Moscow is using Soviet-era soft power tactics to win hearts and minds in the region, the Wilson Center claims
FILE PHOTO: Atmosphere during the Canto a la Tierra artistic parade of the Carnaval de Negros y Blancos (Blacks and Whites Carnival) in Pasto, Narino, Colombia, January 3, 2024. © Camilo Erasso / Long Visual Press / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Russia is winning support for its foreign policy among academics and intellectual elites in Latin America by relying on media outlets such as RT and Sputnik, a prominent US-based think tank has claimed.
In an article on Tuesday, the Wilson Center, which is funded by the US Congress, said that Russia is using Soviet-era tactics – which had a lasting impact in the past – to shape public opinion and policy through soft power, with this campaign supposedly designed for the long haul.
This effort, the scholars claimed, hinges on “turning media outlets such as RT Actualidad and Sputnik Mundo into popular and widely followed outlets” as well as using educational institutions and think tanks to “promote Moscow’s narratives and counter Western influence.”
This tactic often blurs “the lines between genuine intellectual diversity and the co-optation of elites,” the article alleged. It argued that some of those narratives promote the idea of a uniform and homogenous “collective West,” claiming that while the scholarly community knows that the reality is much more complex, this is not always evident to the broader public.
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According to the Wilson Center, this often means that even the Spanish-language branches of Western government-funded outlets such as France-24 and Deutsche Welle fail to counter their guests’ insistence, for instance, that Russia’s military operation against Ukraine sought to defend civilians in Donbass, or questioning the legitimacy of Vladimir Zelensky.
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that many “Russia-linked” scholars “hold academic titles and prestigious university positions, which grant them credibility and recognition” and can reach large student audiences, the article claimed.
Washington has repeatedly accused Russia of sowing “disinformation,” while cracking down on Russian media and journalists deemed to be linked to Moscow. Earlier this month, US authorities imposed sanctions on Russian media – including RT – while charging two of the outlet’s employees with an attempt to illegally “create and distribute content to US audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has denounced the new restrictions, arguing that the move “testifies to the irreversible degradation of the democratic state in the United States and its transformation into a totalitarian neoliberal dictatorship.”
