After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, information warfare is playing an increasingly important role in some former Soviet countries, where there is a gap between the pro-European positions of the population and the pro-Russian positions of the governments, reports Euronews, citing Rador.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kremlin propaganda and disinformation began to be perceived as a significant threat in several neighboring countries, and subsequently became central to domestic policy issues as well.

Information warfare occupies an increasingly important place in the political agenda of Russia’s former Soviet neighbors. If some politicians talk about propaganda and disinformation, analysts note that other local political forces are particularly active in promoting opinions favorable to the Kremlin.

Georgia and Moldova

A fierce internal political battle for information continues in both Georgia and Moldova, with opponents accusing the current governments of using Russian propaganda and expanding disinformation. Both countries aspire to join the European Union, which is not a very distant prospect.

And in both countries, the government is accused of undermining the pro-European aspirations of citizens in the actual climate of division between pro-Russian and pro-Western currents.

“In Georgia, this confrontation seems particularly acute because of the polarization of the media and society,” explains Dustin Gilbreth, deputy scientific director of the Caucasus Resource Center in Georgia. The expert draws attention to the fact that, according to the latest polls, support for the country’s pro-European aspirations breaks all records.

However, there are those who oppose the idea of ​​rapprochement with Europe and are influenced by the words of some politicians: “When the government of the “Georgian Dream” repeats openly anti-Western arguments, regularly insulting US and EU officials, saying that America is trying to drag Georgia into war , few people believe, but some really did,” Gilbreth explained.

“The big problem is that a lot of this misinformation comes from within the country and is spread by government officials,” Gilbreth added.

According to Gilbrat, the result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine will play an important role for Georgia. In Tbilisi, they are sure that this aggression is similar to the events of the Russian-Georgian war: in the event of Moscow’s victory, other neighboring countries could forever remain in the orbit of Russian influence. But the military failures of the Kremlin give hope for strengthening sovereignty.

According to Regis Gente, an independent journalist and political observer, Moscow is trying to influence Georgian politics with the help of soft power, but not in a positive, but in a negative way. This means that Moscow is not trying to create a positive image of Russia, but is trying to create a negative image of the Western world, claiming that European principles contradict traditional Georgian ones, claiming the existence of a threat to LGBT people and playing on other forms of intolerance.

At the same time, Gente believes that no amount of trust in the media or a disinformation campaign can now reverse the main trend in Georgia, where 80% of citizens want to join the EU. And the Kremlin knows it:

“Russia is not even trying to change the opinion of Georgians, in fact they are working for some kind of leadership. At the moment, we really have to watch what is happening, we probably have turbulent weeks and months ahead, during which the geopolitical and historical trajectory of the country is at stake, and it can fall under the influence of Russia.”

Such a scenario, according to the journalist, is a threat of further sanctioning of the authorities. Society is not ready to accept the rejection of European integration and will inevitably find itself in conflict with the authorities, which, in turn, will be ready to resort to increasingly violent methods of suppressing protests, counting on the support of Russia.

Urgent restoration of trust in state institutions

Pro-Russian information materials have become an important component of the political struggle in Moldova. Here, politicians also complain about pro-Kremlin propaganda, also in the context of a ten-year gap between pro-European and pro-Russian ones. “This conflict reflects the revanchist aspirations of the former regime,” says Felix Gett of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Moldova.

“The biggest threat, from the point of view of the current government of Moldova, is the return to power of the old oligarchic and kleptocratic political forces oriented towards Russia. And I think that’s the biggest problem is that they’re using or instrumentalizing these Russian narratives to advance their domestic political agenda,” Hatt explains.

In a society with close ties to both Russia and the European Union, Hatt believes that combating allegedly pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda requires attention to rebuilding trust in government institutions. Moldovans, caught in an extremely polarized environment, tend to rely on only one source of information, and often it is not official or governmental.

The President of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, who has become the main voice of pro-European changes in the country, aims to bring the fight against Russian propaganda to the state level and create a “Center of Patriotism” for this purpose.

In recent months, Sandu accused Moscow of preparing a coup and trying to destabilize the situation in the country. Russia has always rejected these accusations, saying that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of other states, reports Euronews, cited by Rador.