Editor of “European Truth”: The Russian information space is over, but we haven’t reached the European one yet

Every year, the Ukrainian PEN presents the Heorhiy Gongadze Prize, founded together with the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School, the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School Alumni Association, and the publication “Ukrainian Pravda”. Among this year’s nominees, Serhiy Sydorenko is the co-founder and editor of Evropeyska Pravda. He talked about how the editorial team was involved in granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership, how the influence of Russian propaganda on Europe and expectations of justice towards Russia have changed. – You have always emphasized that “European Truth” has not only a journalistic mission, but also an advocacy one. What did you fight for this year? – The EU candidate status for Ukraine is the main success of last year, which, of course, did not happen thanks to us, although we joined, like many other players. It was a mega-meta. For the EP, this was a new area of ​​advocacy, because we are used to doing it in Ukraine, pushing the Ukrainian authorities to make decisions. And specifically in this matter, there was no place to push Ukraine – we had to convince the Europeans that we deserve it. The English version that we opened before the invasion helped a lot here. One of the texts was key. For him, I collected the signatures of several hundred public organizations that supported the movement towards the EU and appealed to the EU, guaranteeing that they would promote reforms. This text was translated into many languages, distributed in European mass media and among local politicians. We did everything to get the audience. A few weeks or a month before we got the status, we were on a swing. Allegedly, everything was agreed upon, until suddenly some country becomes skeptical – and we have to do it again. But in the last two weeks, the process settled down and for those involved in it, it was clear that everything would be fine. Although the nuances remained unknown until the end. When we received the status, there was a need to fulfill the criteria – and this is already work for the Ukrainian authorities, which continues to this day. We have already prepared 4 issues of checking how Ukraine fulfills the criteria, we are extending them to Europe. European ambassadors invite me from time to time to check their watches. Now the level of demand for our work is higher than ever. You talk to me as if to a journalist, but this is already something else – an activist, a representative of civil society, although I do not stop being a journalist. This is a new reality where the boundaries between professions are blurred. – This year, it was probably difficult to tell Ukraine what was happening with the rest of the world, because on the contrary, everyone was interested in what was happening with us. – This year we told Ukraine even more about what is happening in Europe and North America. Our focus has not changed. Instead, the volume of what we tell about the other world has increased incredibly. And the interest of Ukrainians increased. Now people are wondering why Slovakia is pro-Russian or what is happening in Moldova. We created the EP in order to introduce the European agenda into the Ukrainian information space, so as not to perceive ourselves as part of the Russian one. The Russian one is over, but we haven’t reached the European one yet. We still have no idea who our immediate neighbors are and how they live. So we try to explain it. Serhiy Sydorenko with the President of the European Council Charles Michel – How does Russian propaganda work with other countries? Has it changed during the year? – In fact, there is a very big difference between countries. I would say that Europe in general has woken up. They finally understood what was happening. This realization really came, it’s different for everyone. Someone realized what Russia is, very, very many – what Ukraine is. Someone realized what Europe is, because there was a feeling that it was needed. The same with NATO: this year has fundamentally changed Sweden, which wants to become part of the alliance, and Finland, which has already done so. I perfectly understand that the majority perceives Europe as a place where “Russian propaganda works everywhere.” It is very different for me. In Moldova or Slovakia, propaganda and its strength are conditioned by historical reasons, ancient Russophilia. In Austria, the motives are slightly different – there the propaganda simply knows where to hit, and it is classic: it creates fakes that are believed or not. There are countries where there is no historical love for Russia, but there is Russian money – the Netherlands or Hungary. In Hungary, despite the idea, there are no historical sentiments at all, but there is a cynical government that is ready to take money from any devil. But everywhere there is radical progress in our favor. And just where the love for Russia was historically rooted, now the progress is the greatest and the shock of realization is too. For example, Italy had a historical connection with Russia, but now it is radically changing its attitude and has turned into our main advocates since the middle of last year. This did not change even after the re-election of the government. Until February 24, under no circumstances could I have imagined that the St. George ribbon would be banned in Moldova. Now it is a completely different state. Russian propaganda is radically losing its roots and influence. – Where, on the other hand, is Ukraine or its propaganda winning and why? – I am not an expert, but I am convinced that it is not Ukrainian or European propaganda that works. Russian propaganda promotes a narrative that, despite the arguments, simply must be accepted. This always leads to system manipulation. Propaganda