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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Mark Rice-Oxley

To defeat Putin, we must support the brave Russian journalists telling the truth

Marina Ovsyannikova, a journalist who was charged with ‘discrediting’ the Russian army after protesting on state TV against military action in Ukraine.
Marina Ovsyannikova, charged in 2022 with ‘discrediting’ the Russian army after protesting on state TV against military action in Ukraine. Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images

Battlefield tanks are really only half the battle. Beyond military might on the ground in Ukraine, there is another critical confrontation in which the Kremlin has a superiority that must be challenged. The information war.

Russia’s media space has reverted to a grotesque parody of the Soviet-era model. (In fact, it’s far worse, as in the latter Soviet years at least, most people knew they were being fed lies). Television and the domestic press is utterly captured. Millions are fed a daily diet of Ukrainian “fascists”, western pederasts, and nuclear revenge on Anglo-Saxon civilisation.

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