EU and NATO must have their own agenda with Russia, not be part of the Kremlin’s puppet show. That means expanding our influence in the neighborhood, strengthening our defenses, breaking barriers for trade, and protecting the rule-based international order.

Kremlin information warfare is particularly acute in the Baltic states. What is the Russian government trying to achieve in Lithuania? Is it seeking regime change by appealing to the Russian diaspora or fringe political movements here?Propaganda and information attacks are part of hybrid warfare. They seek to provoke social and ethnic tensions, promote mistrust in government, discredit our history, independence, and statehood, and demonstrate that Western democracy is functioning on dual standards.

Propaganda and information attacks are part of hybrid warfare. They seek to provoke social and ethnic tensions, promote mistrust in government, discredit our history, independence, and statehood, and demonstrate that Western democracy is functioning on dual standards.But the most dangerous goal of information warfare is to break the people’s will to resist and defend their state, and to create a favorable environment for possible military intervention. And the example of Ukraine is proof that conventional war in Europe is no longer theoretical.

But the most dangerous goal of information warfare is to break the people’s will to resist and defend their state, and to create a favorable environment for possible military intervention. And the example of Ukraine is proof that conventional war in Europe is no longer theoretical.

Many Americans don’t count the trans-Atlantic relationship among their top foreign policy priorities. What does the fate of Europe, much less the fate of the postwar liberal democratic order, mean for the United States? Do we have to fear another world war? Do you see that as a proximate or remote possibility?

Perhaps there is less debate about the trans-Atlantic relationship because everyone agrees that it remains strong and must only be getting stronger. We all have the same perceptions of existing threats. What we should do now is take the necessary defense measures against those threats through NATO’s defense planning, updated defense scenarios, sufficient and credible deterrence, rapid reaction, and smooth decision-making process. We shouldn’t just fear war but do everything possible to make sure it doesn’t happen.Lithuania has not been too directly affected by the Middle Eastern refugee crisis. There are only six Syrians living here, although members of your government have said they would welcome more. What policies should European countries be adopting with respect to this crisis? Do you agree with Gen. Breedlove that Putin is “weaponizing” refugees to try to undermine democratic societies and governments, namely Germany?

Lithuania has not been too directly affected by the Middle Eastern refugee crisis. There are only six Syrians living here, although members of your government have said they would welcome more. What policies should European countries be adopting with respect to this crisis? Do you agree with Gen. Breedlove that Putin is “weaponizing” refugees to try to undermine democratic societies and governments, namely Germany?

Migration routes can change very quickly, and all of us have to be prepared. We already see migrants coming through Russia to Norway and Finland.

Helping refugees is our duty. But it is also important to try to solve the problem at its source, use all diplomatic tools to find a peaceful solution, provide humanitarian support, engage more with Turkey and other countries in the region to fight smuggling networks, and give people support closer to home so they are not forced to choose a dangerous trip by sea.Regarding Russia’s involvement, no one can deny that Russia’s support of Assad as well as airstrikes only contributed to the destabilization of the situation in Syria and made many more people flee their homes.

Regarding Russia’s involvement, no one can deny that Russia’s support of Assad as well as airstrikes only contributed to the destabilization of the situation in Syria and made many more people flee their homes.EU sanctions have not deterred Russia from continuing to arm and escalate in Ukraine. Just this last week we saw an uptick in violence in Donbas. Also, both the separatists and Kiev seem to be underreporting the violations of the ceasefire; the OSCE Monitoring Mission typically carries many more violations (by orders of magnitude) in its weekly reports. Are new sanctions a possibility? There seems to be more of a willingness by other countries in Europe to roll back the existing sanctions regime and return to business as usual with Russia.

EU sanctions have not deterred Russia from continuing to arm and escalate in Ukraine. Just this last week we saw an uptick in violence in Donbas. Also, both the separatists and Kiev seem to be underreporting the violations of the ceasefire; the OSCE Monitoring Mission typically carries many more violations (by orders of magnitude) in its weekly reports. Are new sanctions a possibility? There seems to be more of a willingness by other countries in Europe to roll back the existing sanctions regime and return to business as usual with Russia.

The European Council agreed that the duration of sanctions against Russia is linked to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements. We are nowhere near that. Russia continues to send its troops and military equipment to Donbas in direct violation of the Minsk agreements.

The European Council agreed that the duration of sanctions against Russia is linked to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements. We are nowhere near that. Russia continues to send its troops and military equipment to Donbas in direct violation of the Minsk agreements. Therefore I do not see a reason to discuss lifting sanctions or rolling them back. On the contrary, sanctions are the only thing that could force Russia to take its Minsk commitments seriously. And if the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, all options should be on the table for the EU to consider how to increase the cost of Russian involvement.

Russian corruption has been described as one of the country’s chief exports, alongside oil and gas. All of the Baltic states have suffered, since their independence, from gangsterism, issues with money-laundering, and so on. How bad is it the situation in Lithuania?

While the culture of corruption has its roots in the Soviet system, it is something that we have to fight ourselves. Lithuania is ranked 32nd in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. That’s 15 places up from five years ago. But there’s another 31 to go…We are focusing on fighting impunity, ensuring that responsibility is both unavoidable and sufficiently severe.

Ensuring competition and transparency in the energy sector is another area where there has been substantial progress, including by limiting Russia’s influence. Lithuania has successfully built the LNG terminal, which ensured the security of supply and fair competition in the gas market. We also unbundled energy supply from ownership, which helped us to create more transparent relations in our energy sector.

Similarly, Russian espionage in the Baltic states continues to be a major national security issue. One recalls the Hermann Simm case in Estonia and annual arrests of Chekists in the state security services. And the problem is just as bad, if not worse, in other former occupied states. Just today, it was announced that a military adviser to your Czech counterpart had his security clearance taken away because of his perceived closeness to Russia. Are you concerned about the infiltration of Lithuania’s security and intelligence establishment? Is counterintelligence in general something that NATO and the EU should place a greater emphasis on?

No one can be 100 percent sure that there won’t be such attempts. But we take all the national security threats very seriously. Our and NATO security services are vigilant and on high alert.

Are we in another Cold War, as Dmitry Medvedev said at the Munich Security Conference? If so, what does that mean for Western defense policy? Do we need a strategy of containment with respect to Russia?

With over 9,000 dead in Ukraine since the conflict started two years ago, the war is far from being cold. And Russia’s aggressive actions did not start with Ukraine. We should not forget its role in frozen conflicts throughout Eastern Europe or the 2008 war in Georgia.

The only containment strategy is not to underestimate the nature of the threat and be prepared to act in our own defense.

Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/18/the-president-who-dared-to-call-putin-s-russia-what-it-is-a-terrorist-state.html

Mar 11, 2016 | by Hope Hodge Seck

As the Marine Corps looks to prepare for future conflicts and expand key highly skilled communities, the service will consider adding a new primary military occupational specialty: 0521, Military Information Support Operations.

• Analysis: The five principles
• Analysis: Sputnik vanished from the Nordic countries
• Analysis: Lost in translation
• Infographic: EU response to illegal annexation of Crimea
• Video: EU and Moldova meet to discuss reforms
• Friday fun: Sausages out!

The five principles
Russian media gave wide coverage to the outcome of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council on Monday, where Russia was on the agenda, focusing on the ”five guiding principles of the European Union’s policy towards Russia” set out by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini. The East Stratcom Task Force also made the five principles available in Russian on the EEAS Russian website.

Politically neutral RBC stresses the fact that the principles were ”unanimously agreed” by all 28 EU foreign ministers, while RIA Novosti, owned by the Russian government,emphasized the positive message of potential “selective engagement” with Russia, underlining that “the EU is interested in cooperation with Russia in the areas of migration and countering terrorism.”

In politically neutral Nezavisimaya Gazeta, political scientist Nadezhda Arbatova analysesthe EU’s messages under the headline ”Five Principles for EU-Russia relations: tactics instead of strategy.” She says that the principles “can hardly be called a strategy because at the core of any strategy is its final aim. These principles leave [the aim] of out of the equation; so it is rather a set of rules that will guide the European Union in its relations with Russia.” The author underlines that the most important is the first principle, namely ”the full implementation of the Minsk agreements,” and finally calls for the Russian government to react ”with its own positive agenda vis-a-vis the European Union.”

Pro-Kremlin and right-leaning Izvestiya reacts negatively under the headline ”EU’s five principles of inactivity.” However, author Yuriy Zolobozov also hopes to see a constructive Russian answer: ”Today Moscow can finally become convinced that it should not [… ] expect any favours from Brussels. We should offer our own concept of equal relations with the EU as a new format of values and civilizational alliance across continental Eurasia.”

Right-wing nationalist Alexandr Dugin summed up his analysis in a tweet: “Couldn’t be worse: EU declares five principles of hybrid war against Russia”, while pro-Kremlin political commentator Artyom Klyushin communicated his own, ironic version of the EU’s ”five principles” to his 1,5 million followers on Twitter: ”Negation. Anger. Bargain. Depression. Acceptance.”

Across the board, and in spite of predictable ironic negativity, we see opinion formers share a wish for a strategic answer from the Kremlin.

Sputnik vanished from the Nordic countries

We have learned from Anke Schmidt-Felzmann of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs that Sputnik Sverige, Sputnik Danmark, Sputnik Norge and Sputnik Suomi have left the Nordic market as of 11 March 2016. Observers have speculated about whether the Kremlin has given up on the Nordic countries or if the withdrawal is due to the Russian economic situation.

Anke Schmidt-Felzmann’s analysis of its reach and impact shows that Sputnik did very poorly in all four target countries. It performed best in Finland and Sweden, and worst in Denmark and Norway. On social media, none of the four Sputnik services gathered more than 350 followers (on Twitter) and never reached even 1,800 “likes” (on Facebook). Sputnik Norge barely collected 115 Twitter followers and in Denmark, Sputnik had only 515 “likes” on its Facebook page as it announced its exit on 4 March.

A few reasons for Sputnik’s failure on the Nordic market that Anke Schmidt-Felzmann cites are: its poor command of the Nordic languages, an ingrained scepticism in the target countries against Russian propaganda tools and a rejection of media outlets that rely on conspiracy theories and attacks on European values. Sputnik also failed to promote a better understanding of Russia in the Nordic countries.

Lost in translation

On Wednesday, independent Russian online news outlet Meduza published an analysis of the way disinformation finds its way into pro-Kremlin media through selective translations of foreign sources. In the analysis, Meduza shows how statements by Western leaders and experts are tweaked by pro-Kremlin media to lay the ground for misleading headlines, such as: “Obama disappointed with CBS journalist’s words about Putin’s leadership;” “US Vice President names Ukraine the most corrupt country in the world;” “Soros admits that without the help of Russia, the European Union will collapse;” “Cameron forced to excuse statement about the crash of MH17;” and finally, “The US fears the success of Russian TV channels.”
Just like in the EEAS’ Disinformation Review, Meduza’s article presents disproof of the misleading translations in the form of accurate translations of the statements. For example, in the story about the alleged success of Russian TV Channels, pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestiya had removed a central part of the quote from the expert, namely the claim that pro-Kremlin media lie – in the original statement, it was these lies that were the kind of “success” which would give Western governments reasons for concern.

To mark the second anniversary of the illegal annexation of Crimea, the East StratCom Task Force produced an infographic outlining the EU’s sanctions in reponse to the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Feel free to share the image, which will be made available today on the Facebook page of the European External Action Service.

As the EU and the Republic of Moldova meet at the Association Council in Brussels this week, they discussed the state of play in implementing the Association Agreement and the related reforms. The East StratCom Task Force summarised the main EU messages in a video that was watched more than 12.000 times in Moldova. To see the Romanian and Russian versions of the video, go to the Facebook page of the EU Delegation in Moldova.

Friday fun: Sausages out!

As we already highlighted in Tuesday’s Disinformation Review, disinformation regarding the refugee crisis has been a strong trend in the past week, for instance the claim that the crisis is being orchestrated by the USA / EU / Israel in order to destroy European civilization.
These accusations sometimes come in the most bizarre shapes. As Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung recently pointed out, Russian government-controlled outlets focused on the invented “fact” that pork meat will be forbidden in German school cantines so as to please Muslim refugees; sometimes developed into theories that beer will be probably banned soon as well. “Würstchenverbot” (sausage ban) became a major story for disinformation outlets not only in Russian, but for example also on aCzech pro-Kremlin website.
Lest any doubts arise, let us reassure the reader that Würstchenverbot is not happening anywhere in Germany, and unlikely anywhere else in Europe, either. (Image: truthuncensored.net)

DISCLAIMER: The Weekly Digest is based on the analysis of the EU East StratCom Task Force; opinions and judgements expressed do not represent official EU positions.

I admit to you, dear reader, that Russian logic escapes me on a more than frequent basis.

When something appears blue and Russian leadership and Russian media call it red, I admit I am perplexed.  When Russia is obviously invading Crimea and Russia denies it, I am ferhoodled*. When Russia is obviously backing a de facto invasion of Ukraine and denies it, I am baffled. When a Russian Buk shot down MH17, most likely by Russian operators and Russia denies it, I am mystified.  When a theory originating in the Russian media says MH17 was actually MH370 my mind tingles with bemusement. When a Russian theory is MH17 was filled with already dead corpses I am confounded by their addiction to obvious conspiracy theories. When Russia offers up that Ukraine was targeting Putin’s plane, I am dumbfounded.  I mean, besides the obvious that Russia is trying to distract the world, obfuscate the facts, and deny the truth, why would anyone be so vacuous as to offer these wacky theories?

Here’s why:

*ferhoodled. A highly technical term meaning confused. http://www.padutchculture.com/ferhoodled.html  This should be in the standard Russian lexicon, it’s meaning should be known to abject professionals like Russian propagandists.

18.03.2016 | 15:08

Human rights activists and Freedom House president Mark Lagon are in attendance as is Crimean Tatar leader and member of the Ukrainian parliament Mustafa Dzhemilev, Ukraine Today reported.

“All our efforts have to be concentrated to free Crimea from occupation. To protect Ukraine’s sovereignty. We’re not talking about military actions, we need to increase sanctions. And we’ll be speaking about this, special sanctions in response to Russia banning the Mejlis,” said Mustafa Dzhemilev, Crimean Tatar leader and Ukrainian MP.

See unian.info’s video section for more of the latest news from Ukraine in video from Ukraine Today, Ukraine’s 24-hour English-language news channel.

Source: http://www.unian.info/politics/1294092-delegates-gather-at-the-united-nations-for-meeting-on-russian-annexed-crimea.html

BY CRISTINA SILVA @CRISTYMSILVA ON 03/18/16 AT 2:21 PM

Amid growing tensions between the two nations, Russian spies pose a significant risk to Sweden, according to an annual report from the Swedish security service Säpo. Russia’s aggressive spying tactics include various forms of psychological warfare via “extreme movements, information operations and misinformation campaigns” designed to target both policymakers and the general public, the report warns.

This is the second consecutive year that the report singled out Russian spies as Sweden’s biggest intelligence threat. The 2016 report found that about a dozen diplomats are operating as spies, despite Stockholm asking some Russian Embassy staff to leave in 2015. Other spies reportedly worked for airlines and businesses operating in Sweden.

Sweden is not a NATO member, but in its role in the European Union, it participates in economic sanctions imposed by the 28-nation bloc against Russia over its intervention in Ukraine. Sweden has also called outRussia in recent years for allegedly sending a submarine into the Stockholm archipelago and its increased military activity in the Baltic Sea, including bombers rehearsing an attack on Sweden. It’s moved to increase defense spending and military co-operation with neighboring Finland, also a non-NATO EU member.

Iran and China also represent intelligence threats to Sweden, the report found. Among terrorist groups, the Islamic State has increasingly become a potential danger, with growing efforts to radicalize young people, the report concluded. More than 300 people have traveled from Sweden to fight in Syria and Iraq with the militants also known as ISIS. Of these, 135 have since returned, while 44 are dead.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/amid-growing-military-tensions-russian-spies-infiltrate-sweden-2339341

Intro: An expert who prefers to remain anonymous put this together.  Well worth reading and perusing the links that follow.

</end intro>

Quite a lot of news piled up over the last three days, although no dramatic developments since the Syria bugout started. A lot of decent analytical and opinion essays on Russia, and argument about Russia’s gains and losses in Syria, and from the pullout.

Motyl’s essay on the risks in the play is excellent, and puts the focus on how Putin makes short term decisions. Lloyd as always on the money, focussing on the closed circle of Putin, Patrushev and Ivanov who appear to be making all decisions in Moscow – worst case Groupthink model. Also explains the reported dumbfounded behaviour of Lavrov and Shoigu when instructed to bug out.

