Russia’s strategy in its disinformation campaigns in Austria is to demonize Ukraine, shift the blame to the victim, and divert attention from Russia’s aggression and responsibility.
This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Dietmar Pichler, an Austrian expert on countering disinformation, founder of the Disinfo Resilience Network (Vienna).
“The Kremlin’s strategy is to demonize Ukraine, shift the blame to the victim and divert attention from Russia’s aggression and responsibility,” the expert commented on the question of what are the main themes and images about Ukraine in the Kremlin’s narratives aimed at the Austrian audience.
According to him, old propaganda clichés such as “Russian is banned”, “Ukrainians attacked ethnic Russians”, “Maidan was a coup” or “Ukraine provoked Russia by seeking to join NATO” are still relevant and actively spread. “Corruption is also often mentioned – of course, without any acknowledgment of the fact that the aggressor, Russia, scores much worse in corruption perception ratings,” Pichler added.
He also pointed out that there is a spike in Kremlin disinformation whenever there are efforts to reach a peaceful settlement or news of Russian crimes.
“The more negotiations, international meetings, or especially news of Russia’s horrific war crimes are spread, the more often Ukraine appears in the headlines. This automatically increases the amount of disinformation, both covert and overt. The more discussions there are, the more targets for trolls, bots, and real people to engage in an “information battle.” At such moments, when the topic of Ukraine dominates the news, agents of influence are very active: Western citizens who consciously or unconsciously act in the interests of Russia,” the expert noted.
Pichler noted the fact that Austria is actually in a single information environment with Germany and Switzerland. And since Russia is “particularly active” in relation to Germany, this has a certain impact on the Austrians, “because we consume the same content and see the same comments.”
“One thing that Austrians should finally understand is that bots, trolls, and even pro-Russian ‘activists’ don’t care where we are, they are only interested in what we are talking about. That is, all these pro-Russian propaganda profiles are constantly tracking keywords and monitoring conversations to intervene when the topic suits them. Simply put: as soon as you speak out in support of Ukraine or criticize Russia, they will appear and attack you,” the expert said.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council said that Russian propaganda would continue to try to discredit the diplomatic way to end the war and intensify the anti-mobilization campaign in the next two weeks.
According to the Center, it is expected to spread narratives about the alleged lack of real support for Ukraine from the European Union and the United States, the alleged “illegitimacy of the Ukrainian government” and its “unwillingness to end the war,” etc.
Source: Russian disinformation in Austria aims to demonize Ukraine and shift blame to victim – expert
