Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov gave the keynote speech at the Global Fact-Checking Network’s (GFCN) fourth “Dialogue On Fakes” international forum last month. He began by warning about how “turbulent flows of information fill up people’s lives and the use of modern technology can make any piece of news, even something unverified or audaciously misleading, quickly accessible by millions if not billions of people.” He then strategically contextualized the West’s fake news onslaught against Russia.
In Lavrov’s words, “an information war against us was launched long before the special military operation, immediately after – with President Putin’s arrival in office in the early 2000s – Russia began freeing itself from the neocolonial forms of cooperation with our Western colleagues, pursuing an autonomous policy, and returning to its traditions, customs and roots.” He also referenced how fake news preceded Western aggression against Yugoslav and Iraq before sharing examples against Russia.
These include the alleged poisoning of the Skripals with Novichok, the circumstances surrounding Navalny’s separate poisoning and later death, and the recent drone false flag at the Leipzig Airport. Lavrov then devoted considerable time to describing the Bucha false flag, which he declared that Russia refused to let die even after “This topic later disappeared from the international media space as if it never existed” due to how well it embodies Western mendacity. It was also a defining historical moment.
Lavrov reminded everyone about how the Bucha false flag followed Russia’s withdrawal from Kiev as a “goodwill gesture” for facilitating the completion of the then-ongoing peace talks, after which it was exploited by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to convince Zelensky to withdraw from them. Had the Bucha false flag not been carried out, then Zelensky wouldn’t have had as falsely compelling of a reason in the eyes of the global public to continue fighting. The rest is history.
With a view towards averting such history-making future false flags, Lavrov said that “there are many incidents like Bucha, and others like those raised earlier. Naturally, they require further investigation. I am confident that your organisation will be interested in preventing the information space from being clogged with outright lies – lies that actively undermine the movement towards stronger ties, normal relations and cooperation among all states, and instead sow discord and hatred, holding back the truth.”
The salience of Lavrov’s speech is that he reminded everyone of the geopolitical consequences of fake news, which literally led to wars in the cases of Yugoslavia and Iraq while perpetuating existing ones like the Ukrainian Conflict to the point of making it a de facto forever war by now nearly half a decade later. Fake news can therefore be more meaningful than simply misleading people into disliking whatever country it might be since it’s nowadays inextricably connected with manufacturing consent for war.
Greater awareness of this fact highlights the importance of the GFCN. Without exaggeration, its members’ duties partially pertain to matters as significant as war and peace. Their global network’s goal is to promptly debunk warmongering fake news such as the examples that Lavrov cited and then massively amplify their materials to the audience whose consent for impending aggression is being manufactured through these deceitful means. Some future wars might therefore be averted as a result.
