On February 24, within the framework of the project “Unfold Ukraine to Global South”, implemented by Ukraine Crisis Media Center in cooperation and coordination with the Open Society Foundation and funded by the International Renaissance Foundation, a press tour “Russian propaganda narratives in the information space of India and ASEAN countries” was held. Participants of the press tour, journalists from India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, were able to learn more about how Russian propaganda is structured and what narratives it uses around the world to justify the war against Ukraine. Tetyana Kolosova, head of UCMC’s press center, noted that the Russian state spends a lot of money to exert information influence in different countries. Ukrainians have also been living under this pressure for decades and now know how to fight it. Olena Churanova, a fact-checker and media expert at StopFake.org, introduced the guests to this Ukrainian initiative and spoke about the results of its many years of work. She explained who promotes Russian fakes among foreign audiences, what communication channels are used for this purpose, and what the key narratives regarding the war in Ukraine look like.
At the same time, Russian propaganda is not very creative in conducting disinformation campaigns abroad. This opinion was expressed by Iryna Subota, analyst at the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Olga Vorozhbyt, deputy editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Weekly and affiliated expert at the Ukrainian Prism think tank, addressed the issue of coverage of the Russian-Ukrainian war in the Indian media. She noted that thousands of students who had studied in Ukraine before the war were forced to become one of the conductors of Russian narratives in this country. Oleksiy Feshchenko, an analyst at the International Charitable Foundation for Public Diplomacy, shared his view on how Ukraine can strengthen its information presence in East Asia, and this includes not only diplomatic efforts, but also the activation of the media component and the development of communication between civil society representatives.
The participants of the press tour were interested in the point of view of Ukrainian experts on the growth of Chinese information influence in the region. It was noted that it has much in common with the Russian model. In this context, Natalia Butyrska, an expert on the Asia-Pacific region, noted that if Russia succeeds in Ukraine, China could use it for its own purposes. In conclusion, Volodymyr Solovyan, Head of the UCMC Hybrid Threat Analysis Group, emphasized that the situation with the information influence of Russia and China makes it clear how important it is to establish cooperation between civil society in East Asia and non-governmental organizations and the media in Ukraine to share experiences.
