Ukraine: DGAP expert Mölling warns against Russian propaganda about Taurus

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Podcast “The Situation – International”
Military expert Mölling: Germany vulnerable to Russian propaganda

Ukraine would like to have Taurus cruise missiles from Germany

© South Korea Defense Ministry / AP / DPA

Stefan Schmitz

Russian propaganda is specifically influencing attitudes in Germany – and is becoming an effective weapon in the conflict with the West, warns security expert Christian Mölling.

According to the security expert, Russian propaganda is falling Christian Mölling found fertile ground in Germany. Mölling said on Thursday star-Podcast “The Situation – International” on the campaigns from Moscow: “We have to assume that this will go incredibly well.” The research director of the German Society for Foreign Policy explained that the Russian leadership understood exactly how German society works and what it reacts to. In addition, stirring up fear is, to a certain extent, at the core of President Vladimir Putin’s regime. It specifically controls the messages that are sent to Western societies. The intercepted conversation between senior Air Force officers about the Taurus cruise missile was withheld for weeks – in order to then place it precisely in an already difficult German debate. For the actors in Berlin, this means the challenge of not behaving in accordance with their roles and, for example, attacking the government as opposition politicians. They must realize that they are not allowed to play Moscow’s game now.

“We are the actors”

Mölling compared the success of Russian propaganda to a play: “We are the actors – and Russia wrote the play,” he said. Mölling expected, for example, that in the debate about the Taurus delivery it could definitely have an effect if there was now speculation in the Russian media about which bridges in Germany could be attacked in retaliation for the destruction of the bridge to Crimea.

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Mölling emphasized that “good propaganda not only has an anchor in reality, but can also be easily used as a template over reality.” The conflict over the Transnistria region in Moldova is certainly real. The news about the calls for help from Russians living there to Moscow would also be used for propaganda purposes – for example to raise concerns that the call for help would be followed by military intervention. “They are trying to send the same narrative in again,” said Mölling about the parallels with the alleged cries for help from the Russian minority in eastern Ukraine before the start of the Russian invasion two years ago.

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