Pondering the Russian play, it may be motivated more than anything by the intractable behaviours of Putin’s two allies in Syria, Iran and Assad, pushing their own agendas at the expense of Putin – he likes to be seen to be duping everybody else, and driving the agenda, and both of these regimes have minds of their own.

Historically, no alliance between narcisstic authoritarian leaders has ever lasted as these relationships always devolve into selfish prisoner’s dilemma mutual backstabs – these is this inherent meta-stability to these alliances as the only stable high outcome play is cooperation that is inherently at odds with the behavioural propensities of narcissistic sociopaths, who are unable to see or accept the other players’ needs.

Nasty report from Russia about a Roma (Gypsy) settlement being “pacified” by Russian security forces following a dispute over local gas supplies.

Most interesting from Ukraine is the NYT essay on Oksana Syroyid, MP, deputy speaker of the Parliament, former Prof of constitutional law, and her campaign to protect the constitution from being adulterated by changes to accommodate Putin’s trojan horse model, as being promoted by Steinmeyer and other EU proxies of Moscow. The leadership squabbles in Kiev continue without resolution.

Reports on UK and Canadian support and aid of interest. Fascinating interview with Prof Mironenko in Moscow, discussing how collectively most Russians have no understanding of Ukraine, its history, culture and values, and how they mostly believe it to be the same as Russia, mirroring the ner identical problems of ignorance pervading EU nations – they all imagine it to be a province of Russia, linguistically and culturally Russian. Top Ukraine media item this week was not Darth Vader, rather the statue of his understudy in Zaporozhiye being taken down.

Fascinating reports on the Crimea Kerch-Taman bridge debacle, Putin’s shenanigans, and the stark truth of how Speer during the German occupation abandoned the plan to put the bridge up after a geological study showed the seabed to be tectonically unstable making a bridge of such length infeasible.

Techie media dominated by Russian 3M22 Zirkon hypersonic ASCM testing – this is the joint Brahmos ASCM follow-on with India.

“The Russian World” is the usual fare, grotesque to distasteful.

Donbass harassment fires continue.

A hollow superpower | The EconomistDon’t be fooled by Syria. Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy is born of weakness and made for television

Alexander J. Motyl | Putin’s Syria Gambit | World Affairs JournalVladimir Putin’s surprise withdrawal of troops in Syria is no stroke of genius. Instead he has acted on yet another whim that will end badly for him.

Putin’s long game has been revealed, and the omens are bad for Europe | Natalie Nougayrède | Opinion | The GuardianThrough his writings, Russia’s foreign minister tells us what the president really wants – a historic realignment in his favour. To get a glimpse into Vladimir Putin’s mind, it’s worth reading the recent writings of his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. In a long article published this month by the Moscow-based magazine Russia in Global Affairs– translated here into English – Lavrov spells it out with clarity. What Russia wants is nothing short of fundamental change: a formal, treaty-based say on Europe’s political and security architecture. Until Russia gets that, goes the message, there will be no stability on the continent. The key sentence in the article is this: “During the last two centuries, any attempt to unite Europe without Russia and against it has inevitably led to grim tragedies.”

The Daily Vertical: A Coincidence? I Think Not! (Transcript)Well, as if on cue, the pivot to Ukraine has begun. Well, as if on cue, the pivot to Ukraine has begun. Pro-Moscow separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine yesterday began issuing passports for the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, the name that they have given to the territory they control.

The Daily Vertical: A Spoiler Not A Superpower (Transcript)The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday.

U.S. Senators Seek New Center To Counter Russian, Chinese ‘Propaganda’New legislation being introduced in the U.S. Senate aims to improve Washington’s efforts to counter “propaganda and disinformation” spread by Russia, China, and other countries.

John Lloyd | What is the best way to describe Vladimir Putin’s Russia?Patriarch Putin has drawn a small, tight group around him. Alexei Venediktov, head of the still-operating liberal radio stationm Ekho Moskvy, says only two really count: Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, and Sergey Ivanov, head of the Presidential Administration, both former intelligence officers. “They are close to him both educationally and mentally. The more years pass by, the more influential they become.” To have such narrow influences indicates that the course is set, and won’t change. In this system, everything depends on the tsar-patriarch-president. In testimony to the U.S. Congress in February, Fiona Hill, director of the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe and a formidable expert on Russia for two decades, said that he and his team have “worked very hard to increase (their) tactical advantage by making the Russian President — and thus the Russian decision-making system — as inscrutable and unpredictable as possible… No-one outside the inner circle is supposed to know what is going on.”

Putin’s Syria Gambit: Russian Pundits Ponder What Moscow Achieved Russian President Vladimir Putin’s abrupt decision to draw down his country’s military presence in Syria has left analysts scratching their heads. Does it signal a strategic shift or is it merely an easily reversible public-relations gambit aimed at strengthening Moscow’s hand as the Geneva peace talks get under way?

Podcast: Putin’s New World OrderWill Vladimir Putin succeed in his quest to change the global rules? Listen to the new Power Vertical Podcast.

How Russia Views Its ‘Compatriots’ in the Near Abroad | The National InterestThe Kremlin sees ethnic Russians as a powerful ally in the region.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky Is Putin’s Most Powerful Enemy (in Exile) – The Daily BeastRussia may not be ready for ex-billionaire Mikhail Khodorkovsky to return, but his arguments are gaining ground.

Khodorkovsky makes gloomy forecast for Putin regime for next 10 years : UNIAN newsExiled Russian tycoon Mikhail&nbsp;Khodorkovksy, who spent years in the Russian jail, stated he was planning to go back to Russia as soon as the Putin’s regime started to fall apart, RBC reported referring to his interview with The Daily Beast.

Atheism on Trial in Russia’s Stavropol | Opinion | The Moscow TimesIn a courtroom in Stavropol, Viktor Krasnov, a physician’s assistant, is accused of the same crime as Giordano Bruno, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Salman Rushdie — atheism.“What are you doing ?! You like the Germans ?! Yes !?” – about 500 Russian security forces participated in the special operation to pacify the rebellious Roma [Gypsies] in Tula. VIDEO

What are you doing ?! You like the Germans ?! Yes !?” – about 500 Russian security forces participated in the special operation to pacify the rebellious Roma [Gypsies] in Tula. VIDEOAbout a hundred residents of the Gypsy camp in the village Plekhanovo near Tula staged a protest after the authorities’ attempts to cut off the gas supply from the village. According Tsenzor.NET , authorities said that due to illegal connections, the Roma left without gas of about 400 houses in the neighboring streets. Roma tried to provide resistance to the police and burned tires, as a sign of protest against the actions of the authorities. After that, for the pacification of “riot gas” in the village came about five hundred police officers, among them the riot police, SWAT, internal forces, PPS and dog handlers.

http://censor.net.ua/cnPlayer.swf?vf=170316_tulRussia slashes space funding amid economic woes – AJE NewsPM Medvedev cuts space budget by 30 percent in an effort to reign in spending in the face of deepening economic crisis.

NATO rethinks strategy after Russia’s renewed military power show in Syria“It is now necessary to plan defence, while previously it was not.”

NATO Needs to Move Two Brigades East, and That’s Just a Start – Defense OneThe world is changing around the alliance; here\’s what its leaders must do to keep up.The President Who Dared to Call Putin’s Russia What It Is: A Terrorist State – The Daily BeastLithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite was blunt about her neighbor’s aggression after it took over Crimea—and in an interview, she sounds the alarm about her nation’s vulnerability.

No-show Obama | EditorialIn Kyiv on May 29, 1972, U.S. President Richard Nixon toasted Ukrainians from the baroque splendor of Mariyinsky Palace near the Dnipro River. Ukrainians “are a people who are world famous for their warmth, for their strength, for their courage,” Nixon said. He talked about the sacrifices of Ukrainians during World War II and the rebuilding of a destroyed Kyiv. He toasted “the heroes of the Ukraine in war and in peace.” Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush followed Nixon, visiting Kyiv in 1991, 1995 and 2008, respectively. But U.S. President Barack Obama, his domestic agenda paralyzed by Republicans and the Nov. 8 presidential election, still has no plans to visit Ukraine. Obama will do a lot of international traveling in his last year, as many presidents do. He’s going to Cuba this week and maybe the United Kingdom yet this spring. He will be in Japan for a G7 meeting in June, in Poland for the NATO summit in July, in China for the G20 meeting in September and also possibly South America, the Middle East and Africa. But not to Ukraine. He will be the first president since Ronald Reagan not to make the trip while in office. Reagan had a good excuse: The Soviet Union was still in existence, but not for long. Reagan helped break up the “evil empire,” leaving it on the “ash heap of history” in 1991. We have editorialized for Obama to come to Ukraine. But maybe it’s better that he just stays away, given his dismissal of Ukraine as a “client state” of Russia and not one of America’s core interests.Growing the next generation of Russia experts | TheHillWithout building expertise in countries like Russia, we risk a reactive foreign policy.

Growing the next generation of Russia experts – To Inform is to InfluenceThe author brings up some very valid arguments but misses one major point. Russia is the world’s leading advocate and perpetrator of Information Warfare.  For the past 2+ years, the world has been deluged with Russian propaganda. Russia has controlled information flowing internally to its citizens, supporting Russian actions and denigrating anything Western. Russia controlled…

Opinion: How The Presidential Election Could Shape U.S. Defense Policy | Defense content from Aviation WeekThere may be some hints of intent as the presidential campaign heads into the home stretch in September-October.

Maps & Jammers: Army Intensifies Training Vs. Russian-Style Jamming « Breaking Defense – Defense industry news, analysis and commentaryHUNTSVILLE, ALA.: After two decades of largely ignoring the danger, the Army is seriously training for a scary scenario: What if GPS, our satellite communications and our wireless networks go down? It’s hardly a hypothetical threat. Russian electronic warfare units locate Ukrainian troops by their transmissions and jam their radios so they can’t call for help, setting them up for slaughter. American soldiers are much better trained and equipped than Ukrainian ones, but they’re also much more dependent on wireless devices. Almost 80 percent of an armored brigade’s equipment depends to some degree on space. Over 250 systems use satellite communications; more than 2,500 use GPS. Even short-range tactical communications relay on radio. We depend on networks for everything from communications to guiding precision weapons, to not shooting friendly units by accident, “to not getting lost in the woods — not that I’ve ever been lost,” said Gen. David Perkins, head of the Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Our digital technology has been an “asymmetric advantage” adversaries couldn’t match, but all advantages in war are temporary, Perkins warned reporters at the Association of the US Army conference here. In the modern era, he added, the time a technological advantage lasts is getting “shorter and shorter and shorter.” In the future, while we will hopefully never fight Russia or China, we almost certainly will fight someone who has bought advanced jamming and electronic warfare systems from them or even some of our own allies, said Tom Greco, Gen. Perkins’ chief of intelligence: “It is not a stretch to say that just about any capability that we have has the potential of being disrupted.” So the Army is now deliberately disrupting its own units during training. For example, when brigades go to the National Training Center, they naturally bring all their usual GPS navigation systems — but now “we routinely take that capability away from them,” said Perkins. “We’re having to teach people at the Basic Course on up on how you operate if that is taken away, in other words introducing people to maps.” he Army needs to look to its past to see its future in EW.”

US, Philippines agree on 5 base locations under defence deal | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & AnalysisUS, Philippines agree on 5 base locations under defence deal – The deal was reached under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) signed in 2015.

US, Philippines agree on locations covered by defense pact | Headlines, News, The Philippine Star | philstar.comThe U.S. and the Philippines have agreed on locations where American forces will have access as the U.S. looks to reassert its presence in Asia, officials said Friday.

Japan’s Master Plan to Stop China in the East China Sea: Lawfare? | The National Interest BlogIs Tokyo about to embrace “Lawfare” in the East China Sea? 

US-China relationship will be complex: Ashton Carter – The Economic TimesDefence Secretary Ashton Carter said that the US-China ties will be “complex” as there remain areas of concern including in the disputed South China Sea.

Asia Briefs: China provoking arms race: US , Asia News & Top Stories – The Straits TimesChina provoking arms race: US CANBERRA • China’s “might makes right” attitude and “unprecedented examples of aggressive construction and militarisation” in disputed areas of the South China Sea are provoking a regional arms build-up, said Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet.. Read more at

straitstimes.com.China and Russia are planning to take down US satellites, Air Force general warns | Daily Mail OnlineGeneral John Hyten, head of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, says adversaries to America are developing ‘cyber tools’ to degrade and destroy their space capabilities and damage satellites.

Japan Extends East China Sea SurveillanceJapan is expanding the East China Sea surveillance network around the disputed Senkaku Islands

Japan May Bring China to International Court over East China Sea Islands – BreitbartLegislators in Japan’s Ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are urging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to bring a case against China to an international tribunal to settle once and for all ownership over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Japanese island caught between military powers | Shoreline BeaconNews, Local, Provincial, Canada, World, Sports, High School Sports, Local Hockey, Hockey, Basketball, Baseball, Football, Soccer, Lacrosse, Curling, Other Sports, Entertainment, Local, Movies, Music, Television, Celebrities, Life, Health, Food, Travel, Money, Opinion, Editorial, Letters, Column, Your Newspaper, Social medias, Events, UR, News, Sports, Life, Entertainment, Money, Opinion, Marketplace, Photos, Videos, Contests, Polls, Weather, Sitemap, Event Submission

Tough new rules may have stopped Darwin port saleTHE Federal Government has announced it will strengthen Australia’s foreign ownership rules, just months after copping criticism for failing to properly assess the sale of the Port of Darwin.

Trump

‘Simpsons’ Writer Who Predicted Trump Presidency in 2000: “It Was a Warning to America” – Hollywood ReporterIt “just seemed like the logical last stop before hitting bottom,” Dan Greaney recalls.

The Simpsons predicted a Trump presidency 16 years agoDonald Trump was president in The Simpsons 16 years ago, but only because the writers needed something absurd.

Kremlin hits out at Trump pre-election video for demonizing Russia | ReutersThe Kremlin on Thursday hit out at a pre-election video promoting U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, complaining it demonized Russia’s image.

Russia’s Putin sees a kindred spirit in Donald Trump | Public Radio InternationalVladimir Putin has praised Donald Trump — in part because Russians don’t want to see Hillary Clinton in the White House.

Michael Den Tandt: Trump’s shadow stretches as far as the East China Sea | National PostTop of mind, for many Okinawans, is that their home remains the staging ground for 75 per cent of U.S. military bases in Japan

Unless Trump Nukes Them, Danes are Very Happy
Letter to the Editor: Trump’s Comments on Strategy Make No Sense to This Army Officer | Foreign PolicyLetter to the Editor: Trump’s Comments on Strategy Make No Sense to This Army Officer « | Foreign Policy | the Global Magazine of News and Ideas

Jewish leaders plan boycott of Donald Trump at AIPAC – CNNPolitics.comSeveral groups of rabbis and Jewish religious leaders are planning to protest Donald Trump’s speech to a major pro-Israel conference in Washington on Monday.

Ukraine – Lt. Savchenko

FLOOR STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN McCAIN ON NADIYA SAVCHENKO – Floor Statements – United States Senator John McCain
Obama, G7 Urge Russia To Free Ukrainian Pilot SavchenkoNews media are reporting that U.S. President Barack Obama and the world’s top economic powers are urging Russian President Vladimir Putin to release jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko.

Ukraine Lists Individuals It Wants EU To Blacklist Over Savchenko Trial Ukraine has identified nearly 50 people it considers responsible for the “illegal detention and falsified trial” of Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko and has urged the European Union to impose sanctions against them.

Mock trial of Savchenko: Money is what Putin cares for rather than people – exchange, Putin, Savchenko, Polozov, Ukrainian hostages in Russia, Mock trial of Savchenko (16.03.16 23:38) « News | EN.Censor.net 16.03.16 23:38 – Putin doesn’t care a straw for Yerofeyev and Aleksandrov, – Polozov on possible exchange of Savchenko Nikolai Polozov, the lawyer of Ukrainian pilot Nadiia Savchenko illegally held in the Russian Federation, believes that Vladimir Putin is holding her for another reason that exchanging for GRU operatives Yevgeniy Yerofeyev and Alexander Aleksandrov. View news.

