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On Tuesday, October 1, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted the resolution “Propaganda and Freedom of Information in Europe” by a majority vote.
A total of 136 delegates voted in favor and 117 stood against the resolution, Ukrinform reports.
The Assembly recognizes that for authoritarian regimes such as the Russian Federation, propaganda is an integral part of their war against democracy. The document points to the need for an effective and coordinated fight against malign propaganda, calls on governments to develop comprehensive strategies that protect freedom of expression and freedom of information.
The resolution also emphasizes the recognition of the Russian Orthodox Church as the Kremlin’s propaganda mouthpiece and calls for countries to extend personal sanctions against Russian propagandists.
Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko told Ukrinform about the important amendments to the resolution, passed after being submitted by the Ukrainian delegation.
“It was very important for us that the PACE react and note in this document how widely the Kremlin engages religious institutions in spreading its propaganda, and emphasize the role of the Russian church as a powerful instrument of influence,” Honcharenko said.
According to the lawmaker, it is also necessary to draw the attention of CoE member countries and partner states to the importance of expanding targeted sanctions against the Russian propaganda machine in the form of Russian media outlets and affiliated individuals. This includes personal sanctions.
“We strongly recommend introducing personal sanctions against propagandists such as Margarita Simonyan, Olga Skabeeva, Vladimir Solovyov, and others, and also perceive their activities as a threat to the national security of the member states,” explained the lawmaker.
As reported earlier, Ukrainian prisoners or war and captured civilians, held in Russia, will be in the focus of the PACE session this fall.
