“Europe had been hibernating for years”

The Ukrainian office of Radio Liberty celebrated its 60th anniversary. A discussion about the role of journalism during conflicts took place in Mystetsky Arsenal on this occasion. Ukrainian politicians, diplomats, journalists, and experts came to congratulate Ukrainian radio journalists. Radio Liberty’s editor-in-chief Nenad PEJIC was among the guests and participated in the discussion. We had a chance to talk to him during a break.

“Democracy is a matter of choice. Our job is to give the audience a freedom of choice,” Pejic said. “We want people to hear what both sides have said and then to make their own choice, because it is impossible to have one’s own country without that. We are not here to protect Russia, Ukraine, the Balkans, or the United States. During the past few years the audience of Radio Liberty increased to over 10,000. There were cases when our website was visited by over a million and a half users in one day. Thousands of people watched live streams from Maidan or other events. These are impressive figures, but there is something much more important than that. From May 12 through 18 we have carried out an analysis and counted how many times Radio Liberty was quoted by local media in regions where we are broadcast. We were quoted 2,040 times per day. The Ukrainian bureau was quoted 54     times per day, this is an absolutely striking result. The materials of the Ukrainian branch were used by CNN, Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, and others.”

It seems that Europe knew very little about Ukraine before Euromaidan. Why?

“Europe had been hibernating for years. Europeans had illusions about Russia, that they will be able to do good business with it, come to Russians, help them modernize the country. Now everyone knows it was deception.”

In one of your interviews you stated that Ukraine has to fight Russian propaganda. In which way?

“When Russia’s President Vladimir Putin came to power, the first thing he did was seize control over state television. The other thing he did, he started controlling the rest of mass media. And finally, he surrounded himself by his people everywhere, thus starting to control the country. After he established his rule over the country in several months, he directed his look to other countries. As you know, when he occupied a part of Georgia, Europe was sleeping. Now he occupied a part of Ukraine, Crimea, and Europe just started waking up. He can yet occupy Transnistria, a part of Moldova, and only then will Europeans wake up. The point is not the winning or losing of a propaganda war. We must admit that we, the West, have lost it. Ukraine did not lose it on its own. It is a defeat of the Western world, since it was not ready to think like Russia and predict what kind of ‘present’ Putin prepares for it. My friend Peter Pomerantsev [British journalist. – Ed.] talked about it here, about the ‘armed information,’ ‘armed trade,’ and ‘armed culture.’ Russians use information like weapon or bullets.”

Now, in the age of Internet, social networks, and accessibility of information, the level of Russians’ trust in what the government mass media is telling them is extremely high.

“They want to live with it. They believe and want to believe that they oppose one of the strongest countries in the world. During the USSR’s existence a lot of people believed in it. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russians were very disappointed, but Putin gave them this feeling of struggle again. Now they feel as if they came back to the past. During the times of conflict people usually start believing in what government media tell them. Such diversity was not typical of Russian media market before. During the USSR everyone was served by the same television. Now there are hundreds of television channels and people get a feeling that this diversity is freedom of information. In reality, it is not true, since everything is controlled by one person.”

In spring Ukraine and the West were shocked by the annexation of Crimea. Before that, Russia annexed a part of Georgia. Do you think there was any alternative to it? Could Ukraine avoid such a scenario?

“It is a complicated question. I do not think it was possible, since everything was prepared in advance at someone’s ‘kitchen.’ This person used the opportunity and seized the territory. The West remained as ‘concerned’ as it was in Georgia’s case.”

You said once that Putin and Milosevic is the same person with two shadows, and if Milosevic had been alive, he would have probably sued Putin for plagiarism. How far can Putin go if the West does not stop him in time?

“Russia’s problems can be divided into two levels. The first one, just like many other experts, I think that Russia wants to see a politically destabilized Ukraine. So Russians occupied a part of eastern Ukraine to blackmail Kyiv with it at any time. If Ukraine follows this path [the one imposed on it by Russia. – Ed.] and grants more powers to eastern Ukraine, it will block every decision, and the country will go down the drain. On the other hand, there is also a problem inside Russia. Russians cannot stop their patriotic hysteria. If Russia’s government stops it, people will start asking questions. Putin’s problem is that he must continue acting in the same direction and support radical Russian nationalism. It is hard to say how far Putin will go before Russians start becoming disappointed. Besides, a wake-up call for the West has already sounded. In the future we will see more measures directed at the change of Russians’ behavior.”

Recently Ukraine launched an English-speaking channel Ukraine Today. But according to the editorial staff, unlike Russia Today, it will be 100 percent informational and provide European information.

“It is a good initiative. If professional journalism stands behind it, I support it very much. At the same time, we cannot say it is too late, because doing nothing is even worse. I hope this project becomes successful, because interest in Ukraine is growing among Europeans.”