Poroshenko: Ukraine and the EU cannot keep silent on ‘brutal violation of human rights’ – watch on – uatoday.tv Kyiv pressing Brussels for sanctions on people involved in abduction of Ukrainian pilot Savchenko

Savchenko trial: Medvedchuk bumps me and Polozov off on direct order of Kremlin, – Feygin – Medvedchuk, Savchenko, Feigin, Polozov, Ukrainian hostages in Russia, Savchenko trial, Mark Feygin (19.03.16 13:08) « News | EN.Censor.net 19.03.16 13:08 – Medvedchuk bumps me and Polozov off on direct order of Kremlin, – Feygin Mark Feygin, lawyer of Ukrainian pilot Nadiia Savchenko, accuses the representative of Ukraine in the subgroup on Humanitarian Affairs of the trilateral contact group on the settlement of the conflict in the Donbas Viktor Medvedchuk in an attempt to… View news.

Pro-Russian militants: Vladimir Putin tops Savchenko related sanctions list – Savchenko, sanctions, European Union, Sanctions against Russia, Ukrainian hostages in Russia, Pro-Russian militants, Alexei Pushkov | Alexander Bortnikov (17.03.16 18:51) « Incidents « News | EN.Censor.net 17.03.16 18:51 – Savchenko List contains names of 44 Russians and two Ukrainians, – journalist President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko handed over Savchenko related sanctions list to the European leaders today. 29 Russian citizens were earlier reportedly included in this list. According to the media, President Vladimir Putin of Russia topped… View news.

Mogherini urges Russia to immediately release Sentsov and Kolchenko : UNIAN news High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has called on Russia to immediately release illegally detained Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov and Ukrainian activist Oleksandr Kolchenko.

Ukraine – Politics

Ex-Professor Upsets Ukraine Politics, and Russia Peace Accord – The New York Times Oksana I. Syroyid has shot to the top of politics in Ukraine by trying to derail a peace accord with Russia.

No trust in leadership Ukrainians and their Western partnes would be justified in giving up on President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Ukraine’s two leaders have betrayed their nation’s hopes to put an end to the oligarchy and legal impunity for the powerful elite. Instead, they have manipulated to preserve the corrupt status quo and their own business interests. Poroshenko would even deny Ukrainians the democratic right to elect their own leaders. He signed into law changes that would allow party leaders, not the people, to decide who gets seated in parliament. Poroshenko is untrustworthy in other ways, namely his control of prosecutors and judges while Yatsenyuk has shown himself to be a tool of the oligarchy and vested interests. It is appalling that the president’s corrupt lackey, General Prosecutor Viktor Shokin, is still on the job. A new and restless generation of incorruptible politicians, civic activists and professionals is on the rise in Ukraine. Their coming to power cannot happen soon enough to save the nation and the dreams of the EuroMaidan Revolution.

How Ukraine’s politicians are spoiling another revolution – The Globe and Mail Street battles in the capital, a separatist war in the east and Russia grabbing the Crimea region. That was two years ago. Mark MacKinnon reports on how Ukraine’s latest crisis involves its politicians.

Yatsenyuk ready to give Groysman premiership under certain conditions – media : UNIAN news Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is ready to step down in favor of the current Verkhovna Rada Speaker, Volodymyr Groysman if the People’s Front party gets an acceptable quota in government, according to several informed sources in the different factions of the coalition, Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda has reported.

Poroshenko hopes political crisis to be overcome before late March : UNIAN news Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said he hopes that the political crisis in Ukraine will be resolved before the end of the month, according to&nbsp;an UNIAN&nbsp;correspondent.

Timothy Ash: Shokin’s return as prosecutor general is story of day in Ukraine Forget about the machinations around the formation/reformulation of the new cabinet (in Ukraine). The return to work today of General Prosecutor Viktor Shokin is the big story today in Ukraine. Remember international financial institutions and civil society movements had called for Shokhin to be removed as a step towards cleaning up the public prosecutor’s office. The problems run much deeper than one individual though. President Petro Poroshenko asked Shokhin to resign and he “usefully” went off on holiday (on Feb. 16, a day after Deputy Prosecutor General Vitaliy Kasko resigned, citing ongoing obstruction of justice by Shokin.) This seemed to calm criticism down a bit – buying time perhaps for Poroshenko to regroup. Now Shokhin has returned to work, and the Rada needs to vote to remove him.

Timothy Ash: Despite messiness today, Ukraine can still be the next Poland Editor’s Note: The following is a question-and-answer session written by Timothy Ash, the London-based head of Central Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa credit strategy for Nomura International, a Japanese financial holding company. Ash said it is based on his communication with institutional investors in the U.S. and Europe in recent weeks.

#DUTCHINUA | No-vote in referendum is a support-vote for Russia – Dutch businessman -Euromaidan Press | Dutch businessman in Ukraine says Dutch exporters are waiting for Association Agreement between EU and Ukraine to come into force

#DUTCHINUA | Referendum organizers spread lies about Ukraine – director of Dutch company in Ukraine -Euromaidan Press | Peter Kinds started his business in Ukraine almost 12 years ago. Today Control Pay has around 150 people of which 140 are located in Kyiv. The company controls an audit freight invoices freight costs for large multinationals. For that, a unique system was set Ukraine. Thanks to the previous experiences with Ukraine, Kinds knew the country, its opportunities for business and for IT development. This is an abridged version of his interview given to Ukraine Today.

A tetter to my Dutch friendEuromaidan Press | Good afternoon. My name is Victor and I need your assistance. I’m a Ukrainian journalist. My job is to provide the public with information. I would like to use this opportunity to present the Dutch population the views, hopes and aspirations of my fellow citizens. In my humble opinion, this would be useful to both parties. In a short period, you will have the opportunity to participate in a referendum and express your negative or positive attitude towards the Association between the EU and my country. I should say that we’re following this process with great interest. We surely cannot give any piece of advice to Dutch citizens on how to vote. It’s solely their sovereign right. Under different circumstances I wouldn’t write this addressed statement at all.

Behind the scenes of civic society’s battle with corruption in Ukraine -Euromaidan Press | The struggle to establish the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption shows how much easier it is to denounce corruption in Ukraine than to fight it

Ukrainian parliament votes to remove embattled Prosecutor General from office – watch on – uatoday.tv Viktor Shokin returned to work after several weeks on leaveEU to Launch Formal Visa-Free Process for Ukraine in April – WSJThe European Union’s executive will formally launch the process for approving Ukraine’s visa-free access to the bloc in April, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said, taking Kiev a step closer to a key political goal.

“The cooperation between Ukraine and Spain is really reinforced” – watch on – uatoday.tv Discussing current development of Spanish-Ukraine relations with Ignacio Ybanez Rubio, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Spain

Ukraine – Most Interesting

Britain signs new defence pact to help Ukraine in Russia confrontation – Telegraph Michael Fallon, the Defence Secretary, says new 15-year defence agreement will see Britain help Ukraine defend itself

UK-Ukraine defense deal: Britain signs new defence pact to help Ukraine in Russia confrontation – army, UK, treaty, Defense, training, UK-Ukraine defense deal, Aid to Ukraine (18.03.16 12:52) « News | EN.Censor.net 18.03.16 12:52 – Britain signs new defence pact to help Ukraine in Russia confrontation, – The Telegraph Britain is to sign a new defence pact with Ukraine pledging to help the country with more military training and intelligence amid its confrontation with Russia. 

Canada Imposes More Sanctions Over Russia’s Handling Of Ukraine Dion says Canada has no intention of lifting sanctions until Russia meets its international obligations.

Canada expands sanctions over Russia’s stance on Ukraine | Toronto Star Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion says Canada has no intention of lifting sanction and added more names to the list.

Dmitry Tymchuk: Military update 03.14 #FreeSavchenko | Информационное сопротивлениеOperational data from Information Resistance:

Ukraine-EU cooperation: Top level negotiations – Merkel, Poroshenko, Hollande, Ukraine – EU, Ukraine-EU cooperation, Donald Tusk | Jean-Claude Juncker (16.03.16 20:50) « World « News | EN.Censor.net 16.03.16 20:50 – Poroshenko, Merkel, Hollande and EU leaders to meet in Belgium March 17 President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande will hold a trilateral meeting in Brussels (Belgium) March 17. View news.

Delegates gather at the United Nations for meeting on Russian-annexed Crimea – watch on – uatoday.tv Crimea will always remain a part of Ukraine – Samantha Power says

Voitsitska attempt: Samopomich MP Voitsitska declares attempt on her life, says mastermind unknown – assassination attempt, Samopomich, Voitsitska, Corruption, Voitsitska attempt, Samopomich assassination attempt (17.03.16 10:02) « News | EN.Censor.net 17.03.16 10:02 – Samopomich MP Voitsitska declares attempt on her life, says mastermind unknown Samopomich MP Victoriia Voitsitska has reported an attempt on her life. View news.

Ukraine initiates WTO proceedings against Russia over import, transit restrictions : UNIAN news Ukraine initiates dispute proceedings with the World Trade Organization (WTO) regarding restrictions on transit and imports of food and railway equipment imposed by the Russian Federation.

Ukrainian Intelligence: Poroshenko signs National Intelligence Program, – NSDC – Poroshenko, intelligence, NSDC, Ukrainian Intelligence, Ukraine defense capability (16.03.16 16:48) « News | EN.Censor.net 16.03.16 16:48 – Poroshenko signs National Intelligence Program, – NSDC The National Intelligence Program, outlining the development of Ukraine’s intelligence agencies, was signed by President Petro Poroshenko a few days ago. View news.

Turkey to purchase natural gas via Ukraine – Daily Sabah Speaking to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, Igor Prokopiv, the president of the Ukrainian Public Joint Stock Company (PJSC) Ukrtransgaz, said: Turkey and…

Ukrainian Player Called ‘Traitor’ For Opting To Play In Russia With tensions between Kyiv and Moscow at all-time highs, even the transfer of top Ukrainian soccer player Yevhen Seleznyov to a club in Russia stirs passions.

Ministers of Defense of Ukraine and Canada visit military training field in Western Ukraine – watch on – uatoday.tv Canada’s minister of national defense calls relations with Ukraine &lsquo;unique

‘Linkevičius in Shyrokyne: Minsk in ‘action’ – shelling continued even during my visit to Shyrokyne, – Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linkevičius. PHOTOS – shoot out, Minsk agreements, Shyrokyne, Linkevičius, Russian Aggression Against Ukraine, Linkevičius in Shyrokyne, Minsk agreements inefficient (17.03.16 12:28) « Photo news | EN.Censor.net 17.03.16 12:28 – Minsk in ‘action’ – shelling continued even during my visit to Shyrokyne, – Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linkevičius. PHOTOS Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius shared thoughts about his visit to Mariupol and Syrokyne. View photo news.

Nolan Peterson: What You Should Know About War in Ukraine“The media tends to downplay the seriousness of what’s at stake,” The Daily Signal’s foreign correspondent says in an on-camera interview.Military resolution of Donbas conflict should not be discussed – Bezsmertny : UNIAN newsDiscussions regarding a military solution to the conflict in Donbas should be excluded from the agenda, Representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group’s political subgroup Roman Bezsmertny said during a talk show on Ukrainian 1plus1 TV channel.

Russian expert on Ukraine: “Overwhelming majority of Russians know nothing about Ukraine” : UNIAN newsHead of the Center for Ukrainian Studies of the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia’s chief expert on Ukraine Viktor Mironenko has told UNIAN about the misconceptions of the Russian elite that provoked the annexation of Crimea and the attempt to create &ldquo;Novorossiya,&rdquo; and suggested a way out of the current situation.

Ukraine’s New Sniper Rifles: Deadly weapons to fight Russia’s war in Donbas – watch on – uatoday.tvNew rifles for Ukrainian snipers – now the enemy should be afraid

Triton armored vehicle: Withstands anti-tank mine. Equipped with thermal viewer and radar, – border guards tested Triton armored car. VIDEO – State Border Patrol, testing, arms, Defense, Triton armored vehicle, Army armament (17.03.16 17:40) « Video news | EN.Censor.net17.03.16 17:40 – Withstands anti-tank mine. Equipped with thermal viewer and radar, – border guards tested Triton armored car. VIDEO Ukrainian border guards have tested up-to-date wheeled armored vehicles Triton with enhanced mine protection. View video news.

Ukraine tears down giant Lenin statue | SBS NewsExhaustive efforts to tear down Ukraine’s largest remaining monument to Vladimir Lenin have finally borne fruit as workers prised the late Soviet leader’s statue from its plinth in the city of Zaporizhzhya. Since a pro-Western uprising ousted a Russia-backed president in 2014, Ukraine has passed laws aimed at severing the former Soviet republic from its communist past – a move some have criticised as an attempt to erase history.

Lenin Zaporizhia: Biggest monument to Lenin in Ukraine dismantled in Zaporizhia. VIDEO+PHOTOS – derigging, Zaporizhya Region, Lenin, monument, decommunisation, Anticommunist laws, Lenin Zaporizhia (17.03.16 16:48) « Video news | EN.Censor.net17.03.16 16:48 – Biggest monument to Lenin in Ukraine dismantled in Zaporizhia. VIDEO+PHOTOS In Zaporizhia, Thursday, the monument to Vladimir Lenin on Zaporizka Square (previously – Lenin Square) was finally pulled down. View video news.

Biggest Lenin statue in Ukraine pulled down in Zaporizhia (photos, video) – watch on – uatoday.tvUkraine dismantles its biggest Lenin monumentLast major Lenin monument demolished in Ukrainian-controlled territory (VIDEO)The last big Lenin monument in a major city controlled by Ukrainian authorities was demolished on March 16. The Lenin monument in the oblast capital Zaporizhzhia – the last one in Ukrainian-controlled regional capitals – was taken down by city authorities to comply with the country’s decommunization law, which was passed last May and aims to dismantle the Soviet Union’s totalitarian legacy. The 19.8 meter monument, which weighs 40 tonnes, was Ukraine’s biggest Lenin statue. Demolition works started on March 14 but were thwarted by technical problems. The event completes the demolition of Soviet monuments in central and southeastern Ukraine, which started with the toppling of a Lenin statue on Bessarabska Ploshcha in Kyiv during the EuroMaidan Revolution, on Dec. 8, 2013. Lenin monuments in western Ukrainian regional capitals were toppled in the 1990s, while statues of the Soviet leader in Russian-occupied Crimea and Donbas still remain untouched.

Ukraine topples biggest remaining Lenin statue | World news | The Guardian Bronze and granite monument measuring 20m in south-eastern city of Zaporizhia fell foul of ban on Soviet symbols

Ukraine tears down giant Lenin statueUkraine tears down giant Lenin statue

Crimea / Turkey

Official explains why Crimea-Russia bridge stillborn project : UNIAN news There are documents in archives proving that the construction of the bridge over the Kerch Strait, which would connect the occupied Crimea with Russia, &nbsp;is impossible, according to the representative of Ukraine in the political subgroup at the Tripartite Liaison Group, Roman Bezsmertniy, 112 TV channel reports.

Vladimir Putin threatens to ‘hang’ someone if Crimea and Russia bridge is not done | Daily Mail Online Russian president flew into Crimea on the second anniversary of Moscow’s ‘illegal’ annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine despite the strong opposition of the international community.

Why Vladimir Putin’s Building a Bridge From Russia to CrimeaThe bridge is being built by a company owned by Arkady Rotenberg, Putin’s judo partner.

Putin’s Crimea Is No VacationTwo years ago on March 16, Crimeans voted in a sham referendum for Russia to annex Crimea. Has life improved for the approximately two million people who live there? Not at all. On every measure, from the economy to its treatment of minorities, the beautiful peninsula has become a shell of what it once was. The economic situation in Crimea is desperate. Tourism, one of the peninsula’s main economic engines, took a serious nosedive in 2014, when Crimea received fewer than three million visitors—half the number who vacationed there in 2013. That is because Ukrainians made up the largest portion of tourists in Crimea prior to annexation. But for political and economic reasons, many now choose not to go. The Russian tourists who were supposed to flood into Crimea never came. Crimeans have experienced a sharp decline in their standard of living. Western sanctions prevent European and American companies from operating on the peninsula, cutting into potential revenue and jobs from foreign investment. The Ukrainian government has imposed restrictions on trade with Crimea as well. Since switching to the Russian ruble, Crimeans have been subject to that currency’s massive depreciation, from an exchange rate of about 35 rubles per dollar in 2014 to 70 rubles per dollar today. While Crimeans’ pensions under Russian occupation may be nominally higher, their rubles have lost more than half of their purchasing power.

Russian Sanctions to Remain Until Crimea Returned to Ukraine – U.S. | News | The Moscow Times Sanctions against Russia will remain in place until Crimea is returned to Ukraine, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a press statement Tuesday.

