Ukrainian sociologist Vladimir Paniotto speaks about new goals of Russia in the region and how the Ukrainian propaganda differs from the Russian one.
Vladimir Paniotto has developed a new activity index of the Russian propaganda. The result of the study will help understand which regions of Ukraine and Belarus support the Moscow propaganda as well as to identify interesting trends.
According to the data of the Ukrainian sociologist, 70% of Belarusians share the views promoted by the Russian mass media, and the Brest region is the most oppositional towards the Kremlin propaganda. It is markedly different from other regions of the country, because there only 60% of residents are under the influence of the Russian propaganda.
Doctor of Sociology Andrei Vardamatski explains this difference in the Brest region as follows – “it is the closest one to Ukraine, and it is connected with the southern neighbor by active transport and passenger traffic, which has a quite noticeable effect on the mood of the people.”
However, the Belarusian sociologist does share his colleague’s views regarding the numbers of the Russian propaganda influence on Belarusians. “I believe that this figure is 10% lower, as I base it on the number of Belarusians suporting the annexation of Crimea,” said the Mr Vardamatski.
Will the pro-Russian separatists attack Odessa and Kharkiv?
According to the Ukrainian sociologist, apart from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the greatest support for the Russian propaganda is observed in Odessa (42%) and Kharkiv (50%). “The aim was to detect the most dangerous parts of Ukraine, which Russia wants to destabilize first,” said Vladimir Paniotto.
“These areas experience the largest concentration of propaganda, the greatest number of terrorist acts happens there,” added Vladimir. The sociologist says that 80% of the funds coming from the Russian budget for conflict in Ukraine are spent on the information war. Therefore, next time Russia could strike where its propaganda is most successful.
Belarusians are looking at Ukraine.
In a conversation with Belsatб Vladimir Paniotto stressed that Belarus de facto is within the sphere of influence of the Russian media.
– Russian media influence it the most. Ukraine media belong to different Ukrainian oligarchs, who are fighting with each other and who provide conflicting information. Even the president Poroshenko’s channel (Channel 5 – ed) criticizes him. Therefore, the Russian mass media, controlled from a single center, and not giving conflicting information, probably will affect the situation the most.
What is the difference between Ukrainian and Russian propaganda?
Ukrainian media are very diverse. They are not objective when it comes to a particular channel. There is information that is hushed up. For example, when Donets was shelled, they said that only the separatists were to blame. But to find information that would be objective in all the media would be impossible. Certain media definitely reveal the lies.
How did the perception of the media by Belarusians change in recent years?
Events in Ukraine made Belarusians more cautious about their relations with Russia. It seems to me that any further developments in Ukraine will very much influence the situation in Belarus. If Ukraine is able to build a normal European state and to get rid of the total control of Russia, then Belarus will have a chance to pursue an independent policy.
Prepared by Haras Valatovich, belsat.eu/en/
