Russian propaganda: manipulating or manifesting Russians’ views on Ukraine?
Date and time:
Wednesday 12 April, 2023
18:30 - 20:00
Location:
Europe House
32 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3EU
What are the dominant narratives about Ukraine in Russian propaganda at home and abroad, and why do these narratives hold sway over so many Russians? Join us to hear leading experts unpack the key messages spread by the Russian propaganda machine, and explore the factors that keep these narratives resonating among the Russian population.
BBC journalist Francis Scarr, who has been monitoring Russian state TV every day since the start of the full-scale invasion, will share his analysis of the overarching narratives about Ukraine. Jade McGlynn, author of Russia’s War, will provide insight on why this propaganda is successful, the entrenched national myths that pervade the Russian worldview, and how a deeper understanding of Russian support for the war can help Ukraine and its allies to continue working towards Ukraine’s victory. The discussion will be moderated by Jaroslava Barbieri, doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, and expert in post-Soviet conflict studies, disinformation, and the politics of memory in Russia and Ukraine.
The event is co-organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office in the United Kingdom and the Ukrainian Institute London.
Speaker
Jade McGlynn
Dr Jade McGlynn is a Leverhulme Research Fellow in the War Studies department at King’s College London. She is a non-resident Senior Researcher at CSIS. She is the author of Russia’s War (2023, Polity) and Memory Makers (2023, Bloomsbury) and editor of two volumes on memory politics and history in Eastern Europe. She holds a DPhil from the University of Oxford, where she previously worked as a Lecturer in Russian. Jade’s research focuses on Russia’s war against Ukraine since 2014 as well as on national identity, memory, media and popular culture more broadly in Russia.
Speaker
Francis Scarr
Francis Scarr joined BBC Monitoring in 2018, where he’s currently a Russia specialist focusing on the country’s state media. For four years he lived in Moscow until the invasion of Ukraine forced him and his colleagues to leave. Francis has been interviewed by major news outlets including the New York Times and The Guardian, and also written for The Telegraph.
Moderator
Jaroslava Barbieri
Jaroslava Barbieri is an Italo-Ukrainian teaching fellow and doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham. She is also a researcher with Arena at Johns Hopkins University, a multi-disciplinary program dedicated to creating best practices for overcoming disinformation and polarisation. Her research interests include Ukrainian politics, Russian foreign policy, disinformation and the politics of memory in the post-Soviet region. She is currently working on an upcoming publication based on her PhD research on how Russia’s activities in the occupied areas of Ukraine since 2014 have laid the groundwork for Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, including Russia’s export of patriotic education programmes as instruments of indoctrination but also a recruitment mechanism for local and Russian military and security structures. Her media commentary has appeared on Sky News, NBC News, ABC News, France 24, Euronews, Channel 4 News, Newsweek, BBC Radio and LBC Radio.