Two years after Russia’s occupation, is life for civilians possible in Crimea? -Euromaidan Press |They’re calling it the “Crimean Spring.” These are the several celebratory events that are being held in occupied Crimea and in Russia from March 15 to March 18. The celebrations are to commemorate what most of the world recognizes as a criminal referendum which took place in Crimea on 16th of March, 2014. The referendum, conducted virtually at gunpoint as Russia’s armed troops were visible at every polling station, were announced the following day. That is the day that Russian occupation officially began. We take a look at Crimea today, two years into occupation, to see what it is Crimea and Russia have to celebrate.

Entire indigenous population of Crimea endangered with looming Mejlis ban -Euromaidan Press |If the ban is enacted, almost any Crimean Tatar could be prosecuted on all-inclusive charges of “extremism.”

Ukraine: Fear, Repression in Crimea | Human Rights Watch

Tatar Mejlis hearing branded ‘kangaroo court’ begins on Russian-occupied Crimea – watch on – uatoday.tv Crimea’s occupational authorities mull banning Crimean Tatars’ Mejlis

EU calls on all UN member states to join sanctions against Russia : UNIAN news High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has called on UN Member States to adhere to non-recognition policy of the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.

Kurdish TAK militant group says it was behind Ankara bombing that killed 37 : UNIAN newsThe Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) militant group on Thursday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in the Turkish capital Ankara that killed 37 people, and vowed to continue its strikes against security forces, Reuters reported.

Joseph Sywenkyj, Alexey Furman, Anastasia Vlasova: Another Crimea project leaves viewers with distorted view of events On the second anniversary of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, six photographers from the renowned photo agencies Magnum Photos, VII Photo Agency and Noor Images presented the Another Crimea project, which is exceptionally beautiful, engaging and well produced.

Another Crimea | stories| stories

Syria / ISIS / Russia

What Russia Accomplished in Syria – The New York Times An analysis of which groups gained and lost ground during Russia’s air campaign.

Islamic State committing genocide, ‘crimes against humanity’ against minorities, John Kerry says – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) The United States officially accuses the Islamic State militant group of carrying out genocide against the Christian, Yazidi and Shiite minorities on its territory in Iraq and Syria.

Operation in Syria has cost Russia about 33 billion rubles – Putin Moscow. March 17.

INTERFAX.RU – Financing operations in Syria was carried out mainly by the Ministry of Defence capabilities and cost about 33 billion rubles, said Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with soldiers who took part in the operation. “Of course, the military operation in Syria, and demanded a certain cost, but most of them – are the resources of the Ministry of Defense … about 33 billion rubles – has previously been incorporated into the budget 2015 of the Ministry, on the conduct of exercises and combat training We simply redirected these. resources to ensure the groups in Syria, “- said the head of state. According to him, these costs themselves fully justified, as the goal of the Russian groups in Syria were generally met. “The modern Russian weapons test passed with dignity, and not on the training grounds, and in the real world, in a battle It -. The most severe, the most severe check “, – Putin said. March 14, Putin ordered from Tuesday March 15 to begin withdrawing the main part of the Russian military group in Syria. However, he said on Thursday the president, Russia at any time may again increase its group in Syria, focusing on the current situation. He assured that the fight against terrorism in Syria, as well as groups, in violation of the truce will continue.

Ten Reasons Why Putin Wins Big In Syria While The U.S. Gets Nothing – Forbes Vladimir Putin’s announcement that he is pulling the main part of his armed forces out of Syria caught the world flat-footed. The Russian president may not carry through as promised, but the announcement alone gives him a number of domestic and foreign policy wins.

Russia just made an outrageous claim about its bombing campaign in Syria | Business Insider After the surprise announcement that Russia…

Russia says to complete withdrawing most of Syria force in two-three days | Reuters Russia will complete the withdrawal of most of its military contingent in Syria in two to three days, Russian Air Force Commander Viktor Bondarev said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily published on Thursday.

Russian-speaking jihadis in Syria ‘could threaten Moscow in future’ | World news | The Guardian International Crisis Group says apparent policy of allowing Islamists to leave before Sochi Olympics could come back to haunt Russia

The Russians show their hand in Syria by withdrawing | The Economist Putin appears to turn from hard power to diplomacy

Did Russia Just Broker A Deal To Exempt Iran From Oil Freeze? – Forbes Unable to persuade Tehran to join in capping production, Russia has thrown its weight behind Iran’s asserted right to restore shut-in production and recover lost market share. Having help initiate the “freeze” talks, Moscow has now likely informed major OPEC producers that reaching a final deal would require either excluding Iran all together or making special concessions to bring Iran on board.

Andrew Roth | Syria shows that Russia built an effective military. Now how will Putin use it? – The Washington Post No one in NATO expects a war, but the alliance has been paying close attention.

Russia’s Syrian campaign showcases weaponry, maybe ‘even profitable,’ Kremlin backer says – World – CBC News Russia’s quickie, 5 and 1/2-month war in Syria didn’t cost it that much, and may even have brought in billions in new orders for Russian weaponry, one Kremlin strategist said. The unanswered question: What does Putin’s pullout mean for Syria’s al-Assad?

Russia delivers first weapons supplies to Iraqi Kurds | Russia Beyond The Headlines Moscow hopes that arms will help regional forces defeat ISIS

Israel presents red lines to Russia on Golan, Iran – Defense/Security – News – Arutz Sheva President Rivlin met with Putin on Wednesday, outlining Israel’s concerns as Russia prepares to remove its forces from Syria.

Israel fears Russia’s pullout from Syria will leave dangerous void – The Washington Post Officials were surprised and nervous after Putin announced the troop withdrawal.

Capabilities / Tech

Breaking: Russia Tests New Hypersonic Cruise Missile | The National Interest Blog “The tests of the hypersonic Zircon missiles have begun using a ground-based launching site.”

Russian fleet transitions to hypersonics [Russian language] Журналист Александр Березин — о том, зачем российской армии гиперзвуковые ракеты и почему у США их до сих пор нет на вооружении.

Russia Kicks Off 3M22 Zircon Next Generation Hypersonic Anti-Ship Missile Trials Russia Kicks Off 3M22 Zircon Next Generation Hypersonic Anti-Ship Missile Trials

World Defence News: 3M22 Zircon Hypersonic Missile in Development Testing for Russian Navy Kirov-class Cruiser

Russia Test-Firing New Hypersonic Zircon Cruise Missiles for 5th-Gen Subs The hypersonic cruise missile’s speed is estimated to be 5-6 Mach.

Hypersonic missiles could be operational in 2020s, general says Hypersonic missiles could be here faster than you know it.

TASS: Military & Defense – Russia radioelectronic warfare complexes proved effective in Syria — manufacturer ST. PETERSBURG, March 17. /TASS/. The operation of Russia’s air group in Syria has proved the effectiveness of Russian radio-electronic warfare means, the first deputy CEO of the Radioelectronic Technologies concern (an affiliate of Rostec), Igor Nasenkov, told the media.

Air Force orders hundreds of Raytheon AMRAAM air-to-air missiles in $573 million deal EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., 17 March 2016. U.S. Air Force airborne weapons experts are ordering several hundred of the nation’s most sophisticated radar-guided air-to-air missiles under terms of a contract modification announced Wednesday.

Russia plans 2018 test of nuclear engine that could get cosmonauts to Mars in WEEKS | Daily Mail Online The country is betting on nuclear propulsion because it weighs almost half as much as a chemical rocket without reducing thrust.

Sen. McCain: Keep the B-21 On Track « Breaking Defense – Defense industry news, analysis and commentary The Air Force’s new B-21 long range strike bomber acquisition program has encountered turbulence in recent weeks as Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, declared: “I will not authorize a program that has a cost-plus contract.” Justifying his position, the senator referenced his smart phone, explaining that: “Silicon Valley built the latest one of these without a cost-plus contract.” While Sen. McCain’s frustration with the military procurement system is understandable, his stated solution of turning to a fixed price contract will not deliver the bomber on time, on budget.  That would probably have the opposite effect. Fixed price contracting is best used when the goods in question involve known technologies and established production methods. This is not the case with a new stealth bomber design.  While the Air Force has sought to reduce risk with the B-21 program by investing $1.9 billion in technology maturation risk reduction efforts over the past few years, integrating existing systems on a new aircraft will still yield unexpected challenges. Recognizing this basic reality,  the Pentagon’s top buyer Frank Kendall said it best when he concluded: “Cost plus, versus fixed price, is a red herring…the emphasis should be on matching incentives to the situation at hand instead of expecting fixed-price contracting to be a magic bullet.” To reflect these circumstances, the Air Force structured the B-21 program in a two-phase fashion. Development, which comprises about 30 percent of the funding, is conducted using a cost-plus incentive contract.  Production, which represents about 70 percent of the contract value, uses the fixed price structure advocated by Sen. McCain.

RAF Plots Future Course For Combat Aircraft Fleet | Defense content from Aviation Week New Typhoon capabilities could be paid for via savings from operating model.

Prof. Robert C. Owen: Time To Rethink Airlift Strategy And Assets | Defense content from Aviation Week The strategic world of today does not conform to air mobility and force-structure plans based on mass force movements between secure bases.

F-16 Fighting To Avoid Production Gap | Defense content from Aviation Week Sales to Pakistan are moving forward, but without further sales, Lockheed’s manufacturing line may run cold.

DARPA awards GPS-denied navigation contract to Northrop Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $6.3 million DARPA contract to develop an inertial navigation system that will allow users to navigate even in GPS-denied environments.

Soldiers Are Taking Target Practice Against These Man-Shaped Robots In case of robot uprising, burn the evidence that this happened.

Navy’s code-cracking officers get a new nameThese naval officers have been known as information dominators, spooks and cryppies. Now they’ve got another one.

Is the Joint Strike Fighter the right plane for Australia? – Background Briefing – ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) The JSF is not terribly fast and it’s not terribly agile, and the high tech helmet could take the pilots head off if there is a mishap. Sarah Dingle investigates the over budget and over due Joint Strike Fighter

Pentagon worried about dwindling USAF fighter numbers

Million Lines of Code | Information is BeautifulDedicated to distilling the world’s data, information and knowledge into beautiful, interesting and, above all, useful visualizations, infographics and diagrams.

NATO / Russia

‘Unity of Europe must be preserved’: Polish and Hungarian presidents on Ukraine conflict – watch on – uatoday.tv EU sanctions on Russia over aggression in Donbas up for renewal in July

Flydubai Boeing crash in Rostov-on-Don kills all 61 on board — RT News Flydubai flight FZ981 has crashed in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don killing all 61 passengers and crew on board. The flight was en route from Dubai and crashed during its second landing approach amid poor weather conditions.

SUNDAY TIMES – Sixty-one killed as plane crashes in southern Russia Latest news from South Africa, World, Politics, Entertainment and Lifestyle. The home of The Times and Sunday Times newspaper.

The Latest: Dubai gives nationalities of plane crash victims – The Washington Post The Latest on the crash of the FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia (all times local):

‘Great Estonian Wall:’ Country decides to cut itself off from Russia … with 2.5-meter fence — RT News The Estonian government has approved the building of a 2.5-meter fence on its border with Russia as the latest measure aimed at fortifying Estonia’s part of EU outer borders, local media report.

The mysterious death of Mikhail Lesin in D.C. – The Washington Post Answers are needed in the case of a prominent Russian businessman found dead.

Commandant looks to ‘disruptive thinkers’ to fix Corps’ problemsCommandant Gen. Robert Neller is calling for a cultural revolution in which Marines challenge the status quo, develop solutions and leaders serve as their advocates.

This man spied for the CIA, Russia and Germany out of boredom Markus Reichel spied for both the CIA and the Russian secret service because he wanted to “experience something exciting.”

Nemtsov’s killers reportedly revealed due to accidental call : UNIAN newsAnzor Gubashev, one of the alleged killers of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, unwittingly assisted the investigators in identification and arrest of a criminal group. After committing the crime, he made an accidental call using an illegally purchased SIM card,&nbsp;thus revealing himself and other accomplices, Russian newspaper Kommersant reported, with reference to a source close to the investigation.

Russia central bank holds key rate at 11%Russia’s central bank held interest rates steady on Friday warning that inflation risks remained “high” and the oil price rise could be “unsustainable.

“Georgia’s Political Elite Targeted in Sex Videos Blackmail The Georgian Prosecutor’s office announced on March 15 that charges have been brought against five people in connection with illegal video footage featuring prominent political figures engaging in sexual intercourse.

Why Scandinavian countries are the happiest in the world – The Economic Times Denmark reclaimed its place as the worlds happiest country, while Burundi ranks as the least happy nation, according to the World Happiness Report.

“The Russian World” / Propaganda

Russia Kills: Chronology of Russian war crimes in Ukraine Chronology of Russian war crimes in Ukraine

German Minister Aims To Get Russian Sanctions Lifted German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel has called on the European Union to create conditions by this summer to lift sanctions imposed against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian Archive Chief out after debunking Soviet WW II legend – RFE/RL : UNIAN news The longtime director of the Russian State Archive, Sergei Mironenko, has been laid off less than a year after he exposed a popular Soviet World War II legend to be &quot;fiction&quot; and railed against Soviet &quot;myths&quot; in front of top officials, Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported.

Pro-Russian propagandist Graham Phillips detained in Riga :: khpg.orgPro-Russian propagandist Graham Phillips detained in Riga Graham Phillips, a Briton well-known for his propaganda coverage in excruciatingly bad Russian of the Kremlin-provoked and armed conflict in Donbas, has been detained by police in Riga. This has given pro-Kremlin media a particular boost with Phillips himself claiming he was simply standing and filming ‘fascists’.

Russia Places U.S. Organization On ‘Undesirable’ List Russia’s Justice Ministry has added a U.S. organization on the list of “undesirable organizations” under a law that Moscow says is needed to prevent foreign organizations from being used to undermine Russian national security.

How Russia Practices Digital Diplomacy- Interview with Press Attaché at Russian Embassy In London | Exploring Digital DiplomacyOver the past year, much has been written about Russian digital diplomacy. While some have argued that Russia uses social media for propaganda, analysis has shown that the Russian MFA is one of the most active and dominant foreign ministries on twitter. Moreover, the Russian MFA is one of the most central ministries among the…

Russian Foreign Ministry names prime enemies in media warfare – PravdaReportRussian operation in Syria was compared by Western politicians to the war in Afghanistan, but they were wrong

Putin’s Death Sentence for Russia’s Oldest Ukrainian Hostage :: khpg.orgPutin’s Death Sentence for Russia’s Oldest Ukrainian Hostage Yury Soloshenko, the 73-year-old Ukrainian pensioner, sentenced to 6 years in Russia on mystery ‘spying’ charges has cancer. This is the latest blow for the elderly Ukrainian who has not seen his grandchildren since August 2014

Russian Rights Activist Pays Price For Confronting KadyrovHuman rights activist Igor Kalyapin has campaigned for years against police torture and abuse throughout Russia. But although he has documented dozens of cases in the southern region of Chechnya, he has not been able to bring even one to court. He has, however, attracted the personal enmity of its strongman leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.‘

Gutted Like A Pig’: Grieving Mother Takes On Russia’s Organ Donation SystemYelena Sablina has been waging a legal battle to change Russia’s law on organ donation. Two years ago, Sablina accidentally found out that her deceased daughter’s organs had been removed without her knowledge.

Russia’s new disability rules prompt outrage as 500,000 lose benefits | World news | The Guardian System only awards financial aid if claimant has lost ‘40% of a bodily function’, meaning thousands no longer qualify. RFE/RL reports

‘Putin Country’ Offers A Glimpse Inside ‘Real’ Russia : NPR

Putin Country’ Offers A Glimpse Inside ‘Real’ Russia : NPRVeteran foreign correspondent Anne Garrels takes us deep inside Russia, where citizens struggle with a shaky economy and widespread corruption, but seem supportive of their controversial president.

Yuliya Efimova Fails Doping Test For Meldonium; Russia Confirms Temporary Suspension – Swimming World News

Russia and the Arts: The Age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky review – ‘intense, tortured and troubled’ | Art and design | The GuardianEnjoyed War and Peace? Then visit this showcase of Russian portraits whose artists share the sensitivity and searching unease of the writers they portray

Anatol Lieven | Don’t Fear the Russians – The New York TimesWashington needs to stop the saber rattling and recognize that President Putin doesn’t threaten American interests in either Syria or Ukraine.

Ukraine and Russia: A Fraternal Rivalry | Foreign AffairsUkrainian and Russian nationalists will not like this book, nor will Westerners who see Ukraine as a useful counterbalance to Russian expansionism. Lieven’s two main arguments provide them little ammunition. First, he argues, because most Ukrainian Russians and Ukrainians are very close in culture, language, behavior, and attitudes after centuries of coexistence, the more untrammeled aspirations of both Russian and Ukrainian extremists do not sit well with them. The natural disposition is for an independent Ukraine, but one that is ethnically mixed and culturally tolerant.

