The mass media of the former republics of the USSR cover the special military operation in Ukraine mostly neutrally, without openly taking sides.
According to experts interviewed by RT, in this matter, the media largely follow the policy of their governments, which for various reasons prefer to stay away from the events in Ukraine.
Ally of Moscow
Belarus turned out to be the only country in the post-Soviet space where the major media demonstrate unequivocal support for Russian actions in Ukraine.
Local publications are actively covering the situation, but priority is given not to reports of hostilities, but to the geopolitical aspect of the Ukrainian crisis.
Much attention is paid to the negative role of the West in these events.
For example, in recent days, materials under the headings “Andreichenko: the hybrid war of the United States and its allies is directed against all CSTO states”, “Ukrainian Armed Forces are waging a terrorist war against the inhabitants of Donbass”, “Poland is building up military potential along the border with Ukraine."
Those who fight on the side of Kyiv on the channel’s website are usually called militants, and members of the right-wing radical Azov group are called neo-Nazis.
The main news agency of the country BELTA works in a similar vein.
In particular, it publishes evidence of the atrocities of Ukrainian radicals in the Donbass.
Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin
globallookpress.com
© Kremlin Pool
According to analysts, the position of the local media on this issue coincides with the Belarusian foreign policy course, which has undergone drastic changes after the 2020 crisis, when an attempted coup d'état was made in the republic.
“Belarus, after the events of 2020, greatly spoiled relations with the West.
Ukraine supported the Belarusian opposition during the protests.
Russia turned out to be, in fact, the only country that supported Alexander Lukashenko.
Minsk no longer pursues a multi-vector policy and focuses on Moscow.
This is connected with the activity of the state Belarusian media, which in general take an unambiguously pro-Russian position in this conflict, ”said Sergei Margulis, senior lecturer at the Department of International Politics and Foreign Regional Studies at the Institute of Social Sciences of the RANEPA, in an interview with RT.
According to him, this position was also influenced by the presence of a common border with Ukraine: Belarus could not help but be concerned about the gradual military development of Ukrainian territory by Western countries, as well as the unfriendly attitude of the Kyiv authorities towards official Minsk.
Agenda in Central Asia
On the website of the main news agency of Kazakhstan - "Kazinform" - the topic of Ukraine is practically not represented.
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A different picture is emerging on the portal of the information agency Kazakhstan Today.
A lot of attention is paid to the topic of Ukraine on this resource.
The site broadcasts statements by Russian speakers, including on such resonant topics as American biological laboratories in Ukraine.
For example, this resource published materials under the headings “Microbiologist: the United States was looking for microbes most suitable for bioattacks in Ukraine”, “A Pentagon contractor collaborated with biological laboratories in Ukraine, who worked on a project to create anthrax pathogens”, “High-ranking Ukrainian military are accused of genocide of Russian-speaking in Donbass.
However, the details of the hostilities on the site are almost not covered.
Quite balanced information coverage of the situation in Ukraine can be found on the site zakon.kz, which is popular in the republic.
Experts believe that such a position of the Kazakhstani media supporting the authorities generally reflects the multi-vector foreign policy of the state.
“This is a continuation of the political multi-vector approach.
Kazakhstan has been pursuing such a policy for many years.
For the most part, Kazakh media cover the situation in Ukraine in a neutral way,” says Sergei Margulis.
In the Central Asian states as a whole, little attention is paid to the events in Ukraine in the media - domestic topics dominate the information agenda.
State news agencies carefully cover the course of hostilities.
However, private media sometimes publish material that can hardly be called neutral.
Thus, the Uzbek publication Gazeta.uz calls the special military operation an “invasion”, publishes statements by the US ambassador to the country, and also gives detailed reports on humanitarian aid that Uzbekistan sends to the territories of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv.
The site publishes materials with the following headings: "The world admires your courage and determination."
UN Secretary General to the people of Ukraine”, “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will slow down economic growth in Uzbekistan to 3.6% – WB”.
However, the position of the Donbass republics on the aggression of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is not covered on the website.
“The states of Central Asia today are struggling to pretend that they have nothing to do with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
They don’t want to fall under sanctions, they don’t want to look like violators of these sanctions, ”said Konstantin Zatulin, deputy head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, in a comment to RT.
The Kyrgyz portal 24kg published an interview with two Russians who staged a rally in Kyrgyzstan in support of Ukraine.
In the note “A teacher imposes an opinion on schoolchildren about the situation in Ukraine.
Parents are outraged” tells about a school teacher who, in conversations with students, approved of the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
The reason for writing news on this resource is even a single anti-Russian picket near the Russian embassy.
