EU needs to step up the game in battling russian propaganda — EU official

From now on, the incremental policy of helping Ukraine step by step is over. The EU should deliver all the assistance it can at once and ensure it helps Ukraine reach victory in this battle, which is common for all European democracies.

Raphaël Glucksmann, President of the European Parliament's Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the EU, including Disinformation, said this at a briefing on February 21, Rubryka reports. 

"We, in the EU Parliament, know perfectly that this war did not start on February 24 and did not limit itself to Ukraine's borders. This war targets every single European democracy. We are in this fight together," the EU official emphasized.

Glucksmann notes that the EU needs to step up its support not only in terms of weapons and sanctions but in terms of fighting the battle of narrative, russian manipulation of information, and spread of fake news about the war and its real targets. 

The official outlined the main steps in fighting russian propaganda and disinformation, noting that further work is necessary to include all russian propagandists on sanctions lists. He also called for more action on the part of the EU to break the russian propaganda machine.

Glucksmann highlighted that if the EU wanted to fight the russian narrative, they needed to have a clear narrative themselves. 

"It took one year before formulating a clear view of the EU's strategic objective  in this war, which is the defeat of the russian federation and the victory of Ukraine. Now we start to have this narrative, but it must be more explained and assertive. We need to explain to the European audience that this war is also ours," the official said.

The head of the delegation noted that the EU is debunking and contradicting russian propaganda, but it is not entirely in the game, and that needs to be changed. He also stated that there are issues to be yet resolved because the sanctions still have loopholes, European satellite broadcasters still broadcast russian propaganda, and the industry still needs to work 24/7 to produce ammunition to help Ukraine. 

Glucksmann praised the efficiency of Western coordination efforts via the Special Contact Group at Ramstein, Germany in terms of weapons delivery and called for creating Ramstein of information for the battle of narrative. He also emphasized the need to fight disinformation on social media and make them responsible for the content they are broadcasting. 

"We perfectly understand this war is also ours and that your victory will be ours, that your defeat, which would not happen, would mean the end of peace, stability, security, and freedom in Europe. The help you receive should be much bigger and much quicker," the EU official summed up.