Ukraine – Military

АТО news: Terrorists shelled Zaitseve with large-caliber mortars and Avdiivka with anti-aircraft guns – shoot out, ATO, Avdiivka, Shyrokyne, Marinka, Anti-Terrorist Operation, АТО news, ATO press center (19.03.16 09:36) « News | EN.Censor.net 19.03.16 09:36 – Terrorists shelled Zaitseve with large-caliber mortars and Avdiivka with anti-aircraft guns, – ATO press center The militants continue to violate the truce and fire at Ukrainian soldiers’ positions. View news.

Russian fighters continue to flow into east Ukraine, US official states | IHS Jane’s 360Large numbers of personnel continue to flow into east Ukraine from Russia, according to the Chargé d’Affaires of the United States’ mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In an address to the OSCE in Vienna on 17 March, the wording of which was obtained by

Militants deploy tanks, Grad systems in Luhansk, Krasniy Luch, Horlivka – Ukraine intel : UNIAN newsThe militants have deployed main battle tanks and Grad multiple rocket launchers in the city of Luhansk and the towns of Krasniy Luch and Horlivka, according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

Ukraine says Russian-backed separatist forces using heavy weapons in eastern Ukraine – watch on – uatoday.tvOne Ukrainian soldier wounded

ATO HQ: 52 attacks on Ukraine troops in last day : UNIAN newsThe combined Russian-separatist forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in eastern Ukraine 52 times in the past 24 hours, including 39 times in the Donetsk sector, 11 times in the Mariupol sector, and twice in the Luhansk sector, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) reported on Thursday.

Poroshenko reiterates Ukraine fully meets Minsk accordsUkrainian President Petro Poroshenko has again reassured that the Ukrainian side has been fulfilling the provisions of the Minsk agreements on the settlement of the Donbas crisis.

$2 to deploy, $1,000 to remove: Ukraine’s landmine tragedy | euronews, world newsworld news – The Ukrainian military has revealed to euronews it is deploying devices targeting individuals as well as vehicles in the east of the country.

‘Is This Real Life?’: Inside the Ukraine War’s Gray ZoneThe gray zone—the palette of the 2-year-old conflict, where the primary colors of war and peace blend.

Ukraine – Civil

Ukraine Ambassador to Czech Republic resigns amid scandal — Ukrinform NewsNotorious Ukrainian Ambassador to the Czech Republic Borys Zaychuk has submitted his resignation.

Make a Ukrainian comfort food classic for Easter: Varenyky and more recipes from chef Olia Hercules | National PostForget those commonly held misconceptions: foods of varying shades of grey with a side of overcooked cabbage. Ukrainian cuisine is rich and varied in its influences

Another Russian attempt to tighten restrictions on news that reaches its citizens?

Russian truth.

Most likely.  So much for Russian freedom of the press or freedom of information. All that is left for Russians to read will be Russian propaganda.

</end editorial>

by David Meyer

MARCH 18, 2016, 4:25 AM EDT

Imagine if everything that showed up on Google News had to go through Google first for fact-checking. That’s the situation that might arise in Russia, hitting foreign and local web giants, such as Yandex, alike.

Russia has tight media controls that include a requirement to make sure all print, broadcast and online news is true. The Kremlin imposed these rules on bloggers as well in 2014, and now lawmakers from communist and center-left parties are trying to bring news aggregators into the fold.

The bill, submitted to the Duma (Russia’s parliament) late February, would effectively say that news aggregators are the same as mass media operations.

This would probably mean Google would have to shut down Google News in Russia, as mass media companies operating in the country must have no more than 20% foreign ownership (under another recent law).

But it would also cause major hassles for local companies running aggregators, such as Yandex and Mail.ru. These operations would become liable if they spread false information and state agencies complain about it.

According to local reports on Thursday, Yandex executive Ekaterina Fadeeva said it would be impossible for her company to comply with the new law.

Google rival Yandex says its news aggregator wouldn’t be able to function.

Imagine if everything that showed up on Google News had to go through Google first for fact-checking. That’s the situation that might arise in Russia, hitting foreign and local web giants, such as Yandex, alike.

Russia has tight media controls that include a requirement to make sure all print, broadcast and online news is true. The Kremlin imposed these rules on bloggers as well in 2014, and now lawmakers from communist and center-left parties are trying to bring news aggregators into the fold.

The bill, submitted to the Duma (Russia’s parliament) late February, would effectively say that news aggregators are the same as mass media operations.

This would probably mean Google would have to shut down Google News in Russia, as mass media companies operating in the country must have no more than 20% foreign ownership (under another recent law).

But it would also cause major hassles for local companies running aggregators, such as Yandex and Mail.ru. These operations would become liable if they spread false information and state agencies complain about it.

According to local reports on Thursday, Yandex executive Ekaterina Fadeeva said it would be impossible for her company to comply with the new law.

For more on Russia, watch:
Fadeeva said the amount of news traffic pumping into an aggregator makes it impossible to pre-moderate everything. What’s more, Yandex argues that there is no way it can objectively assess the truthfulness of all the stories showing up in the aggregator — that’s the job of the journalists and editors publishing the stories.

“Yandex.News can’t exist in its current status if this bill will pass,” a Yandex spokesperson told Fortune.

Although the law would create a handy way of further restricting information flows, when the bill came out, the Russian communications ministry indicated it was not keen on the idea.

That said, the Kremlin has already been making life hard for big online players, particularly by mandating that they store users’ personal data on servers in Russia.

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Mar 21st 2016 9:29am

Over the weekend, the NY Times ran a big article providing a bunch of details about the Paris attacks from last year, now that the lone surviving member of those attacks has been captured in Belgium. The article is mostly based on a 55-page report put together by French antiterrorism police and given to France’s Interior Minister. Someone apparently gave the report to the NY Times as well. And it does includes some interesting background info, including some previously unknown attack details. It also includes a bit about how the attacks were planned and carried out, with the most salient detail being that it’s pretty clear that the team used burner phones (i.e., phones purchased just for this purpose, for a very short time, and not easily traced back to individuals):

They used only new phones that they would then discard, including several activated minutes before the attacks, or phones seized from their victims.

That’s not all that surprising, of course. People have known about burner phones for ages. But the thing that stood out for me was the desperate need of the NY Times reporters to insist that there must be encryption used by the attackers, despite the near total lack of evidence of any such use. Immediately after the attacks, law enforcement and intelligence officials started blaming encryption based on absolutely nothing. Senator John McCain used it as an excuse to plan legislation that would force backdoors into encryption. And Rep. Michael McCaul insisted that the Paris attackers used the encrypted Telegram app, despite no one else saying that. In fact, for months, the only thing we’d heard was that they used unencrypted SMS to alert each other that the attacks were on, and made almost no effort to hide themselves.

But, amazingly, the NY Times takes evidence of a lack of encryption… to mean there must be encryption:

According to the police report and interviews with officials, none of the attackers’ emails or other electronic communications have been found, prompting the authorities to conclude that the group used encryption. What kind of encryption remains unknown, and is among the details that Mr. Abdeslam’s capture could help reveal.

But… that’s not how encryption works. If they’re using encrypted emails, the emails don’t disappear. You still can see that they exist, and the metadata of who sent messages to whom remains. It’s just that you can’t read the contents of the emails. This is bogeyman thinking about encryption, where people think it does something it doesn’t actually do. Sure, it’s possible that the attackers used some sort of secretive way to communicate, but then the issue isn’t encryption, but rather that they figured out how to hide the method by which they communicated. Or, you know, they just talked about stuff in person.

And then there’s this:

One of the terrorists pulled out a laptop, propping it open against the wall, said the 40-year-old woman. When the laptop powered on, she saw a line of gibberish across the screen: “It was bizarre — he was looking at a bunch of lines, like lines of code. There was no image, no Internet,” she said. Her description matches the look of certain encryption software, which ISIS claims to have used during the Paris attacks.

OH MY! “A bunch of lines, like lines of code”?!?!?! Must be encryption! Or, you know, Linux. Or some other system that doesn’t start with a graphical user interface. And even if it was encryption, then he wouldn’t be looking at it in encrypted form. To read encrypted messages you decrypt them first. Nothing in this paragraph above makes any sense at all as “proof” of encryption. It just seems like proof of the reporters’ technology ignorance.

It may very well turn out that the attackers used encryption. It very likely will be true in the future that attackers and terrorists will use encryption. But, this crazy moral panic going on these days where anything that people can’t understand “must be encryption!” is reaching insane levels.

Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160321/00392533965/french-police-report-paris-attacks-shows-no-evidence-encryption-so-ny-times-invents-evidence-itself.shtml

They still have a few seats left!

April 5 – 7, 2016 in Nashville, TN

Winn is excited… Less than a month away and Winn can’t wait to see those special people who attend and participate at InfowarCon 16! We have updated the schedule to reflect the most recent developments, events, and things you may have never even thought of: HERE. As a teaser… InfowarCon 2016 Keywords, Topics and Ideas: Cyber-Kinetics. Minority Report: 2016 – Predicting Crime and Terrorism. Swedish Cyberwar Leadership and Total Defence Concept as a Counter-Hybrid Defence. Drone Wars: Policy to Strategy. Financial Models for Asymmetric Actors. Autonomous Warfare (SkyNet?). Strat Comm, the Narrative and Social Media. How Hollywood can help national and global defenses. Mind-Machine interfaces and CNO/CNA/CND. Putin and the information wars. All this PLUS relaxing evenings among colleagues, interesting discussions, heavy hors d’oeuvres, wine and whatever our full-time on-staff mixologist conjures up! Take a look at the schedule and please contact Betty@InfowarCon.Com to reserve a limited availability seat. Updated Agenda Hotels & Lodging Registration

©2016 InfowarCon | +1.727.409.1754 | +1.520.INFOWAR | Info@InfowarCon.com

March 21, 2016 – 21:27

http://www.stopfake.org/en/kremlin-propaganda-soviet-active-measures-by-other-means/

Upcoming in Estonian Journal of Military Studies, the journal of the Estonian National Defense College (ENDC)  By Yevhen Fedchenko

ABSTRACT

This article traces the evolution of Russian propaganda as part of active measures from Soviet times  through Russian occupation of Crimea and the war against Ukraine in Donbas  as the climax in use of propaganda and media manipulations. Fakes and forgeries are a part of active measures conducted by the Kremlin and amending its military capacity and diplomacy efforts to cover it up. The manufacturing of fakes is characterized by centralized and systematic approach to manufacturing and distribution of fakes, their coherence and connection with the Kremlin policies and talking points. The article concludes that the use of media-related active measures is not a new phenomenon and was widely used by Soviet Union before as an instrument for conducting its foreign policy by clandestine means. Through examination of more than 500  items from Russian propaganda, debunked by StopFake.org verification project, we can conclude that the same themes for fakes and forgeries used in USSR since 1950s and are used now. The only thing that changed is the parasitizing of Kremlin propaganda on the Western concept of liberal values that allows Kremlin to disguise it under the pretext of freedom of speech and delivering ‘the other point of view’. As Kremlin historically relied on traditional media, mainly printed as a key channel for the distribution of fakes, now it also utilizes the wide range of new opportunities provided by internet and social media.

WHAT ACTIVE MEASURES ARE

Russian occupation of Crimea and the war against Ukraine in Donbas demonstrated the climax in use of propaganda and media manipulations, fakes and forgeries. They are a just a part of active measures conducted by the Kremlin and amending its military capacity and diplomacy efforts to cover it up.

War in the Eastern Ukraine is very dramatic and tense but has limited local impact and less visibility beyond Ukraine, especially after ceasefire within the framework of Minsk agreements. The information war as a part of hybrid war is very important because its influences are ongoing and it has a global impact as more and more countries are finding traces of Russian active measure on their territory.

Peter Pomerantsev notes on the concept of hybrid war: “Described by scholars as ‘hybrid’, ‘full-spectrum’, ‘non-linear’, ‘next-generation’, or ‘ambiguous’—the variations in the description indicate the slipperiness of the subject—these conflicts mix psychological, media, economic, cyber, and military operations without requiring a declaration of war”[1].

The extent of active use of media-related active measures is one of the major differences between Soviet information war and contemporary Russian hybrid war. Soviet Union was considering these activities mainly as covert operations that never were publicly declared, articulated or disclosed as those conducted or related to Soviet government agencies. Instead contemporary Russia coopts these instruments of public opinion manipulation and made it visible part of the public discourse for domestic and foreign audiences.

President Putin used similar approach openly describing the importance of informational component in the military strategy of Russia. At the opening of RT’s Spanish-language broadcasting in Argentina he said: “The rapid progress of electronic media has made news reporting enormously important and turned it into a formidable weapon that enables public opinion manipulations”[2].

Kremlin considers such manipulations not only as an important instrument for conducting foreign policy but also as an instrument for conducting or supplementing military warfare.  Russian military doctrine adopted in December  2014 emphasizes the importance of information and information technologies:

11. There is a tendency towards shifting the military risks and military threats to the information space 

12.l) use of information and communication technologies for the military-political purposes to take actions which run counter to international law, being aimed against sovereignty, political independence, territorial integrity of states and posing threat to international peace, security, global and regional stability 

13.c) subversive information activities against the population, especially young citizens of the State, aimed at undermining historical, spiritual and patriotic traditions related to the defense of the Motherland[3].

Older version of Military Doctrine from 2010 also featured (article 13d) the possibility of  the information war measures /…/  to pre-empt the use of the military force or to form positive public opinion  after the use of military force (http://kremlin.ru/supplement/461)

Anatoliy Nogovitsyn, former Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, defines the role of information in hybrid war as follows:

the disorganization of the functioning of key military, industrial, and administrative facilities and systems of the enemy and also the information-psychological effect on his military-political leadership, troops, and population with the use of modern information technologies and means[4].

President Putin, opening RT Spanish 24/7 broadcasting in Argentina on July 2014, also focuses on the importance of media, especially electronic media (first of all television but also Internet):

The rapid progress of electronic media has made news reporting enormously important and turned it into a formidable weapon that enables public opinion manipulations. The intense media warfare has become a mark of the times, when certain nations attempt to monopolize the truth and use it in their own interests[5].

When Putin speaks of media warfare, he means the war which is conducted against Russia by unnamed countries. Although Russian President does not mention here who conducts this war, he means the West in general, and the United States and NATO in particular. This is also overtly mentioned in Military Doctrine. That puts Moscow reactively in defensive position and necessitates the retaliation:

In a speech to Russia’s Academy of Military Sciences in January 2013, Chief-of-Staff Valery Gerasimov complained that Russian knowledge of asymmetric warfare was “superficial.” The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the United States in particular, had demonstrated their mastery of non-military campaigns in the Arab Spring and Ukraine’s pro-Western Orange Revolution in 2004, Gerasimov said. Such modesty is disingenuous. Disinformation and subversion as weapons of war are as old as catapults and cavalry. The Kremlin’s advantage in the information age is that all of Russia’s major media outlets are under its control, allowing it to hammer its audience with one, unified message. The Kremlin claim that it’s in an “information war” with the West implies that there is vast conspiracy among myriad media in the United States and Europe, public and private, to produce the same lies about Russia[6].

Russia perfectly understands the importance of propaganda and heavily invests with money and human talent into organizations that work for international audience like RT (formerly known as Russia Today), Sputnik International (formerly known as the Voice of Russia), Ruptly, RIA (that still operate as a brand in Russian), TASS, Russia Insider, Russia Beyond the Headlines(RBTH) and myriad of other sources for propaganda, fakes and falsifications. As we see some of these “media” organizations are well-known propaganda brands from the Cold War times, others are quite new.

RT was created in 2005, immediately after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine and was fully operational during Russian war in Georgia in 2008.  Sputnik International was launched during Euromaidan uprising in Kyiv.

Both RT and Sputnik International dropped the word “Russian” from their brand names which is quite interesting but explainable. They do not work for Russian market, do not cover primarily Russia and they do not do Russia’s nation branding as many argues.  For example, Shawn Powers calls RT a part of “global engagement strategy that combines Russian and international media platforms to communicate and articulate Russian foreign policy. The most developed of these is Russia Today (RT), which is a Russian satellite television broadcasting system similar to Qatar’s Al Jazeera or France 24[7].

Margarita Simonyan, RT head, explains that it’s not about national branding at all: “To some extent, if you do not have broadcasting for abroad – it’s like you do not have the army. When there is no war you do not need it. But when the war already started you cannot create it in a week”[8].

Sputnik International website says that their mission is “to points the way to a multipolar world that respects every country’s national interests, culture, history and traditions”. In reality it’s just the opposite as Kremlin “has systematically learnt to use the principles of liberal democracies against them in what we call here “the weaponization of information”[9].

