Greek professor: Russia attacks West through lies

University professor and director DCN Global, Nikos Panagiotoou, in an interview for The Geopost has talked about Russian dezination and the ways Russia extends its influence to other countries.

He has indicated that the common element of Russian propaganda is lies through which they attack the West.

In all these areas that we actually analyzed, we have found that the common element was attacks against the West through lies”, Greek professor for The Geopost said among other things.

Panagiotoou has offered some suggestions on how Russian disinformation can be fought in order to promote real narrativa.

The Geopost: Can you make a little presentation for you and DCN Global?

Panagiotoou: Thank you for the invitation. I'm so happy to have this discussion and interview with you. I'd like to wish all the best for a very interesting website. I've been following you last month and I've seen you doing a lot of work and I want to congratulate you and the whole team behind this. It's very fresh, it's very innovative and it deals with very important issues for the area.

For us, for me as president of DCN Global, this is very relevant to our activities and what we're doing. Digital Communications Network Global is a global organisation of 7,000 members worldwide. We have different centers. We have a centre for Southeast Europe, we have a center for Africa, a centre for Southeast Asia, and in October we will launch the new centre in America and we are extremely happy and honored for that.

The Geopost: How do you see the situation of disinformation in the Balkans?

Panagiotoou: The disinformation situation in general is quite alarming. We need to be aware, and this is something we have to keep in mind because it is very much related to the quality of our democracies. Especially in this region, dezinformation has proved to be a subject that can trigger hatred, it can launch many dezinforms and many polarizations that in an area like this one would be very dangerous. And that's why I think there are efforts from countries outside the area to influence Southeast Europe, and especially to spread dezinforms. We as the Digital Communications Network have organized a lot of webinar around this subject. We've organized a workshop about the diplomacy of vaccines where we've seen that Russia with Sputnik, especially in our area, was actually trying to promote an anti-Western fact-based campaign or alternative facts that weren't true. They were actually aiming to exploit people who were worried about Ovidius to promote their agenda. And that's something we've worked very intensively for to track and analyze.

The Geopost: We like The Geopost and perhaps you like the DCN Global know that most of the dezinforms and false news come from Russia. Do you have any analysis of which country is more under attack with this false news from Russia?

Panagioto: Yes. We in DCN Global have undertaken an initiative to conduct disinformation analysis in several countries: Greece, Romania, Armenia, Georgia, Italy, and parts of Kosovo.

The goal was actually to understand what kind of dezinformation is and actually to analyze this. We have seen that in all these countries, although they are in different countries (in Armenia, Ukraine, Georgia, and so on) some accounts are extremely similar. What this tells us is that samples try to exploit people's concerns on different topics. They have even used religion to promote a agenda that turns people against the West. In all these areas that we actually analyzed, we found that the common element was attacks against the West through lies.

The Geopost: In the war in Ukraine, there are more dezinforms and propaganda from Russia these days. What is your opinion on this?

Panagiotoou: I think what we've actually seen in this case is the model of hybrid war, which means that parallel to real warfare, there's been attempts to show that Russia didn't actually attack Ukraine, that what's to blame is not Russia, but it's the West, because the West provoked Russia, etc.

What we've seen isn't their lies. It's actually an attempt to blame somewhere else. We have even seen Russia prepare to say it will provide the needed wheat for countries in Africa. But they don't actually find out where this grain comes from, or if it's grain stolen from Ukraine.

The Geopost: Do you have any suggestions on what we can do (media, journalists, NGOs) to oppose this dezination?

Panagiotoou: One suggestion is to follow sites like yours. The second suggestion is we need more training. We actually need more training on how to detect a disinformation, but mostly we need more cooperation. We need all these elements, NGOs, journalists, media organisations to work together in order to feel that this is not true, don't believe this. Otherwise, the way and the confession are being built and the dezinform is very attractive. I think the media should work to motivate people to trust them. We have to change, we have to put behind the practices of the past that led to some public opinion leaving. So what we actually need against dezinformation is a very strong partnership that will be able to promote real narravities.