Ukraine Crisis Media Center
Kyiv, Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine
AMBASSADOR PYATT: Thank you, Vasyl. Thank you, Dmytro, for the
excellent remarks. Let me first of all congratulate UCMC and the NATO
folks for putting this event together. It’s extremely timely.
The best evidence of that was the press conference yesterday given by the NATO
Secretary General, where he placed a major focus on the challenge of hybrid
warfare and the need for those of us in the Transatlantic community to think
systematically about how we meet this challenge.
It’s important to recognize that what we’ve come to call hybrid warfare,
which Ukraine has now been subject to for two long years, is a combination of
instruments. It’s economic pressure; it’s military pressure, the little
green men; it’s political pressure; and of course, it is information pressure
and the weaponization of information.
The most important single principle to understand about this information
warfare is that it’s not the objective of the Russian Federation in this effort
to win an argument; the goal is not to prove the truth. The goal, rather,
is to confuse, distract, deny, and to get Ukraine off track -- to keep us off
balance. And the sooner you understand that that is the objective, the
easier it is to think about what is the most effective response.
I think all of us have learned a lot over the past two years about Russia’s
tactics and objectives in this effort. I remember vividly, just about two
years ago, just after the revolution, in the last days of February, an American
journalist, Chris Miller, who was then reporting for the Kyiv Post, traveled down to Crimea, and he was one of
the first international journalists to visit Crimea before the Russian invasion
and annexation.
And Chris reported, as he arrived in Crimea, how struck
he was by the number of citizens there who were fearful of the fascists who had
taken power in Kyiv, and were worried that some fascist battalions, that Praviy
Sektor was about to send its tanks into Crimea to violate people. And of
course, we all know – we thought it was funny at the time, but that demonstrated
a pattern which has repeated itself, and this Goebbels-like propaganda machine
that the Kremlin has deployed as part of its strategy against Ukraine.
Now I think it’s important to recognize, and this goes to the conference
that Vasyl alluded to, the pitfalls in dealing with this propaganda
warfare. The biggest mistake that we could make, the biggest mistake that
Ukraine could make, is to spend all of your time and all of your energy trying
to counter those lies – to spend all of your breath saying: “There are no
fascists! What are you talking about?” That’s exactly what Russia
wants.
There is a phenomenon in psychology called mirroring, where you fall into
the habit of simply reflecting the behaviors of your opponent. And that
is, for me, one of the risks for Ukraine. It’s a huge mistake for the
Ukrainian government, for the Ukrainian people, to create a troll factory like
St. Petersburg, churning out counter-propaganda in social media. It’s a
huge mistake to create a “Ministry of Truth” that tries to generate alternative
stories. That is not the way to defeat this information warfare.
In fact, Ukraine doesn’t need more state-sponsored media. What
Ukraine needs is a successful Ukraine. And I would argue – and I was glad
to see Dmytro say very much the same – the single most powerful refutation to
the Kremlin’s hybrid war and information campaign against this country is a
successful, modernizing, European, democratic Ukraine.
In that regard, nobody will be surprised to hear me say that the number one
priority for Ukraine and Ukrainian society in 2016 needs to be prevailing in
the war against corruption.
It is the key issue in demonstrating that
Ukraine is moving forward. In that regard, I would argue the best weapon
against the Kiselyovs of the world is your anti-corruption prosecutor.
It’s deputy prosecutors general like David Sakvarelidze, who are trying to hold
criminals accountable. It’s your NABU. All of which are
institutions that the United States will strongly support.
When I think back on that terrible year of 2014, and the tidal wave of
propaganda that came out of the Russian government, the single most important
event, I think, in changing that narrative in the West, certainly in the United
States, was your successful presidential election of May 2014 – an election
that met the highest OSCE standards and in which the Ukrainian people turned
out in large numbers to express their democratic choice. That was the
best answer to the false allegations about Praviy Sektor and all the rest.
And you can see how that’s the story that Russia has no good answer to.
Ukraine needs to continue building a strong foundation of European
democracy, just as you built on May 2014 presidential elections with successful
Rada elections in October 2014, to demonstrate that Ukraine is moving
forward. Continue to broaden and deepen your ties with the European
Union.
Make clear that there is no turning back. Make clear that
you will live up to the highest standards of European governance. Continue
to build your trade and investment ties with the West. Encourage
Europeans to come here and see for themselves that what they see on Russia
Today is a massive distortion of the reality. And continue the strong
record that Ukraine’s government has demonstrated since December 2014 of
pushing forward with the hard work of reform.
I hear some very dangerous voices today saying that, “We’ve had enough of
these technocratic ministers. We’ve had enough of professional
governance. Now it’s the politicians’ turn to take the reins. That
there should be a reload of the government to put real politicians, and not
these technocratic English-speaking ministers we’ve had over the past
year.” I think that would be an enormous mistake, in part because it
would fuel the Kremlin attempt to mischaracterize Ukraine and say that Ukraine
is a failing state, when in fact Ukraine is an emerging European democracy.
A couple of last thoughts. The media space is obviously key to all of
this. In this regard, it is important that Ukraine continues to develop
professional, credible, and independent journalism free from oligarchic
control. I know it’s a tiny piece of the media space, but I cannot say
enough good things about Hromadske TV and
what it represents as a model of objective, independent journalism – not
answerable to any oligarchic or political agenda. I don’t think Ukraine needs
more propaganda machine. What Ukraine needs is more objective
information.
Protect freedom of speech. It’s critically important, and a core
European value, to allow diversity of opinions, even if those opinions are
critical of the government, and even if one political faction or another may
not agree with those opinions.
And then, finally, for journalists to stick to professional
standards. To report the facts. To overcome and reject efforts to
buy their coverage. And not to fall into the trap, which I think
sometimes happens in international media, of arguing or believing that the test
of objectivity is to report both sides of an argument, even when one side is
patently and transparently manufactured.
These are the ingredients for Ukraine’s success. And what I want to
underline today is my government’s commitment to continue, as we have for the
past two years, to stand foursquare with the Ukrainian people, to work closely
with the government and the presidency and the people of Ukraine to advance the
European choice that you have made. And most importantly, to always side
with those who are committed to reform, and to always side with those who
believe that falling into the habits of the past is the single biggest trap
that Ukraine faces looking to the future.
I’m very confident that the reformers are going to prevail, and I’m
absolutely confident that in this hybrid warfare with Russia, Ukraine is going
to prevail – because you’ve overcome already the worst that the Kremlin can
throw at you. So the job now is not to give up, and to continue moving
forward. And the United States will stand with you in that effort.
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