How to resist the information war, on which Russia spends $ 1 billion per year

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Russia spends about a billion dollars annually on propaganda and information warfare.

For example, in 2016, Russian media - both state and private - received almost 61 billion rubles ($904 million) from the budget; in 2015, this amount was about 72 billion rubles ($1,08 billion), writes Forbes.

The largest recipient of state money was VGTRK holding, wholly owned by the Russian government, it received 22,5 billion rubles ($ 339 million).

Expenses for the Russia Today TV channel have been reduced: in 2016, the non-profit organization TV-Novosti (owner of the Russia Today brand) received 17,5 billion rubles ($264 million); in 2015, the subsidy amounted to 20,8 billion rubles.

The third place is occupied by the Rossiya Segodnya agency (formerly RIA Novosti). The holding, led by the controversial journalist Dmitry Kiselev, cost the Russian budget just over 6 billion rubles ($90 million).

On media outlets where there is no political broadcasting (Culture, Karusel, Match-TV, Radio Orpheus), the state spent just over a billion rubles ($15 million).

This whole system works on propaganda: external and internal.

The Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington (CEPA) published the results of a study, “How to Win the Information War,” on strategies for countering Russian propaganda in Central and Eastern Europe.

A report prepared by a group of American and European analysts comprising SULFUR and the British Legatum Institute, noted that “the Russian government uses disinformation, incitement to violence and hate speech, seeking to destroy trust, undermine morality, degrade the information space, split public discourse and increase partiality.”

Information warfare: goals and means

The use of misinformation by the Russian authorities differs from the traditional forms of propaganda in that its goal is not to persuade, but to undermine. Instead of calling for action, it seeks to distract the audience, to bring it into a passive and paranoid state.

The report notes that Russian misinformation spreads openly - through television broadcasting in foreign languages, in particular, through the multilingual Russia Today TV channel and Sputnik International, but also secretly. In this case, nominally independent journalists, experts, commentators and Internet trolls will be involved.

The basic message of Russian disinformation is simple: “The United States is engaged in a selfish, ruthless struggle for world domination,” so “anything Russia or any other country can do to counter it is laudable and justifiable.”

Recommendations for countering disinformation in the United States

• conducting on a regular basis a systematic analysis of the impact of Russian propaganda, its environment and trends;
• the creation of an international commission under the auspices of the Council of Europe with advisory functions, also called upon to determine the quality of the work of broadcasters;
• creation of a “blogger charter”, joining which would mean compliance with ethical standards;
• the creation of a number of structures in the United States and the European Union, which would deal with strategic communications.

The report also mentions the work of the Dutch organization Free Press Unlimited to create an independent regional Russian-language news agency. In addition, the BBC, at the request of the British Foreign Office, will develop a “content factory” to help the Baltic countries and the EU create new entertainment programs in Russian that can compete with similar Russian products.

• creation of a working group - an “idea factory”, developing approaches to topics perceived in some cases as historical and psychological trauma. As an illustration, the Kremlin’s propaganda exploits the history of World War II, when, according to the Kremlin’s logic, “anyone who opposes Russia is a fascist”;
• carrying out work on educating the audience to recognize disinformation;
• an advertising boycott that would stop funding by Western companies for channels that propagate hatred and demonize the LGBT community, and also force Western companies to stop providing them with entertainment content.

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