Russian liberals in the leading Western media: what messages do they carry and why is it not so clear-cut?
27 June 2024 12:37
“Good Russians”, liberal Russians and foreign agents. These are those who generally do not support Putin’s regime or the war in Ukraine, or both. Many of them now live in Europe and the United States, but Komersant ukrainskyi
There are suspicious materials, but it is dangerous to talk about it!
“The topic is extremely complex and even dangerous. With rare exceptions, reputable publications behave very carefully, know the laws, etc. And it is very difficult to accuse them of such venality with evidence – and may even threaten to end up in court on charges of defamation. I have a few examples of suspicious materials, but no hard evidence, and I won’t name them out loud in public.”
– Andriy Ostalsky
Institute for War Studies: what is a Russian ballerina doing there?
Recently, a wave of hate against the American Institute for the Study of War has been spreading through telegram channels. They say that there is even a Russian ballerina among the analysts. Christina Harvard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg. She has danced professionally with companies in Estonia and the United States. She also holds a BA in Slavic Studies and Political Science from Columbia University. Her research interests have included Russian-Chinese relations, Russian militarisation of the Arctic, and the Russian diaspora in the Baltic States. Today, she is a member of the ISW research team. Although her experience is open to debate, she does not openly propagandise. Moreover, there is no information in open sources about Christina Harvard’s origin, so it is not worth calling her a Russian without confirmation.
Russians in the Western media: not everything is so clear
One of the most striking examples of Russians in the Western media is the British news website, formerly The Independent, a daily newspaper. The newspaper is owned by the son of Alexander Lebedev, a Russian businessman who once served in the KGB, Yevgeny Lebedev. The former does not hide the fact that he owns several hotels in Crimea and sometimes mentions them in his interviews. But, as journalists discovered, the hotels were registered in the Russian register or bought after the annexation. By the way, in the summer of 2022, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told members of parliament that he had meetings without witnesses among other officials with Russian businessman and former billionaire Alexander Lebedev. And, as the Sunday Times claimed, there had been warnings from the security services that Lebedev could pose a threat to national security.
However, if we analyse the publications of The Independent, there are no openly pro-Russian materials. The headlines of the articles are as follows:
- “Russia’s war on Ukraine is live: three out of seven children killed in Russian drone strike on petrol station”;
- “Ukraine may launch US-supplied missiles deeper into Russia in self-defence, Pentagon says”;
- “IAEA warns that attacks on nuclear plant in Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory threaten the world”.
The same publications objectively analyse events in Ukraine and often criticise the Putin regime.
Karina Orlova, a former journalist for Ekho Moskvy and now a Washington-based journalist, notes in a special report for Kommersant Ukrainsky
“When something provocative and ambiguous appears, it is most likely an opinion piece, an ‘opinion column’. They are written by completely different people who do not work for the state. Of course, they may have long-standing ties to Russia.”
– Karina Orlova
Different people, experts who are given a platform for reflection, do not only write columns in the media. They have a main activity that does much more harm,” Orlova notes. “After all, no one makes decisions in the White House based on columns in the Washington Post or the New York Times unless it’s Donald Trump. The most striking example, according to Orlova, is Henry Kissinger, who had contacts with Russia and his opinion was listened to.
“What kind of people can influence decision-making in Washington? It’s not journalists. Unless they are investigative journalists. But think tankers [think tanks], people who do research, write various reports that are then put on the administration’s desk, not all of them, but many. These are the people who can make a difference.”
– Karina Orlova
Karina Orlova gives another name as an example. Samuel Sharap is a political scientist at the American Development Centre who writes for the US military. Most recently, he co-authored an analytical report with recommendations for the US government on policy in Georgia and the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
He works for the Rand Corporation.
The Washington-based journalist notes that Samuel Sharap has also participated in the Valdai Forum and has consistently advocated that Ukraine should enter into negotiations with Russia as soon as possible.
“In 2021, Samuel Sharap was one of the few who realised that the exercises near Ukraine’s borders were not Russian military exercises, but a real war was being prepared. But then he began trying to influence the administration, lobbying the administration to, first, make the Americans say that Ukraine will never join NATO, that this path is closed to it, and to make concessions to Putin. And since then, he has continued to act in this line.”
– Karina Orlova
Toby Gatti is another member of the Valdai Club. According to Karina Orlova, in 2017, she surfaced at a private meeting at the Atlantic Council, which was attended by Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven. At the meeting, they lobbied the US not to include them in sanctions. Now Mikhail Fridman is working at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum conference.
“Surviving in an open society with Russians”
Speaking about Russians who have been working in the Western media for a long time, such as Masha Hessen (The New York Times), Peter Pomerantsev (The Guardian), Olga Semenova (BBC, The Times), their work is usually aimed at objective coverage of events in Russia, including political, social and economic issues.
Yuriy Rashkin, a member of the Rock County Assembly in Wisconsin, a public figure, also states for Kommersant Ukrainsky
“I met a pro-Palestinian journalist at a conference a few years ago who works for the National Public Radio, and she seems to be a bigger threat in this sense. Because Palestinians are much more active and aggressive in expressing their point of view, which is bloodthirsty and bloody. Not like the Russians, who have a “whatever the authorities want, that’s what will happen” attitude, “I’m a small person, I don’t care about politics”. And the Palestinian journalist scared me, because these kinds of people have brought our media to a point where they look at protests at universities and say: right.”
– Yuriy Rashkin
Pluralism of opinions, on the other hand, is democracy, it is the problem and the strength of our society, Rashkin adds. Because it is open, and this is the only way we can win.
“There is a fundamental challenge here: how to survive in an open society, the answer to which is not ‘an emergency catapult and everyone back to Russia’,
– Yuriy Rashkin
In any case, Ukrainians today must be prepared – Russian propaganda can come in any form and from anyone in the West. They need to be vigilant not only about Russian journalists, but also about ex-politicians, experts, public and political figures. Always check information and read official sources.
Anastasia Fedor
