Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky on Thursday compared the Russian invasion of his country to the actions of “Nazi Germany” during World War II. World War.
(Also: The historical keys with which Putin justifies intervention in Ukraine)
(Due to the public interest that the events between Russia and Ukraine arouse, all our coverage of that invasion and related actions will have free access for all readers of EL TIEMPO)
(Read here: Ukraine calls for volunteers to take up arms after Russian attacks)
“Russia attacked Ukraine in a cowardly and suicidal way, like Nazi Germany did during World War II”, declared the Ukrainian president during an appearance broadcast by Facebook. He also urged Russian citizens to “go out” into the streets to “protest against the war.”
For its part, the European Union (EU) continues to monitor trends in information manipulation promoted by Russia in the context of the current situation with
Ukraine, some narratives that in recent hours have been accentuated, according to European sources warned, towards a denial to Ukraine of its right to exist.
The President of the European Parliament (EP), Roberta Metsola, will convene this Thursday an extraordinary plenary session of the European Parliament for next Tuesday, March 1, in which the Russian invasion of Ukrainesaid several parliamentary sources.
Metsola called this emergency plenary session after a meeting with the leaders of the political groups of the EP and the presidents of the European Council, Charles Michel, and of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, after the Russian forces stormed in the early hours of Thursday in several Ukrainian enclaves after days of escalating conflict.
The leaders of the European Union (EU) will also meet this afternoon in an extraordinary European Council to discuss new “massive and severe” sanctions against Russia, which are being finalized and will be adopted “rapidly”.
(Be sure to read: Russia’s entry into Ukraine causes the first deaths)
At the extraordinary summit this Thursday, the Twenty-seven “will impose massive and severe consequences on Russia for its actions,” Michel and Von der Leyen stressed this morning in a joint statement.
In total, 27 high-ranking individuals and entities subject to the freezing of assets and under the ban on traveling to European territory will be sanctioned, in addition to the 351 deputies of the Russian State Duma who validated the recognition of the independence of the self-proclaimed separatist republics from Donetsk and Luhansk.
However, if the escalation increases the war dynamic on the part of the West, it may be an issue to consider.
🔴 Putin announces a special military operation in Donbas.
“Russia will fight for the demilitarization and denacification of Ukraine and will prosecute those who committed crimes against peaceful citizens,” Putin says in a message to the nation. It’s 6 o’clock in the morning in Moscow pic.twitter.com/AmI0GaTHzG— ℎ (@mrsahuquillo) February 24, 2022
According to Prime Minister Boris Johnson in an interview with the BBC, the evidence suggested that Russia was planning “the biggest war in Europe since 1945”.
Johnson believes any conflict could be “bloody and protracted”, saying Vladimir Putin was possibly “thinking illogically” and did not “see the disaster ahead”.
The Institute for War Studies (ISW) considered it likely that the Russian Duma would vote to authorize the use of military force to occupy breakaway republics.
In fact, it also set a deadline for this invasion of Ukraine by Russia: from 24 to 36 hours.
Behind the Russian attack on Ukraine and the beginning of a massive invasion, Zelensky has called on the world to create an “anti-Putin coalition” and force Russia into peace. After speaking with the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany, Volodomir Zelensky stated that “the world must force Russia to peace.”
Russia tries to denigrate Ukraine using disinformation
Analysis of Russian disinformation and information manipulation efforts carried out by the strategic communication division of community diplomacy has detected a “surprising coordination” between different disinformation agents, from the Russian government-owned media to the ecosystem around the Kremlin , which has caused a “significant increase” in this type of content.
“It is quite clear that it is an information manipulation organized by the State and that it involves almost all parts of the Government (…) and that it has a clear strategy, everything is planned and coordinated,” the sources pointed out.
Community diplomacy warns, specifically, about various manipulated narratives that are being used especially in recent days in the face of the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, including “the denigration of Ukraine and its authorities.”
This is content that has increased “in the last 24 hours” and that has been “perennial” since Brussels began to analyze Russian disinformation, relating to the denial of Ukraine’s right to exist as a country and to present it to the world as a failed state.
Disinformation has also been detected with a “reversal of the causes and consequences of the conflict” (content in which Ukraine and the West are belligerent and Russia is threatened and acts in self-defense) and narratives with false pretexts for whichand Russia initiates military action against Ukrainethe so-called “casus belli”, which have been in the works for months, according to the sources.
In this area, for example, the strategic communication services have detected a greater presence in these contents of the words “Nazi”, referring to the Ukrainian authorities, or “genocide”, the assumption to which the Russian president, Vladimir Putinmade reference this Monday in his televised speech to announce the recognition of the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk.
The European sources acknowledge that none of these narratives are illegal, but urge that Europe be aware of the kind of content that “comes from outside with a clear objective” before accepting it uncritically.
“Language matters. Last night Putin spoke of sending peacekeeping forces (to Lugansk and Donetsk). If you write a story with these terms you have already fallen into the trap of this type of disinformation. They are Russian military entities,” they warned.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP and EFE
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