Volodymyr Shcherbachenko: Propaganda is a weapon of war, a weapon of preparation for war

Recently, human rights activists from the East Ukraine Center for Civic Initiatives presented the book “The City Where the War Began” at the Kosovo Humanitarian Law Center in Pristina.

This is a work about the means and methods that Russia has used in the occupied territories of Ukraine since 2014. The book is based on the testimonies of residents of the occupied and later liberated Ukrainian city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region. It describes various aspects of life in the occupied city, which were reproduced in each new settlement occupied by the Russians.

Volodymyr Shcherbachenko, co-author of the book and director of the Eastern Ukraine Center for Civil Society Initiatives, spoke to The Geopost about the importance of documenting war crimes, countering propaganda, and fact-checking.

Full interview:

The Geopost: Hello, Mr. Volodymyr. We welcome you to Pristina. On February 27, Ukrainians will present in the capital of the Republic of Kosovo the book “The City Where the War Began” about the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Please tell us about this project.

Shcherbachenko: Yes, indeed, we are presenting a book called The City Where the War Began. The book is dedicated to the events of 2014 in eastern Ukraine. Our organization, the Eastern Ukraine Center for Civic Initiatives, as well as a number of our partner human rights organizations have been collecting materials for this book for many years.

The book is based on documentary material, testimonies of more than 80 people, interviews with officials and press materials of the time. We have collected this data over many years to describe how the city was conquered, why it was possible and how the civilian population experienced this tragedy.

The book was planned to be published on the eve of the full invasion in 2022. But unfortunately the invasion began in full force and we published the book not at that time but later.

At one point we thought that perhaps we no longer needed it as the events around us changed and evolved. But even in 2022-2023 it became clear that the publication is still relevant, because the book covers various aspects of the war, how the war primarily affects the civilian population. These include problems with access to medical care, illegal arrests, extrajudicial executions, the problem of landmines and the influence of Russian propaganda in various ways through the Russian Orthodox Church, through pseudo-patriotic youth organizations and through the press. It turns out that all these aspects of the war that appeared in 2014 are still relevant today.

And it is worth highlighting propaganda separately, because it is also a weapon of war, a weapon of war preparation, and what is described in the book remains relevant to this day, not only for Ukraine, but also for many other countries where Russia is trying to maintain or strengthen its influence, because essentially the same tools are used everywhere.

The Geopost: How did you gather the data for this book, and how relevant do you think it is today, and how interesting will it be for people from Kosovo who have also experienced the war, or might it touch them?

Shcherbachenko: We conducted detailed interviews with people who survived the occupation of Sloviansk, with those who were taken “to the basement”, with those who lived in the city, with those who lost relatives and friends from shelling; we spoke with those who resisted in the occupied city, we spoke with doctors. This is one way to gather information, another is to analyze the press.

My colleague Nadiia (co-author of the book, editor’s note) can tell us how she analyzed the hate speech and incitement and how the Russians created an atmosphere of fear and hatred towards Ukraine in the occupied city. We met with officials, the Ministry of Emergency Situations (now the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, editor’s note), the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU, editor’s note), representatives of the city council – that’s how we collected data. As for the relevance, I think it’s there, because the territory of Kosovo is an area where a large part of the Serbian population lives, and Serbia is constantly trying to manipulate feelings and incite conflicts.

And in Ukraine it was, you know, on the basis of such a clear national confrontation. But when a country that has not given up its imperial ambitions, tries to manipulate part of the population, including through propaganda, creating structures in these territories that they are trying to take away... I can draw many parallels between what Russia has done and what it continues to do in the temporarily occupied territories in Ukraine.

I mean, as far as I know, the situation in Kosovo is about the creation of parallel security structures in areas inhabited by Serbs, about propaganda, about connections between public and state structures in Serbia and part of Kosovo, and it's not just about cultural exchange...

The Geopost: How important do you think it is to combat Russian disinformation and propaganda?

Shcherbachenko: Of course it is important, because it is part of the strategy of invasion, preparation for the invasion. Not only does it start with military preparations, meaning they collect weapons, train soldiers, but at the same time they carry out subversive propaganda work in the areas they want to invade.

And this is done mainly through disinformation campaigns, through the spread of propaganda, fake news, through the spread of certain false narratives, through attempts to pit certain parts of Ukrainian society against each other. And this is propaganda, and it is often hidden, people do not see it, it is carried out using insidious methods, it is done by experienced people, they manipulate consciousness.

Unfortunately, people fall for it, they believe in certain things, I have personally seen people fall victim to this propaganda and when a person starts to believe in it, it is very easy to manipulate them, to turn them against their fellow citizens. They can take up arms and oppose their own state or passively support the invaders. And it is important to recognize and understand this, so it is important to refute these myths and point them out.

Russia is investing huge sums in these propaganda campaigns all over the world, including Europe. And to counter this, we need to talk about it, hold events that raise people's awareness, help them learn, make their own judgments, judge what is factual and what is not. And this helps people become more resilient.

/The Geopost