Ukraine and Central Asia: countering Russian mass media influence

Ukrinform has hosted a round-table conference entitled "Central Asia: media landscape and Russian influences"

On August 20, Ukrinform hosted a round-table conference entitled "Central Asia: media landscape and Russian influences". The event was coordinated by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security (CSCIS) with support from the Civil Diplomacy Foundation.

Maksym Vikhrov, an analyst at the Center for Strategic Communications, moderated the discussion. He reminded that the CSCIS is a regular organizer of events addressing the Russian propaganda’s impact across the world and ways to counter it, having already held a series of panel discussions devoted to the Arab world, Africa, and the Global South.

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The region of Central Asia, encompassing Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, holds an extreme importance for Ukraine and its international relations.

"Moreover, we are united with these countries by a common historical fate, which we once shared, being under the rule of monarchical, then Bolshevik Russia," Vikhrov said.

Oleksiy Feshchenko, an analyst at the Civil Diplomacy Foundation, unveiled his authored report on "Russian propaganda’s impact across Central Asia". The report provides an analysis of media environments in each of the five countries of the region, focusing on their vulnerabilities to Russian propaganda and on ways how Ukraine can influence this using “entry points”.

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The report reveals, among other things, a growing role for social media networks in all of the five countries, even despite limited Internet access in some of them. This provides a viable platform for Ukraine to set up a dialogue and communication with the societies in Central Asia.

Mr. Feshchenko commented: "Further research and building up communication with this region promises much, and especially so in terms of gaining an understanding of the ways information policy is arranged in these countries, of how Russia's relations with the region are arranged in this context. To us, it is crucial to understand what is happening out there, what is shaping the agenda for Russian propaganda efforts targeting these countries, and what we [Ukraine] can do to counter Russian misinformation; to understand whether we are able at all to counteract this influence, and, if so, with what methods".

Analysts from Kazakhstan attended the round-table event via a video link. Danial Saari, the director of the Center for Political Studies at the School of Politics and Law at the Almaty University of Management, shared his thoughts about the influence the Russian Federation exerts on Kazakhstan’s information environment.

"Russian mass media influence remains to be significant. Media outlets such as Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik are active in sharing their agenda, thus influencing the public opinion in Kazakhstanis. Russian propaganda often plays on historical and cultural ties between countries to build up its influence, positioning Russia as a defender of traditional values ​​and stability in the region. The trend toward growing mass media influence is observed against the backdrop of geopolitical changes and increasingly high tensions in international relations," the expert explained.

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Laura Imangalieva of the Center for Political Studies at the School of Politics and Law at the Almaty University of Management authored a chapter in the report on "Russian propaganda’s impact across Central Asia", focusing on Kazakhstan. The report’s findings are based, in particular, on a public opinion survey on how the sensitivity to and the consumption of Russian propaganda vary in different age groups.

"The respondents were subdivided into three groups depending on age: young people aged 18 to 40, middle-aged people from 40 to 60 years old, and people aged 60+. The survey revealed that the level of trust in Russian mass media and their provided information perceived as “objective” is growing in parallel with age. This trend is especially evident among regular Russian state TV watchers, with 60 percent of them found to trust in the Russian mass media completely.

This proportion is lower at 35-40 percent among Internet users. It is noteworthy in this context that older people who saw Soviet times and grew up under heavy influence of USSR propaganda machine tend to have more trust in state media (television and newspapers). Furthermore, a limited access to alternative information sources contributes to the influence Russian propaganda has on public conscience and sentiments. To enable effective counteraction against the diverse and severe impact Russian mass media propaganda has on the public in the Central Asia region, it is necessary to set up a network of independent, unbiased mass media, in Kazakhstan specifically and Central Asian countries in general, as well as to enhance the level of media literacy among the population, to produce more local content in the national language meeting the specifics of local audiences and regional characteristics. To add to this, cooperation with international organizations and experts in media security can contribute to the development of effective strategies for countering propaganda and misinformation influences," said Imangalieva.

Vira Konstantynova, an international policy analyst regretted the fact that in Ukraine, since independence, the region of Central Asia has not yet been in the focus of expert scrutiny and research, and has not been given due attention even now.

"The first most positive development is that we started to think strategically. The next step to follow is conducting research. It is critical that our experts have the opportunity to travel to Central Asian countries to verify with their own eyes, or refute some or other findings of this research.

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Central Asia as it was before the full-scale invasion and as it is now are two whole different worlds. And I would like to highlight that people in Central Asian countries have an awareness and appreciation for the truth. Therefore, our strategic challenge is not so much to counter against specific media propaganda, because in addition to Russian media propaganda, the region may be subject to propaganda influence from other, extra-regional actors. We therefore need to focus on communicating about the truth and about what is happening in Ukraine. That is what citizens [in Central Asia countries] are wanting an waiting for, and, from my perspective, we, being experts, need to correctly assess the reality of the region and in terms of how Ukraine can help tackle certain challenges using various tools, including public diplomacy ", she said.

The discussion also involved comments from the director of the Civil Diplomacy Foundation Fedir Lavrynenko, the chief adviser at the National Institute of Strategic Studies Alina Hrytsenko, the founding father of Active Group company Andriy Yeremenko, an analyst at United Ukraine think tank Dmytro Levus, the director of Russian and Belarusian research programs at the Foreign Policy Council "Ukrainian Prism" Yaroslav Chornohor, the head of the Center for Political Studies "Doctrine" Yaroslav Bozhko, and a CSCIS  analyst Maksym Mayorov.

Full video of the round-table conference is available on Ukrinform’s YouTube channel.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security has compiled this article for Ukrinform