09:48 03.10.2022

Effective counteraction to Russian disinformation requires cooperation between state, public – experts

3 min read
Effective counteraction to Russian disinformation requires cooperation between state, public – experts

The Ukrainian state should establish cooperation with the public, including in diasporas, in order to effectively counteract the spread of disinformation by the Russian Federation, Ukrainian experts are convinced.

Thus, head of the Center for Strategic Communications and Security Ihor Solovei emphasized the importance of public activity in waging an information war.

"Any state cannot independently provide full protection from informational external influence by any administrative steps. This is possible only in cooperation of the state with the public, with experts, with public organizations, and only then it will be effective," Solovei said during a discussion on topic "Role of public expert cluster in countering Russian disinformation and propaganda" at the Interfax-Ukraine press center.

Coordination of actions with Ukrainian diasporas abroad is also of particular importance, social and military psychologist, visiting professor of the Ukrainian Catholic University Oleh Pokalchuk said.

"If we are talking about a strategy of such actions, it would be more effective if public, non-governmental organizations did not exactly copy the Ukrainian state policy, because in the Western political space, the labeling of independent think tanks with the help of Russians as Ukrainian agents of influence is the basis for reducing interest in them. It is necessary to talk about creating an ecosystem of information influences, where pro-Ukrainian information would be parallel, and not consistently adjusted to the Ukrainian media, the Ukrainian point of view. Because each organization has its own local position within the common Ukrainian cause, and they know better locally, in fact. They don't need to be strongly told what to do. And feedback would be even more important for us than direct impact," he said, commenting on the activities of Ukrainian activists in Europe.

This was also pointed out by Deputy Chairman of the SBU from March 2014 to June 2015, Director of the Security Sector Reform Agency, national security expert Viktor Yahun. He called on diasporas to work with Ukrainian government agencies responsible for countering disinformation to stop the spread of Russian narratives locally.

"If there is our diaspora in certain countries and they can track the local press, especially beginnings of fake special information operations, we would be very grateful," he said, noting that the state apparatus is not always able to track similar trends in the local media of other states.

He also called for expanding the formats of the Ukrainian media, in particular, to abandon the format of the all-Ukrainian information telethon.

"I think that the all-Ukrainian information marathon at first played a rather powerful and interesting role, but it must be taken into account that at this stage it has probably already outgrown itself. And not because the situation has changed in the state, or the situation in the world, we have a war going on just like in February, and people need information. But we have reached the level where information must be divided into clusters, it should be allowed to diversify information. It is necessary to enable information channels to work in their usual formats and in different directions. And then, perhaps, we will begin to cover a large audience, including foreign ones," Yahun said.

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