A public discussion «Ruscism: Recognize, Counter, Defeat» was held at the Museum of War. The event was organised with the participation of the Slovak organisation "Hoaxy a Podvody". The discussion was moderated by the Museum’s researcher Roman Kabachii.
In his opening speech, the founder of the NGO "Hoaxy a Podvody", former Slovak police officer David Púchovský, noted: “Not all Slovaks have become victims of russian propaganda. Not all fail to understand who the real aggressor is, and not all have succumbed to the information war, populism or political pressure.” Moreover, according to David, concerned Slovaks raised three times more funds than necessary for the publication and distribution across the country of the information brochure "Rašizmus je..." («Ruscism is…»), which aims to counter Kremlin propaganda in Slovakia.
During the event, a presentation of this information product took place. It was prepared by "Hoaxy a Podvody" based on research by Ukrainian specialists from the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory in cooperation with the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security.
Participants also discussed the challenges posed by the russian totalitarian ideology – Ruscism – to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the readiness of Slovak and Ukrainian civil society to resist disinformation.
The Head of the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, journalist and media expert Ihor Solovey, stated: “The main fight against Ruscism is our resilience. We must convey to the international community, including through the presented publication, the truth about Ruscism. The world must see the true face of this ideology – a repetition of the worst practices of Nazism and Stalinism.”
The Deputy Director General for Research and Collection Management, Dmytro Hainetdinov, also took part in the public discussion. He emphasised: “Ukraine is fighting the occupier both on the battlefield and on the information front. Today, educational institutions, including our Museum, are also battlefields, doing everything possible to bring the truth about the current russian-Ukrainian war to the widest possible audience.” Dmytro also mentioned that the institution plans to create and open an exhibition «Museum of Russian (Soviet) Propaganda», which will cover the period from communist practices to modern propaganda materials, and the publication "Rašizmus je..." («Ruscism is…») will become one of the exhibits of the future exhibition as evidence of the propaganda narratives of modern russia.
The guests handed over to the Museum of War’s collection the information brochures "Rašizmus je..." («Ruscism is…») and the books "Vojna na Ukrajine – príbehy z hraníc" (War in Ukraine – Stories from the Border).
The Museum sincerely thanks the representatives of the Slovak NGO "Hoaxy a Podvody" for the donated publications and their activities aimed at countering disinformation, systematically exposing russian fakes and the propaganda narratives of Putin’s regime, and thanks all participants for taking part in the event.