In other words, Kremlin is using these so called ‘media’ organizations to deny others to have the right for their own culture, history and traditions through twisting facts and faking stories to undermine the policy making process or compromise their core values and institutions:

Like RT, the German branch of Sputnik — named after the satellite that established the Soviet claim to supremacy in space almost 60 years ago — is part of the Rossiya Segodnya media empire. Its mandate is to broadcast Moscow’s worldview at Putin’s behest. Dmitry Kiselyov, the Kremlin’s chief propagandist, serves as Sputnik’s general director. The only Russian journalist on the EU sanctions list against Moscow, he sees himself as being involved in an “information war.” In fact, he says, this is the “primary form of warfare” today[10].

The core of the Kremlin’s propaganda, both inside and outside Russia, is a post-modernist denial of everything. It’s aiming at destructing the whole liberal concept of western society including democracy itself and its separate elements like free media, fair elections, effective governance, right of people for self-determination and self-governance. There is no new ideology contained in current Russian propaganda, because Russia does not have one ideology. Instead, it borrows a little from everything. In this way, the system produces a large number of “small propagandas”, each of them targeting a specific audience. The more messages the better; this multiplies the confusion. To paraphrase Peter Pomerantsev, one could argue that the aim is not to provide a sole narrative, but to create clashes of narratives in order to confuse different audiences with different messages:

Unlike in the Cold War, when Soviets largely supported leftist groups, a fluid approach to ideology now allows the Kremlin to simultaneously back far-left and far-right movements, greens, anti-globalists and financial elites. The aim is to exacerbate divides and create an echo chamber of Kremlin support[11].

Although Russian war in Ukraine became the climax point for the use of Russian propaganda, it is a continuation of Soviet propaganda that never disappeared with collapse of Soviet Union. In reality it was just reviewed, rebuilt and transformed according to contemporary situation in order to increase its efficiency.

The contemporary Russian propaganda system is often compared to that of the Soviets during the Cold War. Because it has the same objectives, borrows the same techniques from the KGB playbook; many terms are easily recognizable, from the “puppeteers from Washington” to “foreign agents”, yet it is different in terms of quantity, quality and instruments it uses.

Ideology was a central element in the propaganda of the Soviet Union, which clashed against values-based counter-propaganda coming from the West. The central role played by the communist ideology ultimately made Soviet propaganda weak and ineffective; such ideological narratives only appealed to left-leaning political groups or countries.

As US Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs “Special Report on Soviet active measures” mentions in 1981, “Soviet use of Marxist-Leninist ideology to appeal to foreign groups often turns out to be an obstacle to the promotion of Soviet goals in some areas; it is now being deemphasized though not completely abandoned”[12].

To achieve their goals, the Soviets created a concept of active measures (aktivnyye meropriyatiya) that refers to operations intended to “affect other nations policies, as distinct from espionage and counterintelligence. Soviet active measures included:

• Written or spoken disinformation
• Efforts to control media in foreign countries
• Use of Communist parties and front organizations
• Clandestine radio broadcasting
• Blackmail, personal and economic
• Political influence operations[13].

These instruments are summarized by Active Measures Working Group  – the interagency taskforce formed in 1981 and led by the United States Department of State and later by the United States Information Agency(USIA). In their annual reports produced from 1981 till 1989 they provided detailed account of the use of active measure by Soviet Union.

Very important insight into active measures practices of Soviet Union can also be obtained from the books by defectors from Soviet Union or satellite socialist states who were insiders in the disinformation system like Ladislav Bittman, Mihai Pacepa, Anatoliy Golitsyn, Stanislav Levchenko, Vasili Mitrokhin.   All the evidences they give support the idea that Soviet Union active measure never seized their existence.

Ladislav Bittman, the former StB Czechoslovak intelligence officer who in 1968 defected to the West summarizes existing instruments during Soviet times:

Forgeries/…/ are classified into two major categories. The first category includes misleading information(disinformation) that contributes to poor policy decisions among government leaders. This type of fake usually does not require or receive widespread attention of the media. The second type, propagandistic forgery, seeks to mold public opinion in a target country. Propagandistic forgeries take a number of different forms: leaflets in the name of non-existent organizations, counterfeit pamphlets circulated to key individuals and groups, facsimiles and subtle alterations of official publications, reproduction and shading of entire issues of newspapers and magazines, fake personal letters, and phony bank statements. Even duplicate best-sellers have been offered to publishing houses[14].

As we can see the approaches used by Moscow included many instruments related to media manipulations such as general control of the media in foreign countries, complete or partial forgery of media stories that contain partial truth or are complete lie, set up of bogus media organizations abroad, exploitation of journalists as collaborators to influence policies of the nation.

It’s exactly the same set of tools that is currently used by Kremlin for deception and disinformation.  Especially interesting for us are fakes and forgeries as a part of active measures as we will discuss them later in more details.

Another important issue is chain of command and hierarchy in the production of fakes and forgeries. To answer who is a mastermind behind this elaborated system we might also have a peek at how this system was managed in the past.  According to Active Measure Working group report,

Depending on its sensitivity and importance, approval for a forgery may be obtained from the KGB leadership, the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, or the Secretariat of the Central Committee itself. KGB specialists prepare the forgery under the supervision of the active measures section of the KGBs First Chief Directorate[15].

According to the Report “Soviet Active Measures in The ‘Post-Cold War’ Era 1988-1991”,  The International Information Department(IDD)  of the CPSU Central Committee  was also involved in manufacturing fake and forgeries. Quite interesting is its internal organizational chart which might give us a clue how it might be organized today:

IDD was divided into 6 sectors organized around geographical and functional lines. Each sector employed about half a dozen professionals, who determined the themes, arguments, and information used in Soviet foreign propaganda and the treatment of international affairs in the Soviet press. After these were decided upon, the IID and its successors would hold regular meetings to issue their guidance on international information issues to Novosti, TASS, Radio Moscow, Radio Peace and Progress, and other leading Soviet media[16].

If we would compare it to current operations, we also can find in place effective system of management and coordination of production of fakes and their dissemination across the platforms and across the countries. Without such a coordination it would be impossible to imagine high level of cohesion between active measures, policy making, military actions and diplomatic coverup of seminal events like Crimean occupation first, and then war in the Eastern Ukraine.

If we will use the Soviet model of command, KGB can be replaced with FSB and SVR who share the responsibilities according to the spheres of their competence – Russian domestic audience or international audience respectively. Also GRU military intelligence is deeply involved in planning and conducting of active measures as soon as Russian Ministry of Defense is conducting military operations. International Department and International Information Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party will be replaced by Kremlin itself that directs and coordinates active measures. Newsweek quotes Ilya Ponomarev, an opposition Duma deputy: “That role is played by Putin’s deputy chief of staff, Alexei Gromov, who calls in chief editors to coordinate the Kremlin line. Gromov distributes the orders to the mainstream media in Moscow, /…/ and his orders are as strict as any in the army.[17]”

Also there are secondary evidences coming from text messages hacked by Anonymous International that other Kremlin high-ranked officials representing Presidential Administration, Government or ruling United Russia Party are involved in planning and conducting media-related active measures: Vyacheslav Volodin, Timur Prokopenko, Arkadiy Dvorkovich, Robert Shlegel among others[18].

Soviet leadership, the same as Russian leadership, always insisted on defensive character of their active measures, and as a result their moral superiority:

KGB’s active-measures doctrine improbably insisted that its influence operations were ‘radically different in essence from the disinformation to which Western agencies resort in order to deceive public opinion’: KGB disinformation operations are progressive; they are designed to mislead not the working people but their enemies – the ruling circles of capitalism – in order to induce them to act in a certain way, or abstain from actions contrary to the interests of the USSR; they promote peace and social progress; they serve international détente; they are humane, creating the conditions for the noble struggle for humanity’s bright future[19].

The same idea of moral superiority can be found in views of one of the public faces of contemporary Russian propaganda Dmitry Kiselev, who “with typical brio, argued that East and West appeared to be trading places. In Russia we now take full advantage of freedom of speech, whereas in the West political correctness, or political expediency in the name of security, have become arguments against freedom of speech”[20].

The idea of freedom of speech, high moral ground in information battle with the West and access to alternative point of view through Russian so called ‘media’ become a cornerstone concept for Kremlin propaganda inherited from the Soviet past.  Putin opening RT Spanish 24/7 broadcasting in Argentina in July 2014 says: “Your nation is now getting a reputable and, most importantly, reliable source of information on the events and developments in Russia and worldwide. The right to information is one of the most important and inalienable human rights”[21].

In reality it means just the opposite: more fakes disguised as real news.  Those conducting these activities do not care much about being caught telling lies –  the audiences will already consume that and it will be very difficult to debunk: “Although the fabricators are aware that once a document appears in print the supposed author will promptly deny its authenticity, the Soviets calculate that a denial will never entirely offset the damage from news stories based on the forgery”[22].

To make sure that fakes will be consumed by audiences at a face value, will amass  and create parallel reality it’s important to make sure that they are not complete lie but combination of some kind of authentic information: it can be mixture of real facts and fiction, some facts in the background of the information, some irrelevant details to make ‘news’ looking more realistic: “Active measures were based on 95 percent objective information to which something was added to turn the data into targeted information or disinformation.[23]”

Also important for comparative perspective is evaluation of the scale of active measure conducted by the USSR and Russia. Soviet forgeries detected by the inter-agency Active Measures working group were totaling only 4 cases in 1980, 7 in 1981, 9 in 1982, and 12 in 1983[24].

Although their number was increasing from year to year, in the Soviet period they never reached the level of contemporary Russian active measures. Only those fakes that were debunked by StopFake.org amounts to more than 500 cases in just 2 years.  According to The Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at National Defense University’s (NDU’s), “conducting more intense disinformation campaign was expensive for the Soviet Union, with estimated spending of about $3 to 4 billion per year in hard currency at the beginning of the 1980s. By the end of the decade, some insiders believed that the Soviet Union was spending three to five times that much[25].”

To make sure that fake information will look more credible and trustworthy and to avoid direct responsibility or even to use a false flag, Soviet propaganda was actively using Communist proxy newspapers to deliver propaganda messages or ideally – non-Communist media. Very often information was attributed to newspapers like The Morning Star(British socialist newspaper), L’Humanite(daily newspaper of French Communist party),  Rude Pravo(newspaper of Communist party of Czechoslovakia) and then Soviet propaganda outlets were ‘quoting’ them.

Ladislav Bittman explains why it was important to do:

to maintain an aura of authenticity, disinformation must first appear through a mass medium not openly identifiable as pro-Communist. A journalist-agent working for a reputable publication is usually supplied with disinformation and told how to write the story. In most cases, the initial appearance of sensational materials is enough to start a chain reaction of further publicity as other media outlets become interested I the subject. Local communist newspapers are left out of the game to act according to their ideological bias and editorial decision. Even the reaction of Pravda,/…/ does not provide the key for understanding the real purpose of the KGB Strategy[26].

Nowadays manipulating foreign media is also widespread technic of active measures. If Russian propaganda is not capable to place their doctored stories in Western mainstream media they can invent fake connections to them.

In 2015 several Russian web-based media(including fake Kharkov News Agency, actually based in Russia) distorted The New York Times article allegedly called “Nazi Terrorist ‘Death Squads’ Exterminate Ethnic Russians in the Eastern Ukraine“ and reported that the newspaper had written about “the extermination of ethnic Russians in the Eastern Ukraine” by Ukrainian volunteer battalions. But nothing to this effect was in the article, which reported on three Chechen battalions fighting alongside the Ukrainian army in the eastern part of the country[27].

On October 22, 2015 the Russia’s Ministry of Defense television network Zvezda posted a false report on its website claiming that “Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused the leader of the Batkivshchyna political party, Yulia Tymoshenko, of sexual harassment.” It claimed that the original source for the story was an interview given by Yatsenyuk to a journalist of the Russian service of Radio France Internationale (RFI), Elena Servettaz. The RFI Russian service, however, immediately denied that it had made any such report and condemned Zvezda for making up both the sexual harassment story and its coverage by RFI[28].

The Russian website Ukraina.ru(that belongs to  MIA Rossiaya Segodnya International Information Agency, formerly RIA Novosti) at the very beginning of Russia’s endeavor in Syria published a story by little-known American author Jack Smith claiming that Russia is an important player in Syria and Washington is obliged to listen to her. The site presented the story as if it was published in the prestigious Foreign Policy Magazine. In fact, the article cited was published in the little known private web site called Foreign Policy Journal[29].

Documentary “Ukraine: Masks of revolution” by French journalist Paul Moreira can be another example of a possible manipulation of foreign media by Kremlin security apparatus even without the prior knowledge of it. The film was commissioned and shown recently be CANAL+, French commercial TV channel. It included many factual mistakes and irregularities which accidentally completely coincide with Kremlin narrative towards Ukraine. According to Galya Ackerman, Executive Director of the Paris-based “European Forum-Ukraine”, this is a classical example of active measures, conducted according to Soviet tradition by using Western journalists (without their knowledge): “One thing when documentary like this is shown on (Russian) NTV channel or spread by Sputnik International but when it’s broadcasted by (French) CANAL+ – that’s quite another pair of shoes[30]”.

In order to ‘use’ foreign media to seed necessary fake story USSR needed to create their own media, control them or to buy or use any other means to get access to journalists.

For example, according to Report “Soviet Active Measures in The ‘Post-Cold War’ Era 1988-1991”, Soviet Union helped to launch Indian newspaper Patriot  “with KGB funds in order to spread Soviet propaganda and disinformation”. This newspaper was later used to break a most seminal in the history of Soviet active measures ‘news item’ on alleged US government involvement in ‘creating’ AIDS as part of development of biological warfare research.   Later the same newspaper “falsely claimed that the U.S. was encouraging Turkey to seize northern Iraq[31]”.

Another example was a German Magazine Geheim published and edited by Michael Opperskalski since 1985. Although there were no direct evidences of connection between him and Soviets, Herbert Romerstein (one of the active members of Active Measures Working Group)  in “Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda, and Political Warfare” quotes Hubertus Knabe, a leading German expert on Stasi activities, who  “identified the publisher of Geheim with the code name ‘Abraham’ as Michael Opperskalski[32]”. He closed his magazine in 1992 but then resumed publishing in 2002. Now Michael Opperskalski is regular contributor to RT[33].

Another difference between Soviet and Russian active measures can be the benefits of Internet and social media usage that Kremlin may utilize now to fullest extent and that were not available in Soviet times.  That allows to create and use anonymous sources for spreading fakes that later will be picked up by mainstream media.

For example, on August 30, 2015 RT published a translated anonymous post from a blog, Blauer Bote (Blue Courier), in which the writer summarizes an article from the Kyiv Post. The original article is about a children’s training camp of the Azov Battalion. Yet while the Kyiv Post article is neutral, the anonymous writer of the German blog deliberately and subjectively radicalizes it in his retelling. The writer also adds a collection of news stories on the speculative topic of Ukrainian Nazis. Russia Today presents this loose compilation of links and anonymous opinion pieces under the headline “Blauer Bote: Kyiv Newspaper Boasted of Hitler Youth Camps” – and, moreover, wrongly describes some of the material it contains as opinion pieces from serious German media outlets. The website, however, offers neither contact information nor the names of the writers[34].

Soviet disinformation campaign continued through Perestroika and Glasnost and actually never stopped. During Reagan-Gorbachev summit meeting, USIA Director Charles Wick confronted Gorbachev personally about Soviet disinformation. Gorbachev responded “no more lies, no more disinformation[35]”.

According to A Report to Congress by the United States Information Agency “SOVIET ACTIVE MEASURES IN THE ERA OF GLASNOST” published in March 1988,

Since the December 1987 summit, state-controlled Soviet media have falsely claimed or suggested that: the United States manufactured the AIDS virus in a U.S. military facility at Fort Detrick, Maryland [Radio Moscow, Feb. 13, 1988]; the United States is manufacturing an ethnic weapon that kills only non-whites [TASS, Jan. 9, 1988; January 1988 Novosti Military Bulletin; Radio Moscow, Feb. 5, 19881;  the FBI assassinated Rev. Martin Luther King [Literaturnaya Gazeta Jan. 20, 1988];  the head of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Commission conference in Geneva, Armando Valladares, was jailed in Cuba for bombing stores [Izvestia, Feb. 6, 1988]; 2  the CIA assassinated Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi, and attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II [Moscow Television, Feb. 9, 1988][36].

Active Measures Working group that monitored, measured Soviet active measures and did annual reports stopped monitoring it in 1989 and after this date we do not have any reports summarizing Soviet activities in this field.

