Putin has lied so much that even the facts told by Russia are no longer believed. It hinders the way to peace, because now one has to stick to the claims in order to save face, Riiheläinen writes.
Janne “Rysky” Riiheläinen Security policy observer
When the first rumors and even information of the Russian withdrawal from Kherson began to move, my immediate reaction was: what a plot this is. And I certainly wasn’t the only doubter.
Still, although Kherson is now in the hands of the Ukrainians so firmly that even the president Volodymyr Zelensky has visited there, there are forebodings of a possible plot. It does not seem credible that Russia is acting as it says it is acting.
Descriptive For the collapse of Russia’s credibility (you switch to another service) in the eyes of the rest of the world, there is also the fact that almost no one gave importance to it when Russia categorically denied that its missile had hit Poland. Even such throws were met, in which the matter was considered confirmed, when the Kremlin once denied it.
Some of the lies are just denying responsibility, some of them try to shift the blame for what happened to others.
Phases of Putin’s aggression in Ukraine can be viewed through Russia’s lies: first, the green men in Crimea are not Russians. Then the Russian armed forces will not fight in Donbass. And Russia has nothing to do with the downing of the Malaysian plane. Russia is also not a party to the war, even in the Minsk peace process it was only involved as an observer and mediator.
The list of lies continues: Ukraine was about to attack Russia and therefore Russia had to attack first. War crimes and systematic atrocities against civilians are just smears. Russia is at war with all of NATO in Ukraine and so on and so forth.
Some of the lies are just denying responsibility, some of them try to shift the blame for what happened to others. Russia has denied, for example, the shooting down of a Malaysian passenger plane in 2014. The plane was brought down by a missile fired from the Russian-controlled area in eastern Ukraine.
Russia has also planted a large number of different lies to confuse the picture of the situation. Among the numerous conspiracy theories was, among others, a Spanish petty criminal social media character developed for a fee (you switch to another service)who posed as an air traffic controller and claimed that the Ukrainians were to blame for what happened.
A good eight years of investigation and the trial weighing the evidence just ended. The verdict not only finds three of the defendants guilty, but also states that Russia is responsible for what happened.
However, antidotes to the Kremlin’s tactics have already been found.
Of course, there is familiarity in international politics, that things are said in public more roundly than behind closed doors. However, Putin’s Russia has chosen to act differently. For that, a brazen lie is a strategic tool both in public and behind closed doors. By claiming fairy tales that suit itself as true, the country has supported its actions and goals.
However, antidotes to the Kremlin’s tactics have already been found in democratic countries. When Russia used a mass destruction grade nerve agent in Britain and tried to poison the West for its spies Sergei Skripal and his daughter, the answer was quick.
The British government knew that the normal waiting for the results of the criminal investigation would have taken away the basis for countermeasures.
Therefore, it very quickly shared its view of the culprit and also shared sensitive intelligence about the incident with its allies.
The United States has also shared otherwise strictly kept secret information when responding to Russia’s steps. Even before the major attack in Ukraine, the exceptionally open sharing of intelligence information has been an effective means of countering the power of Russia’s claims.
Lies have been built on top of each other over the years and at the same time Putin’s administration has isolated itself in its own world.
At the time, when soldiers dressed in insignia uniforms occupied Crimea, Russia pretended that it was not involved in the matter and knew nothing about it. This bought time for the situation to stabilize.
Now time was not given, but information about Russia’s efforts was shared in advance. In this way, there is already a ready-made interpretation framework for the predicted event. It weakens the power of lying. Russia has had to realize that it is not possible to support activities with lies as before.
Lies have been built on top of each other over the years and at the same time Putin’s administration has isolated itself in its own world. It has to stick to its claims in order to save face. Therefore, only a change of face can free Russia from its lies – and only a Russia freed from its lies can truly make peace.
Rysky Riihelainen
The author is a blogger from Joensuu who is an active discusser of security policy. Riiheläinen is a free agent who is not tied to any position, organization or school of thought.
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