Kyiv Post interviews Pekka Kallioniemi, the author about some of the shocking consequences of Russian disinformation
From: Kyiv Post by Jason Jay Smart
Russia is actively waging a hybrid war against the West, says Pekka Kallioniemi, author of the newly released “Vatnik Soup – the Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation,” in this exclusive interview with Kyiv Post’s Jason Smart. The shocking part? The real-life consequences are far more dangerous than you think.
Pekka, the topic of Russian disinformation, for you, has a personal importance due to your family history – could you tell us a little about it?Both of my mother’s parents had to flee because of the Soviet invasion. My grandmother was 13 years old, and she had to travel all the way to the other side of Finland with complete strangers. The same thing is now happening in Ukraine, which is why I had this strong urge to try and help the country as much as I can.The 1939 invasion was launched after a false flag operation in which the Soviet soldiers shelled their own troops in the town of Mainila. Seventy-five years later Russia funded separatist movements and established puppet states, the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DPR) and the “Luhansk People’s Republic” (LPR) in eastern Ukraine, which then led to the war between Russia and Ukraine.
How has Russia’s propaganda and rhetoric evolved since then? Have the plots that Moscow promotes changed greatly?
Russia still likes to use rhetoric from the old times. They prefer to call World War II the “Great Patriotic War,” and for example, Putin’s version – which strongly demonizes the Poles and the Brits – of what happened differs greatly from the traditional “Western” version. Even the conspiracy theories they promote are recycled – for example, the fabricated text from 1903 called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion describes a “Jewish plot for world domination,” and it is still heavily promoted online.In general, the stories remain the same, but the medium changes.
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