In recent years, the Kremlin has made much use of information warfare, gaining support in the West from nostalgic communist fellow travelers, the rising far-right and conspiracy theorists. The rebranding today of the international branches of Russia’s state-owned Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) news group as Sputnik International speaks of the Kremlin’s intent to influence and manipulate opinion abroad. Russian state-owned or state-controlled media also serve to distribute disinformation, including outright lies, as best exemplified by fabricated reports of the crucifixion of a child by Ukrainian forces.
The Kremlin has also utilized cultural campaigns, exploiting religious sympathies amongst both fellow Orthodox populations, and religious conservatives in Europe and the USA, who align themselves with Putin’s message of traditional values and homophobia.
Russia’s financial resources have meanwhile enabled the Kremlin to co-opt not only European business centers, such as the City of London, but also politicians, such as the former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, who took up position as head of the shareholders’ committee of Gazprom’s Nordstream AG venture shortly after leaving office.
This report examines the means by which the Kremlin uses these weapons, and what effect they are having on international politics as Russia pursues an openly aggressive stance against the West and embarks on war in Ukraine.
Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, courtesy of the National Security and Defense Council:
On the anniversary of the World War I armistice, Ukraine's president says he wants to stop World War III, Interfax reports:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he wishes to stop the war in Ukraine and to prevent the beginning of WWIII.
"WWI ended 96 years ago. I want to stop the war now and to prevent anyone from starting the third world insanity," Poroshenko tweeted on Tuesday.
He also wrote on Facebook that four empires fell, about ten million people died and another ten million were wounded in WWI.
"No one in contemporary Europe celebrates the "Victory Day", just remembers the losses. There are no winners or losers in a war; all a war has is its survivors. In fact, [these are survivors] on both sides," Poroshenko stressed.
Two world wars are enough for humanity to understand the advantage of peaceful contests and competition, he said.
"Nowadays we are protecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine in the east and we will always protect our home land and our right to independence and development. Yet I believe in peaceful settlement and I deem it my duty to do the utmost to restore a peaceful life in Ukraine," the president said.
OSCE responds to Kyiv complaints about all OSCE monitors in Ukraine being Russian: