Gabor Horvath: Russia’s Media Influence in the EU is a Serious Problem
08.02.2024
Gabor Horvath
As you know, in recent years, primarily on the eve of the Ukrainian-Russian war, the Kremlin’s attempts to influence people’s consciousness have gained enormous proportions all over the world. How do you assess the results of the fight against Russian influence in the EU countries over the past two years? A Newssky correspondent asked Gabor Horvath, deputy editor-in-chief of the Hungarian newspaper Népszava.
The resources Russia commits to maintaining and, wherever possible, strengthening its influence in Europe shows how important it is for the Kremlin to have tools of leverage in Europe. The Putin regime uses both overt and covert means to reach out to European audiences and to build pressure on democratically elected governments to limit their economic and military assistance to Ukraine’s war of freedom. According to a study published by the American Rand Corporation, “hostile measures encompass a wide range of political, economic, diplomatic, intelligence, and military activities that could be perceived as harmful or hostile” if they remain short of actual war.
Though Russia’s main target is Western Europe, where its military and financial capabilities are concentrated, it is in Central and Eastern Europe where its efforts bring the most results. The Hungarian government and its huge media empire echo word-for-word Russian propaganda. As a result, Viktor Orbán’s most committed followers readily believe the falsehoods about the real causes and instigators of the war in Ukraine. Even though the majority of Hungarian public opinion backs Ukraine, their voices are suppressed by the loudly pro-Russian public and pro-Orbán media. The other two vulnerable countries are the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where substantial political parties use old pro-Soviet sentiments to distinguish themselves from their more liberal, pro-Western, and pro-democracy counterparts.
In the Baltic countries, Poland, and the EU, Russian influence is much more constrained and mainly limited to extreme, far-right groups and parties, often directly financed and assisted by Moscow’s secret services. Openly pro-Russian positions are largely unacceptable in most of Europe. It tells a lot that the rightist Italian government of Giorgia Meloni turned out to be a staunch supporter of Ukraine, even with Putin-loving Matteo Salvini occupying the second seat.
Still, Russia’s lies reach large audiences via public media, and the free world has little defense against the well-organized malign machinery of false information. The important principles of media freedom, access to information, media pluralism, and freedom of expression make fighting false information especially difficult and, ironically, more worthwhile. At the same time, propaganda cannot be fought with propaganda, just as fake news cannot be neutralized with fake news. Unfortunately, the truth is often less attractive than harsh and colorful lies.
The European Union felt the need to move. It created a small, from the outset, financed, and undermanned Strategic Communication Task Force that’s unable to counter the Russian onslaught on its own. (Its website) According to a story from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the websites of RT, Sputnik, and other official Russian media outlets are still easily available all over Europe, even at the EU’s headquarters in Brussels. No wonder that last year the EU’s foreign service created the Information Sharing and Analysis Center, seeking to track information manipulation by foreign actors and coordinate with the 27 EU countries and the wider community of NGOs. (One of their ongoing projects can be followed here: https://www.icct.nl/index.php/project/russias-influence-europes-far-right-violent-extremism.)
All in all, the problem is acknowledged as severe; keeping it in check requires an ongoing effort from governments, legislators, politicians, non-governmental actors, and media professionals. The stakes are extremely high for both Europe and Ukraine. We know, at least since Sun Tsu, that the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
Maryna Kovalchuk, Newssky’s correspondent (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), head of the V5 Media project, and deputy editor-in-chief, contributed.