But another Report to Congress “Soviet Active Measures Forgery, Disinformation, Political Operations” predicts that

there is every reason to believe that the Soviet leadership will continue to make heavy investments of money and manpower in meddlesome and disruptive operations around the world. While Soviet active measures can be exposed, as they have often been in the past, the Soviets are becoming more sophisticated, especially in forgeries and political influence operations. Unless the targets of Soviet active measures take effective action to counter them, these activities will continue to trouble both industrialized and developing countries[37].

As historian of Perestroika Brian Crozier  warns about what the West overlooked in the period of ungrounded euphoria of Gorbachev’s Perestroika:

there was, however, a hidden dimension to perestroika, which passed largely unnoticed by the Western media and by Western political leaders: the restructuring of the “active measures” apparatus. In contrast to the “restructuring” of the economy, the perestroika of the overt and covert propaganda apparatus of the Soviet Union was considerably strengthened and made more sophisticated under Gorbachev[38].

Andrei Soldatov, who studies Russian security and intelligence apparatus, also confirms that Soviet Union continues their active measure operations in 2000s:

When the First Chief Directorate was renamed the Foreign Intelligence Service, its Section A was renamed the Section of Assistance Operations. In the early 1990s, the CIA had asked the foreign intelligence service to stop carrying out ‘active measures’ that undermined the national security of the United States. As a result, the section was given a new name, but its methods, structure, and employees were retained[39].

Soviet propaganda apparatus was carefully refurbished to order to make it more modern and more effective.  Valentin Falin, Head of Novosti Press Agency and later the head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was one of the architects of this system reboot and suggested to create new model for propaganda manufacturing and dissemination that envisaged the current system, including the creation of RT and Sputnik International:

Under capitalism information is the main commodity and you need to sell this commodity. If the government will do this – it’s doomed to fail. We need to create state-public company subordinated to the Communist party Central Commetee that will combine Novosti Press agency APN, TASS, State TV and Radio Commette, State Publishing  Comittee, State Cinema Comittee, Union of Journalists. Central Commetee should start its own TV channel, TV Pravda and also global video news agency[40].

RUSSIAN ACTIVE MEASURES AND FAKES ON UKRAINE

Peter Pomeratsev describes influence of Russian propaganda on Ukraine as follows:

In the case of Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine, for example, hyper-intense Russian propaganda has cultivated unrest inside the country by sowing enmity among segments of Ukrainian society and confusing the West with waves of disinformation, while Russian proxy forces and covert troops launch just enough military offensives to ensure that the Ukrainian government looks weak. The point is not to occupy territory—Russia could easily annex rebel-held eastern Ukraine—but to destabilize Ukraine psychologically and advance a narrative of the country as a “failed state,” thus destroying the will and support inside Ukraine and internationally for reforms that would make Kiev more independent from Moscow[41].

Ben Nimo describes anatomy of Russian  info-war against Ukraine with the concept of 4Ds: “Russia’s narrative can be viewed as an offensive weapon: Its effect is to discredit the West and shift the blame for the Ukraine crisis onto Western shoulders. When it comes to defending Russia, different tactics are used. They can be summed up in four words: dismiss, distort, distract, dismay”[42].

To better understand the content of media-related active measures, we will use materials, researched by fact-checking project Stopfake.org that was launched in March 2014 by faculty, students and alumni of the Mohyla School of Journalism in Kyiv, Ukraine.

The team was then joined by other journalists, editors, programmers, translators, and those concerned about proliferation of propaganda. The main purpose of this Project is to check facts, verify information, and refute verifiable disinformation about events in Ukraine covered in the media. StopFake team does not represent or is supported by any political party, commercial organization, or Ukrainian government and is focused on journalistic standards of information.

During 2 years of its existence Stopfake.org analyzed, fact-checked and debunked more that 500 stories from Russian media (that includes TV, print and internet media, and social media, both Government-controlled and private – which it reality also means quasi-governmental control).

We can divide them into different types and categories depending on the themes of the fakes, forms of output (text, photo, video, meme); target audiences they are aiming at: Russian domestic audience, Ukrainian audience, US/Europe, rest of the world/global audience. Also we can differentiate it by platforms used for spreading them.

For our typology we use the disinformation themes.

By analyzing 500 items of debunked disinformation(fakes) we can identify 18 major fake narratives themes formed by Russian propaganda:

1. Сoup d’état and Western-backed junta
2. Ukraine as a ‘fascist state’
3. Ukraine as a ‘failed state’
4. Russia is not a part of occupation/war
5. Ukrainian Army
6. Volunteer Battalions
7. Internally displaced persons(IDPs) and refugees to Russia
8. Territorial disintegration of Ukraine
9. ‘Territorial claims’ from neighboring countries
10. Fake legitimization of Crimea annexation and occupation of Donbass by foreign governments, international organizations or foreign media
11. War in Ukraine is actually conducted by the US, NATO or private contractors
12. Decline of Western support for Ukraine
13. International organizations manipulated
14. Ukraine and the EU
15. Disintegration of the EU, decay of the US and West in general
16. MH17
17. AIDS/ZIKA/ other disease stories
18. Ukraine/Turkey/Syria/ISIS

Although we identified 18 main disinformation themes during last 2 years, we will do more detailed analysis of only those that identically repeat Soviet propaganda patterns and put narrratives in a a wider perspective. The most used frames for post-Maidan Ukraine were frames of coup d’etat, Western-backed (mostly US-backed junta) seizing power and fascism as defining ideology of emerging regime in Ukraine.

Сoup d’état and western-backed junta

Coup d’état or illegal overthrow of the legitimate president(Yanukovych) and its government was one of the central topics for propaganda manipulation (https://www.rt.com/news/159664-italy-protest-nazism-ukraine/, accessed February 27, 2016). Ancient regime Ukrainian leaders who fled the country were harbored in Russia for further propaganda use. They had numerous media appearances in Russian media and subsequently were proclaimed as “Ukrainian government in exile”.

The main disinformation theme about US-backed junta of radicals and banderites, according to evidences coming from text messages hacked by Anonymous International, was initially launched from Kremlin by Alexey Gromov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia,  and pushed to different media outlets by Timur Prokopenko, the head of the Kremlin internal affairs department[43].

This disinformation theme was picked up by all Russian mainstream media and social media and was main frame of reference for the depicting Ukraine-related events during next two years.

Valentin Zorin, one of the biggest propagandists from Soviet times who still occasionally works for RIA in his 90s  and still publishes, explains at government-owned outlet US government complicity in Ukrainian ‘coup’: “From the very beginning, being in charge of coup d’état in Kiev, Washington DC relied on extreme nationalistic forces, banderites who oathed to Hitler and committed atrocities against Russians, Jews, Polish[44]”.

This is written in 2014-2015 but you cannot say the difference between these talking points and ideological verbatim of Cold war times. The idea to depict Euromaidan through the US involvement and the use of Cold War framework was intended to mobilize Russian domestic audience, radicalize audience in the Eastern and Southern Ukraine (which was planned by Kremlin to be transformed into wider Novorossia separatists’ entity) and sow suspicion among Europeans and the rest of the world.

As Ladislav Bittman notes,

Anti-American propaganda campaigns are the easiest to carry out. A single press article containing sensational facts of a ‘new American conspiracy’ may be sufficient. Other papers become interested, the public is shocked, and government authorities in developing countries have a fresh opportunity to clamor against the imperialists while demonstrators hasten to break American embassy windows[45].

The same language and visuals were used in Soviet propaganda and Russian propaganda to depict US involvement in the potential breakup of the Soviet Union and almost 30 years later depicting the US meddling with Ukraine within Russia’s exclusive sphere of influence. For example, in early January 1991 Soviet Television produced 40-minute documentary, “The Faces of Extremism” where shots of terrorism in Lebanon, Northern Ireland, and Spain were mixed with film clips of U.S. military operations in Grenada, Panama, and Libya, followed by scenes of a rally held by Rukh (the democratic party in Ukraine], riots in Central Asia, fighting in Azerbaijan, and demonstrations in Lithuania. The narrator suggested that the U.S. government would soon try to organize underground political movements in Central Asia in order to cause the collapse of the Soviet Union[46].

In 2014 NTV channel produced pretty similar ‘documentary’ called “Ordinary Fascism: Ukrainian Variant[47]” to form the same perception of events in Ukraine among first of all Russian domestic audience as “The Faces of Extremism” did in 1990s.

In both ‘documentaries’ US government and western non-governmental institutions are blamed for committing direct and indirect actions to disrupt Soviet/Russian influence. For example, in 1991, according to the US Congressional Report,  Soviet Defense minister Yazov “joined in the anti-U.S. and anti-democratic chorus, accusing the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, which aids democratic groups worldwide, of trying to influence events in the USSR[48]”.

This rhetoric is very similar to rhetoric of Kremlin now, accusing organizations they dub as ‘foreign agents’.  Even in the case of StopFake.org when opponents want to insult the project, they immediately invoke National Endowment for Democracy donor support as an evidence of US government and CIA involvement[49].

Junta in Ukraine that usurped the power through ‘undemocratic’ procedures are considered to be American (Washington DC, The White House) puppets and Ukrainian people as US lackeys.

We find a lot of fake stories supporting this line of narrative: photo fake “Kyiv Residents Kneel before Biden[50]”, textual fake story  “Biden Proposes to Federalize Ukraine[51]”, another photo fake “Ukrainian Soldier Kisses American Flag[52]”.

Ukraine as a Fascist State

As a result of coup d’état Ukraine is depicted by Russian propaganda to be transformed into de facto fascist state. All necessary attributes like anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, xenophobia are exploited by propaganda and are core of active measures against Ukraine.

The ‘fascist narrative’ is one of the most important themes as it connects Ukrainian events with the narrative of World war II, the heroic page in Soviet, and then Russian history. It became the staple of the whole anti-Ukrainian and anti-Western propaganda and its main points where used as prerequisites for occupation of Crimea and aggression of Russian army in Eastern Ukraine.

The Report “Putin.War”, prepared by Russian opposition, explains why it was important for Kremlin to use ‘fascists narrative’: “Rhetoric of war was projected to current political news. This exposed Ukrainian authorities as ‘banderite’ and ‘nazi’ by Kremlin propaganda and Russia got involved in the same cause as in 1941-45 – struggle with fascists[53]”.

The fake news on WWII (or Great Patriotic war as it’s called in Russian historiography) veterans in Ukraine, their war benefits, ban on celebrations and gatherings, ban on wearing their awards and war heroes memorials demolition were circulated. Sometimes veterans were even reported to be beaten. The main purpose of these distortion of history is incitement, war mongering and dissemination of hate speech.

On April 20, 2015 Russia’s private tabloid Lifenews TV channel falsely reported that Kharkiv regional council head forbade Second World War veterans from wearing St. George ribbons and flags (commemorating the Red Army’s victory) during a Victory Day’s march on May 9[54].

On September 3, 2015 Russian REN TV and Channel 5 falsely reported that unknown persons had destroyed memorial plaques commemorating Soviet soldiers in Kharkiv.

The news was accompanied by an amateur video, published in YouTube. The video shows two men dismantling memorial plaques and taking them away to an undisclosed location. However, when contacted the speaker for the Kharkiv city council said that the plaques had been removed for renovation[55].

On June 30, 2015 LifeNews TV channel used video from the celebration of the anniversary of the Declaration of Ukrainian Independence in Kherson. At a small event in the city’s center, young people gathered to read the Declaration aloud and to sing the national anthem. The manipulated story was “Nationalists Swear Allegiance to Hitler in Kherson[56]”.

In April 2015 Zvezda TV channel and REN TV published a false report about an unfinished concentration camp made by “pro-American” for those “accused of terrorism and separatism by the ruling regime in Ukraine.” The report is based on a video by a war correspondent who claims that the construction site is an uncompleted prison in Zhdanovka in the Donetsk region. He opines: “It is very convenient place to keep prisoners of war here, wouldn’t you say? There is such an Eastern European Guantanamo[57]!”

On May 18, 2015 the government-owned Russia 24 network dedicated a news program to focus exclusively on alleged anti-Semitism in Ukraine. “Vesti at 23:00” aired a report and discussion entitled “The new exodus of Jews from Ukraine: Jewish organizations accuse Brussels of keeping problem of neo-Nazism in Ukraine quiet”.  StopFake debunked this ever increasing Russian disinformation narrative and  Vyacheslav Likhachev, the head of Monitoring group of the rights of ethnic minorities at Association of the Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine (VAAD) confirmed the falseness of the Ukrainian anti-Semitism and neo-Nazi claim[58].

Fascism  is not a new  invention as it was one of the most exploited  themes for Soviet active measures. They’ve been using it for compromising   policymakers in different parts of the world or for putting pressure on whole countries – like postwar Germany, Italy or Austria.

Intelligence historian Christopher Andrew  describes how ‘fascism’-themed narrative was used to undermine the renome of  Egyptian President Saddat:

(KGB) Service A’s active measures against Sadat made much of his early enthusiasm for Adolf Hitler. Sadat himself acknowledged in his autobiography that, as a fourteen-year-old when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he had been inspired by the way the Führer set out to ‘rebuild his country’/…/ As late as 1953 he said publicly that he admired Hitler ‘from the bottom of my heart’. The KGB claimed the credit for inspiring publications with titles such as ‘Anwar Sadat: From Fascism to Zionism’, which portrayed him as a former Nazi agent who had sold out to the CIA[59].

Ion Mihal Pacepa, high-ranked defector from Romanian security services, gives detailed account of how ‘fascism’ narrative was instrumental part of active measure against Catholic church after WWII “faulting the Catholic church for its role in the rise of Fascism”. The same tool was also used to compromise or as it was called within active measures procedures ‘to frame’ Pope Pius XII, Croatian Cardinal Stepinac or Ukrainian Cardinal Slipyj who were framed as ‘nazi collaborators[60]’.

When US-backed junta and fascists are not enough to scare the audience who might not fully follow high politics, Russian active measures effectively use what it’s known on TV as ‘human interest stories’. Most of them will be about different diseases and the ‘fact’ that they are invented by US government. The purpose of planting such a story will be double-fold: first, to scare as many people as possible and work with their primary fears, second – to blame US in spread of infections and fuel the new wave of anti-Americanism which is by default a grand objective of Soviet/Russian active measures.

The classical example would be Operation Infektion to accuse the United States of deliberately creating the AIDS virus in a government laboratory and spreading it[61].

In 1983, Indian newspaper The Patriot, that was crafted by KGB to publish fakes, broke a story blaming the U.S. military in creating the AIDS virus and releasing it as a weapon. This story appeared first in minor Soviet-controlled outlets. In 1985 it was picked up by the Soviet weekly newspaper,  Literaturnaya Gazeta and then – mushroomed in many other outlets: “In 1987 alone, it appeared over 40 times in the Soviet-controlled press and was reprinted or rebroadcast in over 80 countries in 30 languages. The AIDS virus was terrifying and not well understood at the time, so this piece of Soviet disinformation was especially damaging to the U.S. image[62]”.

US government put a lot of pressure on Kremlin and Gorbachev personally to make sure that Soviet Union will stop disseminating this fake. All medical research cooperation between the Us and USSR was suspended before Moscow drops this story: “The Soviets stopped using the AIDS disinformation story. It became clear, /…/, that they would back off when the cost of their lies became too much for them. As the new disinformation stories appeared, we pressured the Soviets on their failure to carry out Gorbachev’s promise[63]”.

But this story was not dropped forever. It was revived in some other forms recently – from tweet saying that Ukrainian army in Donbas is firing shells to disseminate AIDS among local population to accusations that ZIKA virus was spreading from US government facilities:

An outspoken former chief Russian sanitary inspector has suggested that the United States could be infecting mosquitos with the Zika virus in the Black Sea area as a form of biological warfare against Russia. In comments to the BBC Russian Service on February 15, Gennady Onishchenko said that Russian scientists have identified a surge since 2012 in the kind of mosquito that carries the virus in Abkhazia, a breakaway Georgian region that borders Russia on the Black Sea coast. “This worries me because about 100 kilometers from the place where this mosquito now lives, right near our borders, there is a military microbiological laboratory of the army of the United States[64].

On January 26, 2016 the website Pravda.ru ran a news item claiming that 20 Ukrainian soldiers died and 200 were hospitalized with the deadly California flu virus outside the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.“Doctors have recorded an unknown virus causing extremely high temperatures which cannot be brought down with any medicine”, –  claimed DNR separatist spokesman Eduard Basurin. On January 22, the same Basurin announced at a press conference that Ukrainian soldiers were admitted to a Kharkiv hospital suffering from a virus “that leaked from an American laboratory located in the village of Shelkostantsia”.

