Russia points to France's 'powerful propaganda machine'
France is waging a propaganda war against Russia and is drowning out objective information from independent sources with lies that are spread through the media, Moscow’s envoy in Paris has said.
Speaking to Izvestia, Ambassador Aleksey Meshkov was asked about how French society currently feels about Ukraine. He explained that although support has seen a decline, recent polls indicate that most French people still have a fairly positive attitude towards Kiev and support weapons shipments to the country.
The ambassador said this is “understandable,” given that France has a “fairly strong and effective propaganda machine.”
“Over the past year and a half, I have not seen a single positive report about Russia in the press or on television. Some independent bloggers and politicians provide objective information, but it is drowned out in the volume of huge anti-Russian lies that are spread throughout all media. This, of course, has a psychological effect on the ordinary Frenchman,” the diplomat said.
Nevertheless, despite the support of over 50% of the population, Meshkov stated that France will not be able to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons for much longer. He added that French military officials have already called for an end to “unrestrained” weapon shipments to Kiev and urged Paris to instead focus on French national security.
“Considering that the French today are scattered across virtually all regions of the world where there is tension, they no longer have enough weapons for their own needs,” the Russian ambassador said.
Last month, France’s Europe minister, Laurence Boone, called for an escalation of the information war against Russia and urged Brussels to help counter the “Russian influence strategy,” which supposedly aims to cast doubt on the merits of EU membership in candidate nations and ultimately “weaken the European Union.”
Russian officials have repeatedly accused Western nations of unbridled anti-Russian rhetoric while silencing Russian viewpoints. In an interview with Newsweek in September, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said that while claims made by Kiev are routinely taken at face value by the US media, Moscow’s position has been censored and dismissed as “Kremlin propaganda.”
“The truth faces an exceedingly thorny path in reaching the US audience,” Antonov said, noting that the American public is nevertheless “prepared and even eager” to receive unbiased analysis and truthful information.
