internal security
Protection of the Constitution: More aggressive disinformation from Russia
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution is concerned: “In Germany, the trust of the population in politics, administration, but also in the free media is to be undermined.” photo
©Oliver Berg/dpa
Russia wants to spread skepticism and distrust in this country and the ways and means in which this is being attempted are increasing, warns the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The office is worried.
At a science conference on the subject of “Opinion Formation 2.0 – Strategies in the struggle for interpretative sovereignty in the digital age,” Becker explained that Russia has flexibly adapted the content and tonality of its disinformation to its wartime activities and to the German and global debates. The organizer was the Center for Analysis and Research at the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Inside, disinformation serves to legitimize President Vladimir Putin and keep him in power. The Russian state apparatus is trying to influence public opinion elsewhere through disinformation.
“Many small propagandistic pinpricks”
“In Germany, the trust of the population in politics, administration, but also in the free media is to be undermined. Our alliances and communities of values with the EU and NATO are also to be discredited and weakened,” explained Becker. To this end, Russia constantly takes up current conflict issues and exploits them in its own interests.
“Russian government agencies use many opportunities to spread disinformation, both directly and indirectly.” This applies to the official announcements by Putin and his “echo chambers” in government and parliament, state media, information portals operated by the intelligence services and social media.
“The many small propagandistic pinpricks via these diverse channels are usually rather insignificant and usually not relevant to security,” said the expert on counterintelligence. “But in the overall view, this disinformation can still have an effect.” In the end, actors from another state could succeed in “shaping a climate of scepticism, rejection or distrust”.