EU urged to make a plan to counteract Russian propaganda

Such a call has been made by Lithuania, the Great Britain, Denmark and Estonia.

These countries have turned to the European Commission with a call to work out an action plan for fighting the Russian propaganda campaign, the letter of foreign ministers of the four countries addressed to the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini reads, Delfi.lt reports.

The letter has been signed by ministers of Lithuania, the Great Britain, Denmark and Estonia: namely, Linas Linkevičius, Philip Hammond, Martin Lidegaard and Keit Pentus-Rosimannus.

They warned that that “Russia is rapidly increasing its disinformation and propaganda campaign,” which seeks to secure support to “political and military aims of the Russian government.”

The ministers have called for “credible and competitive information alternatives for Russian-speaking populations and those using Russia’s state-controlled media”.

They offered to discuss the Russian at the meeting of EU ministers early in 2015 and invited European External Action Service to work out an action plan for 2015-2016.

Linas Linkevičius, the Lithuanian diplomacy chief behind the initiative, told on Friday that the ministers “do not propose censorship or bans, they only want conditions for truly impartial, free and alternative sources of information”.

As said by him, Russia is earmarking billions to the state-controlled media, therefore, “the society's immunity to manipulations should be a major concern”.

“I would want more attention not just in words, but also in specific actions to the conditions that would allow people to get alternative, free and impartial information. It should in no way be controlled by other “correct” administrations, as this would not be free information,” said the minister.

In the letter to Brussels, the four diplomats called for a platform that would provide information about the propaganda lies and manipulations, support initiatives to create Russian-language television channels, Internet portals, radios and press, encourage exchange of production within the EU and propose the production to the existing Russian media.

We remind that earlier Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves called upon uniting to fight against the propaganda of the Kremlin and the “parallel universe” created by Russia in the informational space.