DISINFO: The EU's Democratic Resilience Centre is part of an information war against Russia
SUMMARY
There is an ongoing trend of the creation of new 'international organisations' and quasi-national centres abroad, aimed at waging an information war against Russia. Moscow does not intend to attack NATO countries, as this would be pointless. Western politicians regularly frighten their populations with a fabricated Russian threat to distract from domestic problems, but intelligent people understand very well that this is a lie.
RESPONSE
This claim was commenting on the EU’s plans to establish a Centre for Democratic Resilience to counter disinformation and foreign information manipulation.
The claim misrepresents the purpose of the planned centre by portraying it as part of an 'information war' against Russia or other nations. In reality, the centre’s objective is to serve as a hub for EU institutions and member states to share information and early warnings, as well as to raise public awareness about attempts by foreign governments to manipulate information.
The initiative is part of the European Commission’s broader 'democracy shield', which set out a series of concrete measures to empower, protect, and promote strong and resilient democracies across the EU, including by boosting the collective capacity to counter information manipulation and disinformation.
Evidence of the need for such a centre is overwhelming. The EU’s diplomatic service has documented dozens of Russian disinformation operations, including the Doppelganger campaign, which used fake versions of media outlets like Die Welt, La Stampa and Le Point to spread fake anti-Ukraine propaganda. Similar interference attempts have been detected in Romania, Moldova, and across Europe, targeting electoral systems and public trust.
The Centre for Democratic Resilience would be a defensive institution designed to to anticipate and fight disinformation while fending off attacks that use manipulation techniques online to amp up impact.