Liars. Thar’s what they are calling the witnesses and survivors of the as-yet-to-be-officially-declared war crimes in Ukraine. They are what I call the disinformers: those tasked by the Putin government, or driven by blind loyalty, to deny that Russia is responsible for the bodies in the street with their hands tied behind their backs, the deaths of families gunned down while running through designated humanitarian corridors and the bombings of civilian occupied apartment buildings. Instead, they repeat President Vladimir Putin’s rationale for invading Ukraine, his claim that Ukraine is “pro-Nazi.” As geopolitical experts explain, Putin is likening his invasion to the same kind of noble fight against evil forces that was the motivation for World War II, what Russia called the Great Patriotic War. It’s obscene that his organized effort of disinformation — the intentional spreading of false information — is based on the very real Holocaust. It is even more frightening that the only story known to most everyday Russians is one made up by this power-hungry autocrat.
Putin easily spread his anti-Nazi invasion rationale because he controls the state-owned media. All newscasts offer one approved version of events, anything else is illegal. It was a bold act of defiance when last month a Russian TV employee disrupted a live news broadcast by standing behind the newscaster holding up a handwritten sign in English and Russian that read “no war” and “propaganda.” She was arrested, detained and fined. Putin has shut down independent news outlets, shut off access to social media and ordered Western journalists to stop operating. The bloodshed and atrocities worsening in Ukraine are hidden behind a stone curtain of a well-crafted narrative.
Russian state TV’s disinformation operation has split families down ideological and generational lines. Older people get most of their information from state-run media while younger Russians — before Putin blocked internet access — gathered global news. Younger Russians saw and shared the shocking images of destruction and death in Ukraine. The Guardian newspaper featured families on opposite sides of the facts. A tech consultant identified only as Dmitry told the newspaper he regularly showed video clips of Russia’s brutal civilian bombings to his parents. But Dimitry said his father denied the visual evidence, responding with video of the destroyed Mariupol maternity ward — which killed three and injured many others — insisting Ukrainians had staged the bombing with actors. Dimitry recounted their heated exchange, saying, “I am not sure we will ever be able to sit at the same table again. ... They truly see me as an enemy of the state. I have given up.”
This sounds familiar. When former President Donald Trump labeled journalists as “enemies of the people” and called news reports he didn’t like “fake news,” Americans took sides. Families were often divided in what they saw as the truth. And it’s been scary to watch the deliberate distortion of reality lead so many to become ardent believers of conspiracy theories.
"The bloodshed and atrocities worsening in Ukraine are hidden behind a stone curtain of a well-crafted narrative."
We need to recognize the danger of disinformation, a weapon equal to the ballistic strength of the most powerful military artillery. It can reduce even the strongest freest foundation to rubble. In a 2016 interview, then-CBS “Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley raised the alarm,
issuing this warning: “I guarantee you the fastest way to undermine this democracy is to poison the information.” It’s critical that journalists are on the ground to bear witness and report the truth. And it’s even more critical that we in this country look closely at Russia’s silencing of the truth and take seriously the threat of disinformation.
