Open Letter of European security experts to Federica Mogheri

Open Letter of European security experts to Federica Mogheri:
Please start taking the Russian disinformation threat seriously!

The aggressive actions of the Kremlin are unprecedented in the modern era. Invasion of neighbouring countries, massive bombings and killings of civilians, and the first annexation of a foreign land by force in Europe since World War II, constant violations of other states’ borders, kidnapping foreign citizens, harassment of foreign diplomats, or massive cyber attacks are all in Russia’s current regime toolkit.

All these offensive incidents are accompanied by a massive, persistent, ongoing, brutally aggressive disinformation campaign. A campaign that has been active in Europe for at least three years, establishing its channels, finding the right amplifiers and multipliers for its message – which is aimed at destabilising our societies, meddling in our elections and referendums, misleading our political leaders and breaking up the EU unity by supporting those who want to destroy it. It has been building a wide range of communication structures in most of the EU Member States, platforms that have already been functioning for a long time and have reached considerable results that cannot be erased without significant long-term counter-effort.

Yet, our reaction is irresponsibly weak. We see questioning and marginalizing of the issue on multiple levels, on claims such as that there is actually no disinformation campaign; that it is not happening in our countries; that it is not corrosive. We see blindness and refusal to admit that someone is actively working to undermine our societies and to destroy the world order that has been established after the World War II and has provided the Euroatlantic world with an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity.

Despite the seriousness of this threat, the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has spent the last two years trying to avoid naming Russia as the main creator of hostile disinformation. We as European security experts have seen her constantly appease the Russian aggression.

When European leaders called for an EU action against “ongoing Russian disinformation campaigns” in March 2015, they really meant it. If she keeps avoiding naming the Russian Federation and its proxies as the main source of hostile disinformation operations, she is systematically neglecting a clear threat perceived by many EU Member States that she represents. Moreover, the only real EU response to this threat—an eleven-man EEAS East STRATCOM Team (paid mainly by member states, not by the EU institution that barely tolerates it)—is absurdly understaffed. Regardless of the European Parliament’s calls for its reinforcement, it is reportedly not going to happen at all. This team has no budget whatsoever – despite being tasked by the European Council to counter the Kremlin disinformation machine, which is boosted by over 1 billion euro annually. Based on decision of the EEAS leadership run by Federica Mogherini, the EU spends literally nothing on countering one of the biggest challenges of our world today – a hostile disinformation campaign, which is successfully undermining our democratic societies. The right thing to do would be to triple capacity of the EEAS East STRATCOM Team and give it a budget in single millions EUR, so it can start fulfilling its mandate.

Based on an enormous and conclusive mass of evidence, it is clear that Mr. Putin wants to destroy the liberal world order, which the EU stands to defend, and he does everything possible to achieve this goal. And yet he still finds many conscious and unconscious allies in Europe.

We as European security experts call on our leaders to face this malign threat. We call on our democratic leaders to finally start taking this threat seriously and making it a top priority security issue. Our leaders need to publicly name it and expose its aims, such as weakening the EU, destabilising its societies, misleading its political leaders, and interfering in its elections. We need our leaders to order our security institutions to publicly expose Kremlin actions and actors. Europeans need to know by who and how they are being manipulated.

Mrs. Mogherini, if you continue to do nothing in order to face this threat, the enemies of democracy will keep winning, and the damage to our societies might become beyond repair. The time is now.

This Open Call is coordinated by the Kremlin Watch Program at the European Values Think-Tank.

