A woman attends a "March for Peace" event in March 2023 in Bratislava. The event was organised by pro-Russian groups. (source: SME - Marko Erd)
The family of Bratislava-based secondary school student Marta Kropocheva faced some unpleasant conversations after Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year.
With family in both Kyiv and near Moscow, the Ukrainian-Russian student soon realised her family held different views on the war. As soon as disinformation and Russian propaganda about the conflict began to circulate on social media and in Russian state-owned media, it became difficult for Kropocheva and her family to have meaningful conversations about anything because the war – and lies about it – intruded into every aspect of their life.
They even lost the essence of what it means to be a family.
“We either don’t talk to each other, or ignore the situation we have found ourselves caught in,” Kropocheva tells The Slovak Spectator. “Both ways, it’s horrible.”
More often than not, the student adds, her family confine their conversations to mundane topics like the weather or how they have been. Kropocheva’s family is just one example of the many families for whom the war has caused tensions. Such families can even be found in Slovakia.
Slovak university student Matej Čačík describes how his grandfather consumes disinformation and thus holds opinions opposed to his. “So far, he has always ended our debates by stating, ‘Let’s agree to disagree.’,” he said. But in his experience, family debates about disinformation can end with each side wanting to win the argument. As a result, family relations can become fraught.
Research suggests that Slovakia is more vulnerable to disinformation than most other countries in central and eastern Europe.
Slovakia inundated by Russian propaganda
In a prescient 2021 report, written before the February 2022 invasion, the Slovak police force warned for the first time about “a possibility that misleading narratives concerned with the situation on the Belarus-Poland border could combine with related topic of migration and with the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine [to] have devastating misinforming effects on the whole middle Europe region.” A year later, the police were talking about hybrid warfare by Russia that puts the security of people in Slovakia and the future of democracy in danger.
For example, in March of this year, the police debunked a hoax about the transfer of “nuclear weapons” through the territory of Slovakia. It appeared on Facebook, a principal source of disinformation in Slovakia. The police explained that they regularly assist in the transport of radioactive material, which nuclear power plants in Slovakia use to produce electricity. Such nuclear material is not a weapon and is not explosive.
“The misuse of this standard police activity to create delusions about nuclear weapons serves only the interests of Russia,” the police said.
Several Slovak politicians and prominent public figures, including General Prosecutor Maroš Žilinka, have contributed to the spread of pro-Russian narratives and even disinformation. Last year, Žilinka, for example, ordered an investigation into the alleged destruction of a WWI cemetery in Ladomirová, eastern Slovakia, where the remains of Russian soldiers, among those of several other nationalities, are buried. The police soon announced that this was a hoax that was being spread by the Russian Embassy in Slovakia to divert attention from the events in Ukraine.
Despite the police’s categorical dismissal of the claims, the investigation by prosecutors remains technically open.
The Beacon Project, an initiative by the International Republican Institute, dubbed the Russian Embassy in Slovakia the most virulent diplomatic social media presence in Europe when it comes to undermining the Ukrainian war effort, the Euronews media outlet noted recently.
Just like the Slovak police, a civic association, Krupica, is therefore calling on people to verify information they absorb from various media.
Young people can defeat hoaxes
While the police force debunks hoaxes on its social media channels, the civic association focuses on students and teaches them to distinguish between fake and real news. Krupica, which was founded by Čačík, hopes that these students can then use the knowledge they acquire in conversations with their older relatives, who are generally more prone to believing various disinformation, including about the war in Ukraine.
“Compared to neighbouring countries, Slovakia has the strongest pan-Slavic sentiment,” noted Čačík. The 19th-century idea of pan-Slavism suggests that Slavic nations would be united by Russia. This sentiment is especially strong among older Slovaks who grew up and lived in communist Czechoslovakia before 1989. Čačík discovered this as soon as he tried to initiate a polite debate about politics with older Slovaks, who frequently began to repeat pro-Russian and anti-Western talking points. He contends that “Slovaks are therefore more likely to accept disinformation that paints Ukraine as the aggressor.”
Some of the most frequent disinformation narratives circulating within Slovakia concern military support for Ukraine, refugees from Ukraine, and the role of the West and NATO, which in the narratives are blamed for the war, the Infosecurity.sk disinformation-fighting website explains. The police listed more specific war-related disinformation examples, such as the alleged mobilisation of Slovaks, in their 2022 report.
Čačík, while aware that it is no easy thing to change the minds of people consumed by disinformation, still remains hopeful. “I believe that the active citizenship of young people who lead by example will bring us success and will create a more hostile environment for hoaxes,” the student says. He also relies on young people whom Krupica has helped. Čačík adds that well-informed and well-educated young people are necessary for the preservation of democracy in Slovakia. For instance, they can be of help when it comes to assisting older people to distinguish between real and fake media content.
“It’s a long-term and complex process that needs patience, kindness and a constant overview of the current narratives on both sides,” he said.
In his opinion, the first attempt never goes well.
Embrace critical thinking
Like Čačík, Kropocheva also knows how hard it is to confront older people with facts.
“We tried talking to my grandparents about war-related facts, but it has never worked.” explained the student.
Her Russian grandparents often draw news from Russian state-owned media and the social media app Telegram. The app is widely popular among Russians and Ukrainians but lacks fact-checking mechanisms, the Ukraine Crisis Media Center points out. Russian propaganda is therefore strong on Telegram.
And while some may assume that disinformation is only an issue for uneducated or less-educated people, this is misleading. According to disinformation expert Tomáš Kriššák, even well-educated people can succumb to disinformation if they invest too much time in it. “Conspiracy theories often exploit human curiosity,” he told the Sme daily. He added that they target people’s moods and emotions.
So, what is the best way to resist disinformation, in Kriššák’s view?
“Ask critical-thinking questions,” he says.
Author: Zuzana Rusnáková, Hana Trenčanová
