Swiss defence minister condemns Russian disinformation

Federal Councillor Martin Pfister condemns Russian disinformation Keystone-SDA

Swiss defence minister Martin Pfister has denounced an increasing stream of disinformation from Russia.

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Pfister interprets this as an attempt to influence Swiss politics and to unsettle the population.

The fact that Russia wants to influence the West with hybrid conflict management is nothing new – nor is the fact that Switzerland is increasingly affected by this. But rarely has a government minister condemned Russian “conspiracy narratives”, as Pfister called them, so clearly.

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“Russia in particular has been increasingly attacking Switzerland with influence operations since 2022,” he said during a speech at a Swiss media industry event.

Russia primarily spreads disinformation and propaganda in Switzerland, claiming, among other things, that Switzerland is no longer neutral, no longer democratic and no longer safe.

Pfister gave a concrete example at the publishers’ meeting. In an influencing activity last May, pro-Russian accounts distributed a video from Geneva taken out of context in a coordinated manner on seven social media platforms and in all official Swiss languages.

“This supposedly showed that Switzerland was sinking into chaos,” said Pfister. The posts were viewed over two million times within a short space of time.

The two well-known Russian disinformation platforms Russia Today and Pravda alone disseminate between 800 and 900 articles per month in Switzerland, Pfister added. If such narratives continue unchecked, a society becomes vulnerable.

Swiss media publishers could play a decisive role in such an environment, Pfister said. “A healthy media system is also part of the Swiss security architecture.”

Especially in times of technological change and geopolitical uncertainty, the media need to fulfil their responsibilities more than ever.

Adapted from German by DeepL/mga

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