None of these fake stories were accompanied by facts or photos and in the last several days, the two stories have melded one, gaining mileage on the web and in social media.

There has been no mass illness or viral infection among Ukraine’s armed forces. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has no information about any such mass illness[65].

CONCLUSION

Although Russian war in Ukraine became the climax point for the use of Russian propaganda, it is a continuation of Soviet propaganda that never disappeared with collapse of Soviet Union. In reality it was just reviewed, rebuilt and transformed according to contemporary situation in order to increase its efficiency.  Both contemporary Russian propaganda system and Soviet system has the same objectives, borrows the same techniques from the active measures playbook, yet it is different in terms of quantity, quality and instruments it uses.

By analyzing more than 500 stories StopFake debunked during last two years, we could identify18 main disinformation themes, covered by Russian state- and privately owned media. Many of them are variations of Soviet paradigm, build on anti-Americanism,  own moral superiority and falsified history.

Most Russian journalists, media top managers or policymakers will deny the fact of existence of propaganda or existence of vertical chain of command connecting Kremlin and ‘media’ outlets in conducting active measures. When Margarita Simonyan, RT(formerly Russia Today) head was confronted why RT twisted information in their item “Putin Will Bring Down Western Economies” (http://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-putin-will-bring-down-western-economies/) she explained it as incompetence and lazy journalism. According to her, usually it’s not evil intentions of media to twist or falsify facts. Problem might be with the source of information that initially publish it but then all others just republish it without caring to check the information:

There is a huge competition, everybody wants to be the first, quicker, more interesting. All this is done to get more audience. If you are the first to publish something – it will attract audience, that’s why you are doing this. It’s too long to verify information – someone might be quicker to publish it before you do[66].

Unfortunately, this is not realistic picture of origins of hundreds and hundreds of fakes and forgeries coming from Russian media system. They are not results of bad journalism but the result of well-preserved and refurbished system of active Soviet measures used to manipulate media on a global scale in order to amend military and diplomatic efforts.

[1] <http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/12/war-2015-china-russia-isis/422085/&gt;, (accessed February 9, 2016)

[2] http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/46762, (accessed February 9, 2016)

[3] <http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/47334&gt;, (accessed February 05, 2016)

[4] Anatoliy Nogovitsyn, At the Centre of Attention—Information Security, Krasnaya Zvezda, 34 , February 27, 2009), p. 1

[5] <http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/46762&gt;, (accessed January 15, 2016)

[6] <http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/02/07/russia-having-success-in-hybrid-war-against-germany/&gt;, (accessed February 21, 2016)

[7] Powers, S. 2011. U.S. international broadcasting: An untapped resource for ethnic and domestic news organization. In Public Policy and Funding the News. Retrieved from< http://fundingthenews.usc.edu/related_research/4_Carnegie_USInternationalBroadcasting.pdf&gt; , accessed February 05, 2016

[8] <https://daily.afisha.ru/archive/gorod/archive/ministry-of-truth-simonyan/>, (accessed February 24, 2016)

[9] <http://www.interpretermag.com/the-menace-of-unreality-how-the-kremlin-weaponizes-information-culture-and-money/>, (accessed February 24, 2016)

[10] <http://www.interpretermag.com/the-menace-of-unreality-how-the-kremlin-weaponizes-information-culture-and-money/>, (accessed February 24, 2016)

[11] <http://www.interpretermag.com/the-menace-of-unreality-how-the-kremlin-weaponizes-information-culture-and-money/&gt;, (accessed January 15, 2016)

[12] < http://insidethecoldwar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Soviet%20Active%20Measures%20Forgery,%20Disinformation,%20Political%20Operations%20October%201981.pdf&gt;, (accessed January 28, 2016)

[13]<http://insidethecoldwar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Soviet%20Active%20Measures%20Forgery,%20Disinformation,%20Political%20Operations%20October%201981.pdf&gt;, (accessed January 20, 2016)

[14] Bittman L. 1985. The KGB and Soviet Disinformation: An Insider’s View. Pergamon Pr, p. 96.

[15] SOVIET ACTIVE MEASURES: FOCUS ON FORGERIES, Foreign Affairs Note, United States Department of State Washington, D.C. April 1983, quoted in Soviet “Active Measures:” Reagan and Casey Public Statements and Administration Reports—1981 to 1989, <http://insidethecoldwar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Soviet%20Active%20Measures%20Forgery,%20Disinformation,%20Political%20Operations%20October%201981.pdf&gt;, (accessed January 30, 2016)

[16] <http://intellit.muskingum.edu/russia_folder/pcw_era/sect_03.htm >, (accessed February 01, 2016)

[17] < http://europe.newsweek.com/pushing-kremlin-line-251587?rm=eu >, (accessed February 20, 2016)

[18] <http://tsn.ua/special-projects/liar/&gt;, (accessed February 20, 2016)

[19] Andrew C. 2006. The World Was Going Our Way. Basic Books, p.188.

[20] <http://europe.newsweek.com/pushing-kremlin-line-251587?rm=eu>, (accessed February 22, 2016)

[21] (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/46762, accessed February 20, 2016)

[22] (SOVIET ACTIVE MEASURES: FOCUS ON FORGERIES, Foreign Affairs Note, United States Department of State Washington, D.C. April 19,< https://archive.org/details/USDepartmentOfStateSovietActiveMeasuresFocusOnForgeries&gt;, (accessed January 30, 2016)

[23] Sodatov A. 2011. The New nobility of the KGB. Public Affairs, p.184.

[24] http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/stratperspective/inss/Strategic-Perspectives-11.pdf&gt;, (accessed February 25, 2016)

[25] <http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/stratperspective/inss/Strategic-Perspectives-11.pdf&gt;, (accessed January 28, 2016)

[26] Bittman 1985, p.89.

[27] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/russian-media-falsely-cite-new-york-times/&gt;, (accessed February 25, 2016)

[28] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/zvezda-falsely-cites-radio-france-internationale-for-sexual-harassment-report/&gt;, (accessed February 25, 2016)

[29] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-using-foreign-policy-s-banner-to-tell-a-pro-russian-story/&gt;, (accessed on February 26, 2016)

[30] <http://m.day.kiev.ua/ru/article/media/specoperaciya-la-francaise>, (accessed February 5, 2016)

[31] <http://intellit.muskingum.edu/russia_folder/pcw_era/sect_09a.htm&gt;, (accessed on February 24, 2016)

[32] Strategic Influence: Public Diplomacy, Counterpropaganda, and Political Warfare. Ed Michael Waller. Institute of World Politics Press,  p.172.

[33] (https://www.rt.com/op-edge/188416-ukraine-special-status-cold-war/, accessed on February 27, 2016)

[34] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/russian-and-separatist-media-continue-citing-anonymous-blogs-as-official-media/>, (accessed February 24, 2016)

[35] The Public Diplomacy Reader. Ed. Michael Waller, Lulu.com, p.355.

[36]<http://insidethecoldwar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Soviet%20Active%20Measures%20in%20the%20Era%20of%20Glasnot%20March%201988.pdf&gt;, (accessed February 24, 2016)

[37]<http://insidethecoldwar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Soviet%20Active%20Measures%20Forgery,%20Disinformation,%20Political%20Operations%20October%201981.pdf&gt;, (accessed on February 23, 2016)

[38] The Other Side of Perestroika The Hidden Dimension of the Gorbachev Era BRIAN CROZIER, quoted in . Number 1 / Winter 1996. The Other Side of Perestroika: The Hidden Dimension of the Gorbachev Era, Brian Crozier. <www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/programs/demokratizatsiya_archive.cfm>, (accessed February 01, 2016)

[39] Soldatov 2011, p. 184.

[40] Фалин В. Конфликты в Кремле. Сумерки богов по-русски. <http://mreadz.com/new/index.php?id=274462&gt; c. 48.

[41] <http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/12/war-2015-china-russia-isis/422085/&gt;, (accessed February 9, 2016).)

[42] < http://www.cepolicy.org/publications/anatomy-info-war-how-russias-propaganda-machine-works-and-how-counter-it>, (accessed February 05, 2016)

[43] <http://tsn.ua/special-projects/liar/&gt;, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[44] <http://ria.ru/coumns/20150526/1066579933.html#ixzz41BRM17eo&gt;, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[45] Bittman 1985, p. 23.

[46] <http://intellit.muskingum.edu/russia_folder/pcw_era/sect_09a.htm&gt;, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[47] <http://www.ntv.ru/video/964481/>, (accessed February 27, 2016)[48] http://intellit.muskingum.edu/russia_folder/pcw_era/sect_09a.htm>, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[49] <http://tvzvezda.ru/news/vstrane_i_mire/content/201602132031-tzwp.htm&gt;, (accessed February 23, 2016)

[50] http://www.stopfake.org/en/photo-fake-kyiv-residents-kneel-before-biden/, (accessed February 22, 2016)

[51] http://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-biden-proposes-to-federalize-ukraine/, accessed February 22, 2016)

[52] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/photo-fake-ukrainian-soldier-kisses-american-flag/&gt;, (accessed February 22, 2016)

[53] Report “Rutin. War” edited by Illya Yashyn and Olga Shorina,  <http://www.putin-itogi.ru/putin-voina/>, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[54] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/kharkiv-forbids-veterans-from-wearing-st-george-ribbons/&gt;, (accessed on February 27, 2016)

[55] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-memorial-plaques-to-soviet-soldiers-destroyed-in-kharkiv/&gt;, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[56] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-nationalists-swear-allegiance-to-hitler-in-kherson/&gt;, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[57] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-concentration-camp-for-separatists-under-construction-in-donetsk-region/&gt;, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[58] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/jewish-monitoring-group-expert-debunks-russia-24-claim-about-neo-nazis-and-anti-semitism-in-ukraine/&gt;, (accessed February 27, 2016)

[59] Christopher 2006 , p. 840.

[60] Pacepa I. M. 2013. Disinformation. WND Books

[61]<http://insidethecoldwar.org/sites/default/files/documents/Soviet%20Influence%20Activities%20Active%20Measures%20and%20Propaganda%20August%201987.pdf&gt;, (accessed February 10, 2016)

[62] <http://ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/stratperspective/inss/Strategic-Perspectives-11.pdf&gt;, (accessed February 10, 2016)

[63] The Public Diplomacy Reader, Ed. Michael Waller, p.355.

[64] <http://www.rferl.org/content/former-russian-health-chief-suggests-us-plotting-zika-attack/27555365.html&gt;, (accessed February 22, 2016)

[65] <http://www.stopfake.org/en/fake-20-soldiers-die-from-leaked-mysterious-virus/&gt;, (accessed February 20, 2016)

[66] Маргарита Симоньян, «Особое мнение», <http://echo.msk.ru/programs/personalno/1697080-echo)In>, (accessed February 24, 2016).

Yevhen Fedchenko(PhD),  co-founder of StopFake.org

Source: http://www.stopfake.org/en/kremlin-propaganda-soviet-active-measures-by-other-means/

Another Russian law suppressing free speech.

How widely might these laws be applied?

From the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

</end editorial>

Published: Wednesday, 16 March 2016 18:18

A member of the Russian Parliament is preparing a draft law that would make insulting President Vladimir Putin a criminal offence carrying up to a six year jail sentence, Russia Today (RT) said.

President Vladimir PutinRoman Khudyakov MP, a representative of nationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, told Izvestia he realised a special law protecting the president’s reputation was needed after watching YouTube videos containing insults against the Russian leader.

The draft law will be modelled on the 1990 federal law “On the protection of the honor and dignity of the president of the USSR”, Khudyakov said.  He added that it will punish insults aimed at the presidency as an institution, rather than any particular individual.

Insults against state officials in Russia, including the president, are currently punishable by up to one year of “corrective labor” – a procedure which sees part of the convict’s income confiscated by the state, RT said.

Similar laws also exist in former Soviet states including Belarus, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, according to RT.  In Turkey, nearly 1,900 cases have been opened against people accused of insulting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan since he came to office in 2014, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Such laws are often seen as a way to limit dissent, including from independent journalists.

President Putin’s current popularity ratings are exceptionally high based on recent polls conducted by government-owned research center, VTSIOM, RT said.

Source: https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/5053-russian-mp-drafting-law-to-defend-putin-s-honor

It appears the Czech Republic has found a fairly objective and neutral way to educate students about Russian propaganda.

My Czech friends tell me that the Russian influence is pervasive, old Soviet ways die hard, and many still preserve many things from the Soviet times.  The good news is that the video illustrates how Russian websites, Russian proxy sites, and Russian Active Measure sites are covered.  I would like to know more about what is taught…

The video illustrates how well Russian propaganda may have already influenced some of the students, but it gives hope that an objective and educational approach may be the best way to counter Russian propaganda.

</end editorial>

Published 21 March 2016

Some Czech schools and colleges have begun lessons in how to recognize Kremlin propaganda. The project was launched by a Czech nongovernmental organization, which warns that pro-Kremlin websites are seeking to spread disinformation — with the ultimate aim of undermining public support for pro-Western policies. (Ray Furlong and Roman Kupka, RFE/RL)

http://www.rferl.org/media/video/czech-rus

I am so pleased that Russians openly expose their inhumanity, their hatred for the West, and their proclivity to use anything and everything to their advantage.

Busted.

</end editorial>

This is the best dissection of Russian Information Warfare I have seen to date.

</end editorial>

March 23, 2016 – 23:39

Authors: 

Ben Nimmo is a senior fellow at the Institute for Statecraft in London specialising in Russian information warfare and influence. He formerly worked as a press officer at NATO and a journalist in Brussels and the Baltic States.

Dr Jonathan Eyal is the Associate Director, Strategic Research Partnerships, and International Director of the Royal United Services Institute. He also serves as a Senior Research Fellow and Editor of the RUSI Newsbrief.

This work is submitted in a personal capacity by both authors.

Abstract:

1. Russia is conducting a coordinated but undeclared information campaign against the United Kingdom, attempting to influence the UK’s domestic debate on key issues in order to produce an outcome of benefit to Russia. This campaign is lobbying for a British exit from the EU, the scrapping of Trident, and a Scottish exit from the Union – all outcomes which would weaken the UK and give Russia a freer hand in world affairs. This is unacceptable behaviour by a foreign government.

2. The precise impact of this behaviour is hard to measure. However, Russian claims that the Scottish independence referendum was fixed certainly fuelled the broader campaign to question the vote,[1] and the Kremlin-funded media certainly amplified and expanded on those claims.[2] Anecdotal evidence supports the thesis that this coverage had at least some degree of impact on some individual voters;[3] the degree to which the disinformation has penetrated different audiences merits further study.

3. Moreover, regardless of the impact of this disinformation, the fact that a disinformation campaign is being conducted by Russian government outlets remains demonstrably the case; that case is set out below. This being so, appropriate legal and diplomatic responses should be brought to bear both on the direct actors in the disinformation campaign, and on the Russian government more broadly.

Conduct of the campaign: airbrushing reality

4. Russia’s information warfare in the UK can best be thought of as an attempt to airbrush reality. Objective reality – the actual relationship between majority and minority, mainstream and fringe – is systematically replaced by a pseudo-reality in which minorities who echo the Kremlin’s strategic priorities are presented as the majority, and the genuine majority is presented as a fringe, if it is presented at all.

5. The chief communicators of this airbrushed reality are the Kremlin-funded media outlets RT (formerly Russia Today) and Sputnik.

6. Both RT and Sputnik are funded by the Russian government. RT’s official budget[4] stood at 13.85 billion rubles in 2015;[5] the equivalent figure for Sputnik’s parent organisation, the Rossiya Segodnya news agency (which also incorporates the Russian-language RIA Novosti), stood at 5.8 billion rubles.[6]

7. RT compares itself explicitly with other international public-service broadcasters, notably the BBC and U.S. stations such as Radio Free Europe. However, both RT and Sputnik regularly and systematically violate journalistic standards in a way which serves the Kremlin’s interests. They achieve their effect by giving disproportionate coverage to extremist politicians, “experts” of dubious background, and mainstream politicians whose views chime with the Kremlin’s chosen narratives.[7]

8. Such disproportionate coverage is a violation of Ofcom’s standards, which state, inter alia, that “Due impartiality on matters of political or industrial controversy and matters relating to current public policy must be preserved on the part of any person providing a service (…). This may be achieved within a programme or over a series of programmes taken as a whole,”[8] and that “views must also be presented with due weight over appropriate time frames”.[9]  However, given that much of the RT and Sputnik coverage is presented on the internet, it largely falls outside Ofcom’s remit.

Continue at http://www.stopfake.org/en/russia-s-information-warfare-airbrushing-reality/