Ukraine: The disinformation war

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Russia’s response to accusations of war crimes in Ukraine has been to blame the Ukrainians of bombing their own side. Some people in the UK have been sharing this version of the war on social media. Driven by a conviction that Western governments are responsible for many of the world’s ills, these academics, journalists and celebrities have shared misinformation in their attempts to raise questions about the official narrative of the war. Their detractors say they are useful to Vladimir Putin. They claim there’s a McCarthyist witch hunt against them. All wars are fought as much in the information space as on the battle field and Chloe Hadjimatheou looks at where the new red lines are being drawn in an age of disinformation. (Image: Kvitka Perehinets has been following the conflict in her home country of Ukraine, from afar. Credit: Kvitka Perehinets)

Transcript

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0:00.0	The conflict in Ukraine has been fought as much online as it has on the battlefield.
0:10.0	Whatever Russia's lacking in military force on the ground, it's tried to make up for in the war for the narrative.
0:16.0	As recently as this weekend, the Russians were denying responsibility for any attacks on civilians,
0:22.0	and well, actually denying the entire war.
0:25.0	This is not a war, but this is a limited operation.
0:30.0	Welcome to a parallel reality where facts are butted away and conspiracies abound.
0:36.0	This is not true. This is not true. It's a fake. Believe me, we're all living not only under the circumstances of military operation.
0:45.0	We're living in a severe informational war and war of fakes.
0:51.0	I'm Chloe Hegemythae, and this week on assignment, I'm looking into the disinformation war about Ukraine.
0:59.0	The conflict's been rumbling on now for more than three months.
1:03.0	Atrociously that once shocked are now weekly occurrences, but one particular story stands out.
1:12.0	We're looking through the front windscreen of a car driving down a street in Butcher, a city on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Keeve.
1:21.0	Normally it's a busy place, but today, April 1st, 2022, the streets are empty.
1:27.0	The Russian military pulled its troops out of here after a month-long occupation, and this is one of the first videos recorded in the newly liberated city.
1:38.0	The driver mutters just so you get an idea of what happened here.
1:43.0	What he's referring to are the bundles along the side of the road. There's one every few meters, almost as regular as lamp posts.
1:51.0	They're the bodies of local residents. Many still have their hands tied behind their backs.
1:57.0	More than a thousand people are found dead in Butcher.
2:00.0	The evidence seems clear, satellite images show corpses lying in the street days before the Russian occupiers left the city.
2:08.0	But the Kremlin say not a single civilian was injured on their watch.
2:13.0	Instead, the Russians are the victims of an elaborate hoax, as Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained to Sky News.
2:21.0	Those dead bodies there were not victims of Russian military personnel.
	...

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