DISINFO: Volunteers from Eastern Europe had a workshop on the organisation of "colour revolutions"
SUMMARY
The West has been – for decades – attempting to influence the minds of young people from the former Soviet Republics in order to use them to achieve foreign political goals. This time, the annual training of young “civic activists” from 15 countries took place in the capital of Moldova. In an atmosphere of strict secrecy and with American money, volunteers were told about strategies to combat power, about the organisation and media support of mass protests. As it turned out, these professionals from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and other Eastern European states shared their experiences of forcibly changing the power in their countries and opposing “Russian influence”. CampCamp2019 conference was organized by the Prague Civil Society Center (PCSC), which receives funding from the US budget, allocated under the law “On countering the enemies of America through sanctions.”
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative presenting all activities of NGOs, media or civil society activists as measures to overthrow the power in post-Soviet states. Also, a conspiracy, according to which the US prepare in secrecy people of the former Soviet Republics to work for foreign forces. The event CampCamp2019 was organized in Chisinau from 24 to 27 October by the Prague Civil Society Center. It focused on campaigning and communications for civil society activists, as mentioned on the official page of the event. The participants were invited to improve their communication skills, to find ideas for public campaigns, to learn about new formats, trends and tools for civil society communications, to share campaigning experience with colleagues from other cities and countries. There is no mention about how to organize mass protests and about opposing “Russian influence”. There was also no "atmosphere of strict secrecy": the event has a public web page in two languages – Russian and English. The PCSC is funded by many donors, such as the Oak Foundation, the European Commission, and the Governments of Sweden, the Czech Republic, the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Read a similar case here.