Vitaly Portnikov: Today’s war is a war of narratives

Ukraine and Western countries have never fought against Putin’s narratives, therefore there was no real opposition to Putin’s argumentation inside Russia.

This opinion was expressed by Vitaly Portnikov, a journalist and author, at the 15^th annual Kyiv Security Forum, established by Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s “Open Ukraine” Foundation.

“When everyone says it is necessary to fight propaganda, I always say one simple thing: it is not the Russian people who speak the language of Putin and Russian TV channels, but it is Russian TV channels and Putin who speak the language of the Russian people. It was almost always like that,” he said.

“In the 1930s, it was just the same in Germany: Goebbels’ propaganda spoke in the voice of the German people – this is what the German society wanted to hear,” the journalist noted.

Vitaly Portnikov added that the Bolshevism “canned” the Russian state development for seven decades, therefore Russia currently lives through all the complexes and problems that other imperial states have already experienced.

He also emphasized that it is a great injustice of today that Ukraine is forced to fight alone against a nuclear state.

Noteworthy, the 15^th annual Kyiv security forum “For Our and Your Freedom/ Fighting for NATO” will be held on May 25-26, 2023, with the participation of well-known international figures. In particular, at the Forum, the KSF Security Council will be established and a policy document will be adopted with recommendations for the NATO summit in Vilnius to be held this July.