EU wants to work with Ukraine to create toolkit to fight manipulation - diplomat

The European Union is interested in working with Ukraine to create tools to help combat manipulation.

This was stated by the Director for Interinstitutional Relations, Policy Coordination and Public Diplomacy of the European External Action Service, Oliver Rentschler, during his presentation at Kyiv Stratcom Forum, Ukraine’s first international forum on strategic communications, Ukrinform reports.

"The EU and NATO are sincere supporters of the idea of cooperation and partnership with Ukraine. In the EU, we are now trying to create tools to combat manipulation that will allow us to adjust our efforts. That is why they are very interested in cooperation with Ukraine,” Oliver Rentschler emphasized. 

According to him, the EU sees the tension that Russia is creating on the border with Ukraine. In addition to building up military presence, Russia is also circulating manipulative narratives to undermine Ukraine's security.

“It is now time to discuss what to do with these threats, since we are all facing them. The challenge we are talking about has no boundaries. Over the past few years, such things have happened many times. This greatly complicates the situation. We can cite a recent example with migrants on the border with Belarus, who were used for a manipulative purpose, with respective narratives disseminated worldwide,” he mentioned.

The expert noted that states are already learning to fight against such narratives. He believes this is especially important in the context of international cross-border activities.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on December 7-8, 2021, Kyiv Stratcom Forum took place in the capital of Ukraine. It was the first international forum on strategic communications in Ukraine. Among its participants were NATO and EU diplomats, Ukrainian officials, representatives of Ukrainian civil society organizations specializing in strategic communications and countering disinformation. The Forum was organized by the Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security.

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