In one of the analytical materials on this resource, Kyrgyzstan is called "a hostage of the global ideological confrontation", and the Russian Federation, according to the authors of the article, "actually found itself in isolation."
At the same time, if you scroll through the section of the site “the situation around Ukraine” until March 14, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked Donetsk with a Tochka-U missile, which killed 20 people, you can see that not a single headline was devoted to this topic that day.
The general news bulletin refers only to "the fall of fragments of the Tochka-U rocket."
At the same time, it is worth noting that the site also uses the wording “special military operation in Ukraine”, and not the “invasion” and “occupation” accepted in the Western media.
Consequences of hostilities in Ukraine
© Alex Chan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Igor Shishkin, an employee of the Institute of CIS Countries, believes that it is impossible to judge the position of the leadership of the Central Asian states based on publications in individual media, despite the significant influence of the government on media policy in these countries.
“Private publications associated with large financial bags often publish anti-Russian materials.
This is understandable, since all major financial fortunes in these countries are tied to the West.
They need to demonstrate adherence to "Western values".
The government does not control these publications, ”said the interlocutor of RT.
According to experts, the mass media of Turkmenistan and Tajikistan pay very little attention to the situation in Ukraine.
“In Turkmenistan, the international agenda has never been mainstream.
There, even when extremely high-profile events took place, such as the September 11 attacks or the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, short, mean, purely official texts were given about this.
As for Tajikistan, it is possible that they do not want to escalate the situation there or they are trying to maintain a certain aura of neutrality, they are trying not to take any side of the conflict.
However, in any case, if Tajikistan still has to make a choice, then it will take the Russian side due to strong ties with the Russian Federation in the field of economy and security, ”assumed Andrey Grozin, head of the Central Asia and Kazakhstan Department of the Institute of CIS Countries, in a conversation with RT.
Armenia and Azerbaijan
Armenia's state media is rather sparing in its coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.
At the same time, priority is given to the official statements of Russian speakers.
In particular, such materials prevail on the website of the Public TV Company of Armenia.
The ARKA news agency covers the situation in a similar way.
At the same time, the information agenda of Armenia differs from other CIS countries, for example, by the presence in the news of messages about Russian emigrants who, after the start of the special operation, decided to move to Armenia for one reason or another.
The media pay special attention to the participation of military personnel of Armenian origin in the hostilities in Ukraine.
In particular, publications on this topic were published on the Asekose website.
“There is no such a pronounced attitude towards this conflict, propaganda – there is no such thing in the Armenian media.
Local publications represent the factual side and take a neutral approach to this conflict.
Of course, there are colored attitudes towards Ukrainian events in one direction or another, but this rather exists not in journalism, but in social journalism.
That is, blogs and so on.
In principle, the media generally adhere to a more or less neutral position, assessing the situation, ”said Alexander Iskandaryan, director of the Caucasus Institute, in an interview with RT.
The Azerbaijani state-run news agency AZERTAC reports rather neutrally on the Ukrainian crisis, but the picture is somewhat different in other media in the country.
For example, the portal milli.az regularly provides data from the Ukrainian side on Russian losses.
At the same time, there is little similar information about Ukrainian losses from Russian sources.
In addition, the site broadcasts reports from the Ukrainian General Staff, and calls the Azov militants “defenders” in the article “Why did the defenders of Azovstal surrender?”.
“Why did the defenders of Azovstal surrender?”
Another article on this portal reported on the possibility of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to end the "occupation" with the help of some six new brigades: "Ukraine can end the occupation with six new brigades."
A similar picture is observed on some other information resources.
For example, the site Oxu.Az published an article with the following heading: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed Russian soldiers with one shot (strike).
In the material itself, the Russians are called "occupiers".
The position of the Azerbaijani version of the Radio Liberty website* can be called predictable.
This Washington-sponsored international media network is openly siding with the Kyiv regime.
Opponents of the NWO
A predictably anti-Russian position was taken by the Baltic media.
In this matter, according to experts, they follow the policy of their governments, which since February 24 have been one of the most ardent supporters of the Kyiv regime.
Analysts note that in the Baltic states, even before the start of the NWO, the level of Russophobia was always the highest in the post-Soviet space, and now it has “completely become transcendent.”
So, the site of the Estonian Delfi is more like a campaign leaflet.
Even the site logo is painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
The Latvian portal “Otkryto.lv” does not lag behind colleagues.
In turn, the Respublika.lt website calls the Russians “aggressors”: “Foreign Minister of the aggressor Russia Sergey Lavrov canceled a planned two-day visit to Serbia after three of Serbia’s neighbors closed the airspace for his plane.”
As in many Western media, the main source of information (with rare exceptions) about the course of the NMD, the Baltic publications use the Ukrainian state structures and the press.
