Hans van Koningsbrugge, professor of Russian History and Politics at the University of Groningen, gives his commentary on the war in Ukraine every Saturday. Episode 57 today.
“After the Russian retaliatory bombardment of several Ukrainian cities, many newspapers headlined that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov wants to negotiate with Ukraine. I thought that was strange, because the Kremlin supposedly wants to negotiate continuously, but also knows that there is no negotiation. By annexing four Ukrainian regions, it has removed all room for maneuver. He calls it at most to say that Russia wanted to negotiate, but that Ukraine and the West were not interested.
In a much-discussed blog, Marit de Roij, student of Russian literature in Leiden, states that Dutch media are helping the Russian information war. Russia is not only waging an information war to influence its own population, but also the outside world. It’s no secret that Moscow and Saint Petersburg are home to troll factories spreading disinformation worldwide.
‘Russia organized that ‘resistance’ itself’
For example, the Russians consistently make the Ukrainian leaders look like Nazis. In fact, it was the main motive of the ‘military action’: the ‘denazification’ of Ukraine. By adopting that word, it settles in the minds of media consumers. If it isn’t true then maybe a little bit, when it isn’t true at all.
Also indiscriminately adopted by Western media is the term ‘Russian pro-separatists’ in the Donbas. That suggests that many residents in eastern Ukraine would like to belong to Russia. In reality, that term has been spread by Russia, while it itself has organized that ‘resistance’. Yet the Kremlin has managed to make us believe that ‘separatists’ had a hand in it.
Language is politics. Putin denies any Ukrainian identity. This includes language. Therefore, in Russian eyes Kiev should not be called Kyiv and Kharkiv should not be called Kharkiv, because that is the Ukrainian spelling. I do think that Marit de Roij has a point. Western media would be better off adopting the Ukrainian spelling of place names.”