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EESTI ELU reedel, 3. juunil 2022 — Friday, June 3, 2022
Nr. 22
We are aware of the article “A Sacred Trust: Who Decides the Future of the Colum barium of St. Peter’s” submitted by the “Friends of St. Peter’s” to the May 27, 2022 issue of Eesti Elu and Estonian World Review. The issues concerning the March 13, 2022 vote on the question of the columbarium at St. Peter’s Church are currently being considered by the lawyers for St. Peter’s Church. St. Peter’s Church has made no admissions regarding the validity or invali dity of that vote. The Congregational Council of the church is disappointed by the conduct of the “Friends of St. Peter’s” and will not comment further. English-language supplement to the Estonian weekly “EESTI ELU” Tartu College Publications Founding Chairman: Elmar Tampõld
Congregational Council of St. Peter’s Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Toronto Naani Holsmer, chair Talvi Maimets, vice-chair Leena Liivet, treasurer Kairi Hemingway, secretary Jüri Laansoo Allar Viinamäe
Editor: Laas Leivat 3 Madison Avenue, Toronto, ON M5R 2S2 T: 416-733-4550 • F: 416-733-0944 • E-mail: editor@eestielu.ca Digital: www.eestielu.ca
Russia’s new weapon: “Fact-checks” Kremlin style On the February 23, some hours before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new website announced its pre sence. The “War on Fakes” on Telegram was to be the Russian version of integrity, authoritativeness and credi bility in debunking or con firming questionable facts in news. It’s said to be attracting some 700,000 followers. Moscow seems to have taken its cue from the West when fact checking became a topic of public discourse in the West. The practice had always existed as routine procedure at any authoritative and self-respecting news organization in democratic countries. But fact checking became often a part of the news itself, after the inauguration of Mr. Trump. The reason doesn’t have to be spelled out here. Obviously, the Kremlin recognized the usefulness of fact checking in boosting the believability of its massive dis information campaign. Moscow thus established techniques to bolster audience trust of its lies. According to the Russian government, Russians have been the target of a Western information war barrage. De ployment of a defensive weapon to protect Russian citizens from the messaging of Western sources was a critical necessity. “Fact-checking” is in essence “fact control” and with the creation of these establish ments, Moscow had to empha size the “apolitical” nature of their “independent and erst while” experts. These organiza tions now present “professional analyses” to the public with the same visual effects and style of language identified with their Western counterparts. Equivalency ends here. The output of most Russian “fact-checking” is fictional and false, meant to deceive, not to correct. The bulk of this cam paign is aimed at Russian speakers, domestic and abroad, though the “War on fakes” communicates in Russian, English, French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic and uses eight Telegram channels. A crucial aspect of this “fact-checking” program is the use of prominent Russians, the country’s opinion leaders, on
TV or in the government. This enhances the authenticity of the “fact-checkers”, amplified by well-known media pundits. Added to the “War on fakes” efforts is another ‘fact-check ing’ channel – “The truth is ours”, in which the most patri otic posting may qualify for an award. On Telegram it has over 110,000 and on VKontakte over 200,000 followers, observers say. Content from “The truth is ours” is shared by govern ment-funded entities such as schools, libraries, local govern ment and news pages. “Corrected facts”, deftly passed on by eminent personali ties, must appear to be generat ed from a source distant from any Kremlin control. For Russian fact-checkers to remain credible, the Kremlin and associ ated agencies need to show a strictly hands-off posture. This carries with it the moral author ity associated with objective fact-checking institutions. “War on fakes” English lan guage website is solidly pro moted in Facebook and Twitter by Russian embassies and other government establishments. Oliver Stone, a prominent US film director, recently shared two “War on fakes” articles on Twitter and his official Facebook page. The Russianfabricated fact-checks have now broken into Western networks. An example of Russian fact-checking: Russian propa ganda had doctored a genuine image of a burning tank by add ing a Russian-identifying Z symbol on the wreckage. It then claimed to expose the construct ed image by exhibiting the au thentic photo. Then it used that “fact-check” as proof that all images of Russian losses in Ukraine are misinformation. It may seem complicated, but the debunking is correct be cause the image was in fact, faked. The fact-checker created the fake just to expose it. This misinformation gains plausibi lity by use in Russian state media, which states that the fact check is evidence that social media posts about the war cannot be believed. “The truth is ours” channel frequently shares content with “War on Fakes” in English. This was especially evident
EERO Ukrainian Refugee Fund May update To date EERO has sent MTÜ Eesti Pagulasabi (Estonian Refugee Council) $320,000 (228,000 €) to support Ukrai nian refugees in Estonia. This has supported the evacuation of refugees safely to Estonia from the Ukrainian border and related expenses, initial consultations, workshops, assistance in obtain ing long term housing, educa tion support for children, and mental wellbeing support groups. To date the education sup port fund has helped almost 1,500 children. They expect the total number of children to be more than 5,600 children when schools reopen in September. Those children currently not accommodated in Estonian schools participate in online Ukrainian school classes. There are many reasons why not all children have been accommo dated yet, but the main reason is overcrowding or lack of space. There are mental wellbeing support group meetings in Tallinn and there are plans to increase these groups through out Estonia. Many of the psy chologists who facilitate these support groups are also Ukrai nian refugees who have the necessary training and educa tional background. Pagulasabi also provides counselling to
refugees in their Tallinn center, runs a counselling hotline phone number, and assists people via e-mail, Viber and other online channels. Coun selling services provide assis tance on finding housing, find ing a job or a school, legal issues, and other concerns.