In addition, they publish materials from Western media.
The main media in Georgia work in a similar vein.
For example, the intermedia.ge portal reported on the “doom” of the Russian Federation: “Russia is a doomed power, rejected by civilization and finally losing its authority.”
At the same time, the narrative about the plight of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is not found in the materials of the publication.
And the site kvirispalitra.ge published an interview with an expert who promised a “successful” counterattack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine: “Ukraine will definitely have a big counterattack, and it will be successful.”
“Ukraine will definitely have a big counterattack, and it will be successful…”
According to Nikita Danyuk, deputy director of the RUDN Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts, member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, Tbilisi's policy is explained by Georgia's Euro-Atlantic orientation.
“Georgia, as we know, is aimed not only at membership in the European Union, but also in NATO.
Based on this, Tbilisi supplies mercenaries to the territory of Ukraine and is actually a checkpoint of Western structures in the post-Soviet space.
In addition, since the time of the first “color revolution”, the so-called Rose Revolution, Georgia has had close ties with Ukraine.
Under these conditions, coverage of events in Ukraine in Georgia predictably turned out to be one-sided and biased.
Georgia, like Moldova or the Baltics, is creating an information cocoon into which an alternative point of view will not pass, ”Daniuk said in a comment to RT.
In many ways, the situation is similar in Moldova.
Thus, the local publication Jurnal.md publishes an article in which the NVO is called an “invasion”, and foreign mercenaries are called “volunteers”: “Four foreign volunteer combatants were killed during the fighting against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Foreign Legion of Territorial Defense reported on Saturday Ukraine".
"Four foreign volunteer combatants have been killed fighting against Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Territorial Defense Legion said on Saturday."
And the Pro.TV resource published an article about how the Russian military allegedly refuses to fight: “Some Russian soldiers refuse to fight in Ukraine.
“We were like blind kittens.
I am shocked by our army.”
However, in Moldova there are also a number of publications that provide a more balanced view of what is happening.
This, in particular, applies to sites such as Point.md and Noi.md, which also broadcast in Russian.
“The Moldovan authorities are trying to clean up the information space as much as possible from an independent point of view, which alternatively covers the situation in Ukraine.
It is no secret that Maia Sandu is a person who owes his presidency primarily to the support of the West.
It was she who, even before coming to power, contributed to the emergence of Western NGOs in Moldova, which actively worked with journalists, political leaders, and various experts.
Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that there is a clear anti-Russian tilt in the Moldovan media, and not only in the context of what is happening now in Ukraine, ”Daniuk emphasized.
He also added that there are pro-Russian media in Moldova, but they do not have the opportunity to work for a wide audience.
“They are there, they work, but they work for a very narrow, segmented audience.
It is not possible to make it so that they can become a source of information for the broad masses of the people in Moldova, ”the analyst explained.
“The position is built on the main principle”
According to Igor Shishkin, some detachment of the countries of the former USSR and their media regarding the crisis in Ukraine should not bother Moscow.
“The position of almost all former Soviet republics is based on the main principle - not to enter into conflict with any side.
Neither with the West, nor with Russia.
The political elites and the leadership of these states are now in suspense: what will happen in the future, what will be their fate following the results of this global crisis.
They are not going to be substituted by these or those incorrect statements, ”the analyst believes.
Military personnel of the RF Armed Forces
© RIA Novosti / Alexey Kudenko
According to Konstantin Zatulin, many CIS states and even the CSTO can hardly be called allies in the sense that the United States usually puts into this concept when speaking about NATO members.
“These states can hardly be called full-fledged allies in the spirit in which alliances are interpreted in the West.
We see how the NATO states take everything under the trump under the influence of the United States.
We can't show anything like that.
This, too, we must take into account.
Today we do not demand much from our allies.
But we note that, as a rule, our compatriots in these countries express sympathy for what is happening.
And all the rest do it to a very small extent, ”says the deputy.
In turn, Sergei Margulis believes that the neutrality of the CIS republics can also be explained by the unwillingness to aggravate the situation within these countries.
“The governments of these countries are afraid of getting an internal split or large protest actions in support of a particular country because of the situation in Ukraine.
This is connected with the restriction of the use of pro-Russian symbols on the territory of Kyrgyzstan.
Or a ban on any rallies, both pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian, near the Russian embassy.
But some countries also fear the strengthening of Russia in the post-Soviet space, ”the expert says.
According to Zatulin, in a situation where many CIS countries have taken an ambivalent position, it is extremely important for Russia to successfully achieve all its goals in Ukraine.
“The most important conclusion that Moscow should draw from this is that we must win,” the politician says.
* Mass media recognized as a foreign agent by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 05.12.2017.