is one way or another connected with lies or simplification. Lies are the basis of Russian propaganda. It is unacceptable for Ukraine and the EU to do this – neither to lie, nor to promote without explaining. Just as “a small Soviet army cannot defeat a large Russian army”, so a small propaganda machine will not be able to defeat a large one. We need something fundamentally different: to show what we are doing, how we are changing, to prove it. So if we are talking about Ukrainian clarification abroad, then, in my opinion, over the past year Ukraine has been extremely effective – but only due to unique circumstances. Yes, we must pay tribute to the president, politicians, and activists. But all this will not work when the circumstances disappear, that is, when we win. A specific mechanism has not yet appeared. It is impossible to work out the mechanism of peacetime while the war is going on. But I’d be happy to be wrong. – There are talks about the fact that they are tired of the topic of Ukraine abroad. Do you see it? – From time to time it really is. It is obvious. We can see this in the attitude towards our refugees, the trade situation – if last year the EU countries were ready to sacrifice a lot to help us, now they are not. But life is complicated. It is necessary to work with this, to explain, to develop new ways. We have to do what we can and where we can. Serhiy Sydorenko at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine – Your editorial office rarely, but nevertheless, publishes editorials with its own position regarding the threats to the country due to internal errors. You wrote such texts about Belarus and NATO. Tell us about them. – In many large editorial offices, editorials are written purely by editors, but we decide it together – everyone proofreads everything. We wrote a text about why Ukraine should sever relations with Belarus, but, unfortunately, the authorities did not listen to us. I believe that the state should have done it, the state is different – and that’s normal, it’s a democratic process. The second text is about why Ukraine should not abandon NATO on the wave of emotions. It was a success story, because then I heard references to it from very different people – for example, the Austrian analyst Tom Cooper. Our call was heard both in Ukraine and abroad. Of course, we were not the only ones who spoke about it, but our text was one of those that prompted the authorities to change their minds about turning away from NATO. A year has passed, and for a long time everyone in the Ukrainian government, without exception, has been saying that the path to NATO has no alternative. Such a level of interest in NATO has never been seen in Ukraine. Another editorial was never published on May 8. We learned that Ukraine does not want to cancel Victory Day and communicated to our European partners that Europe Day will remain on the third Sunday of May. We set ourselves the goal that it would be the last time. They wrote a text about it, which was to be published at 10 a.m. on May 8. And at 9 in the morning, the announcement of the president about the postponement of Europe Day to May 9 is issued. This is not related to the editorial, of course, it happened because of the general mood. – Another editorial is the response of The New York Times to their article that Ukraine should make concessions and give Putin what he wants. What and why do the Western media not understand about Ukraine? – The position and approach is very country-dependent. There are countries where the desire for reconciliation is unusually high. Unfortunately, this is the United States. This is a great tragedy: our main ally and donor is also the main problem. This is an unpopular truth: the current Biden administration and the US liberal party in general are very committed to finding compromises at the expense of Ukraine. As of now, it can be stopped every time. But this is no reason not to admit that the problem exists. So the New York Times article is a reflection of the position of part of the American elite. Perhaps, this is not the only reason, but most of those who give such advice sincerely believe that they are doing it for the good of Ukraine. This is supposed to actually reduce the number of casualties, although this is absolute nonsense to those who understand what is going on: to leave the territories occupied only means to increase the number of casualties. – You wrote about three scenarios of the tribunal for Putin. Given what you see and what remains unpublished, do you really believe it is possible? – I am 100% sure that the legal solution that will be found will leave Ukrainian society dissatisfied. It will not be adequate to the level of losses. The aftertaste remains that we were neglected and that international law does not work. The outcome is not yet known, but over the past year we have seen what was previously thought impossible happen. I understand that Ukraine will remain dissatisfied, but I would very much like for us to succeed in creating something that seems insufficient to us now, but in the framework of history will have weight and our grandchildren and not only them will talk about it. Were the executions of the Nuremberg Tribunal enough? Some of the Nazis were acquitted, the regent of Hungary and Nazi accomplice Horti was only a witness at the trial and lived in Portugal. Is this fair? No. But everyone knows the Nuremberg Tribunal. This put the stamp of absolute evil on the crimes of Nazism. I would really like to see something similar happen with racism. I really want the work of Ukrainian diplomats led by Anton Korynevich to be successful. Knowing that Ukraine will not appreciate it, I am aware that history will appreciate it. Diana Delurman, specially for UP. Life All photos from Serhiy Sydorenko’s Facebook page



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