The State Department isn’t quite ready to endorse the European Union’s condemnation of Russia and Islamic State propaganda, despite its recent clashes with Kremlin-backed reporters.
The EU issued a report on “the propaganda of both state and non-state actors” and passed a draft resolution condemning such misinformation last week, with a particular emphasis on Russia and ISIS. But a State Department spokesman demurred when asked if he agrees with the EU findings.
“I haven’t seen that resolution so I’d have to take that question,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said. “Would I put Sputnik [News] on the same level with Islamic State propaganda? No, I would not.”
The EU concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ramped up his country’s propaganda efforts in the wake of the annexation of Crimea. “I was given the task of describing the propaganda of both state and non-state actors,” the EU’s Anna Fotyga said. “As regards the Russian Federation, the situation is Ukraine, many countries are fully aware of its disinformation and manipulation.”
Eugen Freund, an Austrian member of the European Parliament, summarized the report as “pointing a finger to at least one direction or let’s say one-and-a-half directions, to Russia and to ISIS.” He maintained that Sputnik News and other Russian outlets are part of an information campaign designed to influence Western public opinion. “They are trying to split Europe and the United States, they are trying to belittle what the United States, what the European Union is doing,” Freund said.
Putin responded by accusing the Europeans of acting undemocratically. “We are observing some — totally obvious — degradation — in the political sense of this word — of the perception of democracy in Western society. In this case, at the level of the European parliament,” he said, according to Euro News.
The vote came weeks after the Center for Strategic and international Studies issued a report on “The Kremlin Playbook,” which attempts to “weaken the internal cohesion of democratic societies and strengthen the perception of Western economic and political dysfunction by influencing and eroding democratic governance from within.”
While Kirby said the U.S. wasn’t ready to back the EU report, he derided a Russian reporter this month for representing “a state-owned outlet that’s not independent” during a recent briefing. “I’m sorry, but I’m not going to put Russia Today on the same level with the rest of you who are representing independent media outlets,” he said.
The Russian government replied by warning that “if our TV channel faces the same attitude in Washington once again, American journalists will have a special place set aside at the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s briefings.”
On Monday, Kirby struck a balance between concurring with the EU’s concerns about “Russian efforts to manipulate the information environment,” without resuming a fight with individual Russian outlets or the Kremlin.
“I have some concerns about the editorial independence of some Russian outlets, but you’re allowed in here, and you will continue to be allowed in here to pose whatever questions you want at me,” he said. “Here at the United States State Department, we don’t parcel people out like that and we allow you to come in here and ask whatever you want and we do the best we can to provide the information that we can.”