with the Bucha massacre which had Russian sources insisting that war crimes there were staged by Ukrainians. The invasion of Ukraine prompted the creation of spe cialty fact-checking channels such as “Fake cemetery”, “Antifake Osnova” and “Antifake Z”. Like “War on fakes”, they borrow tropes from open-source researchers, such as highlighting points of in terest on satellite imagery and stamping a large, red “Fake” symbol over the images. Russian state TV and other media have quickly adapted fact-checking by using the al ready prepared content from the existing numerous channels or have been creating their own sensational news items. Russia’s dominant Channel One and others have even created s eparate shows featuring
Ukrainian and Western ‘fakes’. Twitter users in Russia are also generating fake media and attributing some of it to Ukrai nian sources. With Russianaltered footage, claiming that pro-Ukrainian users are dis seminating the footage, and then debunking the altered images and videos. Fake fact-checking causes some serious concern. It cer tainly weakens the ability of Russians to accurately assess the actions of its government in Ukraine. Although opinion poll ing in Russia is inaccurate due to widespread reluctance to pro vide anti-government answers, it’s reported that fully 75% of those who support the war also trust government information sources. Fake fact-checking seriously distorts Russians’ perception of the war in Ukraine. It also has
At the moment, the Refugee Council has organized group activities for children in accom modation centers, which will continue in the fall. During the summer, the Estonian Refugee Council also plans to organize three overnight camps and two day camps for about 100 refu gee children. The total budget for Children/Youth activity groups and summer camps is 50,000 euros. Similar camps have been organized by the Refugee Council in both Estonia and Ukraine in the past, and these refugee camps will be expanded and focus on the mental wellbeing of child ren and include Ukrainian psy chologists. The Estonian school in New York is currently raising money to support 20 children going to summer camp through the Estonian Relief Committee USA (Eesti Abistamiskomitee USAs). EERO may also support this initiative, as it supports other activities for youth and Ukrainian refugees. Those do
nating in the US can donate at http://www.estoreliefusa.org/ donate_eng.html There are more than 40,000 Ukrainian refugees in Estonia. Refugees can be found in almost all municipalities in Estonia. Most refugees live in Harjumaa. Hence the housing shortage is critical in larger urban centers, and especially in the north. Over the past month, refugees are arriving mainly via Narva from Mariupol, Donetsk and Luhansk regions. These are refugees that Russia “evacuat ed” or deported to Russia and have somehow made their way to Ivangorod and then crossed the bridge to Narva. Most are enroute to other countries. Although the number of refu gees seems to have stabilized, it is difficult to determine how long the refugees will remain in Estonia. Please continue to support the EERO Ukrainian Refugee Fund and visit the www. EEROcanada.com website. MARI ANN TAMMARK
some impact amongst audiences in the West. (Fox News’ Tucker Carlson’s insists that bio-labs in Ukraine were US-initiated to produce bio-war chemicals.) Fraudulent fact-checking also engenders public distrust in legitimate fact-checking institu tions. The far right’s denigration of the mainstream press is also an attack on legitimate fact-check ing. Fake fact-checking thrives where the survival of an in dependent press is uncertain. Press freedom is practically non-existent in Putin’s Russia, the victim of steady erosion in Viktor Orban’s Hungary and in the cross-hairs of Mr. Trump’s supporters. Let’s educate our selves. We shouldn’t have to struggle to know which sources are believable and which can’t be trusted. LAAS LEIVAT
