The number of Russian propaganda narratives circulating in the information space is increasing compared to last year. Some of them have signs of genocidal rhetoric, while others aim to undermine the trust of partner countries and discredit Ukrainians.
How evidence is collected against Russian propagandists, what the future holds for them, and what social fissures are targeted by enemy information attacks were discussed at the press conference "Disinformation and Genocidal Rhetoric: How is Russia Fighting Ukrainians in the Media?". The event, organised by the Ukraine. Five in the Morning" coalition, was held at the Ukraine-Ukrinform media centre on 1 November.
Today, twice as many disinformation messages from the enemy are recorded in the information space compared to last year. As reported by the Human Rights Platform, between February and December 2022, experts recorded 742 such messages, and between January and August 2023 - 1452. The monitoring also showed that about 40 per cent of Russian news content was devoted to Ukraine. The most actively spread messages were those discrediting the Ukrainian government and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as messages about "Ukrainian Nazis".
"Such disinformation messages contain elements of genocidal rhetoric. They often call for the destruction of Ukrainians because, according to Russians, we are Nazis, and thus draw parallels with Nazi Germany. As for the punishment for such calls, the Criminal Code of Ukraine contains Article 442, which provides for liability for disseminating such information. However, as of today, the Register of Court Decisions contains only one verdict under this article - a verdict dated March this year," said Olga Vdovenko, a lawyer with the Human Rights Platform.
According to the expert, when it comes to holding Russia accountable for spreading such rhetoric, the collection, generalisation, systematisation and documentation of information is extremely important. According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, it is possible to collect evidence and submit it to the International Court of Justice as additional evidence to hold Russia accountable for spreading genocidal rhetoric. Oksana Romaniuk, director of the Institute of Mass Information, adds that the rhetoric of Russian aggressive propaganda in terms of direct calls for the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure can be considered a component of the crime of genocide.
"We have two tasks. The first is to show the systematic nature of this crime. These are not individual reports by individual journalists. This is definitely a targeted, Kremlin-funded part of the war. We are interested in seeing the moment when it began. The second point is the result of these calls in real life. We see the effect of information influence in polls of Russians who actively support the war in Ukraine. Or when Russian prisoners are asked why they came here, and they quote Skabeyeva and Solovyov's broadcasts and say that they came to "save them from the Nazis". We have seen this result in the inscriptions, for example, in the liberated Buchansky district. There were many different traces left by Russians on the walls, where they wrote that Ukrainians were "Nazis", "rats", etc.", said Oksana Romaniuk.
Lidiya Chorna, a social psychologist at the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, spoke about several stages of Russian propaganda. One of them is victimisation of the population.
"In the Russian press, both at the level of kindergarten and at the level of children's groups, uniforms are worn, various performances are staged, and as a result, children identify themselves with victims of violence. This is all types of propaganda, and it all ends with genocidal rhetoric about "revenge" on the group whose emotional sphere is thus stirred up. In addition, social psychologists view war as an extreme, extreme, violent type of intergroup interaction. War is always about the polarisation of the world into friends and foes," the psychologist added.
Currently, international law does not provide for a separate definition of a crime that would include the dissemination of genocidal rhetoric or public calls for genocide, explained Volodymyr Zelenchuk, a lawyer at the Institute of Mass Information. In the current version of the Rome Statute, incitement to commit genocide is considered a separate way of committing this crime, and individual responsibility for such incitement lies with those who do it. Because of this, the law today does not allow for the possibility of bringing Russia to justice for the development, actual implementation and active financing of genocidal rhetoric.
"Therefore, we are collecting evidence of genocidal rhetoric and dissemination in order to use it as evidence as soon as the mechanism is determined, either within the International Criminal Court or within a special tribunal. Of course, this will happen if international judicial institutions and organisations conclude that it is necessary to create a mechanism of accountability not only for the crime of aggression, but also for the crime of genocide," the lawyer explained.
To watch the recording of the event, please follow the link.
01.11.2023