Coordinator of this Call:
Jakub Janda, Head of Kremlin Watch Program, Deputy Director of the European Values Think-Tank, janda@evropskehodnoty.cz

Signatories (in alphabetical order):
Willem Aldershoff, Former Head of Unit, European Commission, Analyst international Affairs
Lawrence Alexander, Volunteer Contributor, Bellingcat
Ivar Amundsen, Chechnya Peace Forum, director
Laima Andrikienė, MEP
Anne Applebaum, Pulitzer Prize–winning author
Antoine Arjakovsky, Founder Director of the Institute of Ecumenical Studies, Lviv, Ukraine
Petras Auštrevičius, MEP
Eitvydas Bajarunas, Ambassador-at-Large for Hybrid Threats, MFA of Lithuania
Jars Balan, Coordinator of the Kule Ukrainain Canadian Studies Centre, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies
Mykolas Bazaras, LMTA, doctorate
Marieluise Beck, Member of the German Parliament
Petr Boháček, Director, European Security Journal
Anda Burger-Rozite, Journalist, irir.lv
Erno Buzas, Atlatszo Erdely,
Eto Buziashvili, Programs Director, Georgian Strategic Analysis Center
Arnaud Castaignet, Vice President, Open Diplomacy
Boris Chykulay, The Forum of Ukrainians of the Czech Republic
Iurie Condrea, ONG Moldova Chisinau
Halya Coynash, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group
Maks Czuperski, Director, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council
Tomáš Čižik, Centre for European and North Atlantic Affairs, Director
Sławomir Dębski, Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM), Director
Jaba Devdariani, Chief Editor, The Clarion
Steffen Dobbert, Political Editor, ZEIT ONLINE
Adam Eberhardt, Director, Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW)
Kestutis Eidukonis, LR Seimo/PLB commission member
Jonathan Eyal, Associate Director of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies
Yevhen Fedchenko, Co-founfer, StopFake.org
Andrej Ferdinand, Novak European Cosmopolitan Consulting, Senior Consultant
Roland Freudenstein, Policy Director, Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies
Iulian Fota, Director, National Intelligence College, Romania
Nicole Gallina, political scientist, osteuropastudien.wordpress.com
Penelope Gate, Teacher, Universita’ Popolare Rome
Paata Gaprindashvili, Director, Georgia’s Reforms Associates
Anna Garmash, Chairwoman of the Ukraine Action
Simon Gerber, swissukraine.org
Andrea Giacobino, Editor-in-chief, BLUERATING
Ariana Gic, Chair, Direct Initiaitive
Rob Gill, Chair, Irish-Ukrainian Solidarity Group
Gustav Gressel, ECFR – European Council on Foreign Relations
Stepan Grigoryan, Analytical Centre on Globalization and Regional Cooperation
Oleg Chabala, The Civil Committee of National Security of Ukraine, Senior Policy Analyst
Pavel Havlicek, Associate Fellow at the Association for International Affairs (AMO) in Prague
Mall Hellam, Open Estonia Foundation, Executive Director
Thomas Hendrik Ilves, former President of Estonia (2006-2016) and Liautaud visiting fellow, at CISAC, Center for Security and Co-operation, Stanford University
Eliot Higgins, Founder and Director, Bellingcat
Marina Iaroshevych, Ukrainian World Congres
John Jacobs, Youth, Atlantic Treaty Association – President
Nina Jankowicz, Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellow, Ukraine
John (Ivan) Jaworsky, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Political Science, University of Waterloo, Canada
Mats Johansson, Chairman of the Stockholm Free World Forum
Mark Jordan, University of Georgia, Advisor (retired)
Laurynas Kasciunas, Member of Lithuanian Parliament, National security and defence committee
Garry Kasparov, Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation
Krišjānis  Kariņš, Member of the European Parliament
Tunne Kelam, MEP
Zoltán Kész, MP in Hungary
Sam King, RHWDS Russian Hybrid Warfare Defense System NZ (Director)
Maksym Khylko, Chairman of the Board, East European Security Research Initiative Foundation
Marcus Kolga, Editor, UpNorth.eu, Senior Fellow Macdonald-Laurier Foreign Policy Centre
Peter Kreko, Senior Associate, Political Capital Institute
Eerik-Niiles Kross, Member of Parliament, former National Security Co-ordinator, Estonia
Andis Kudors, Executive director of the Centre for East European Policy Studies
Andrii Lavreniuk, UKRINFORM Staff Correspondent in Brussels
Niels Ivar Larsen, The independent Danish Daily Information, editor
Aleksejs Loskutovs, Member of Parliament of Latvia, Defence, Internal Affairs and Corruption Prevention Committee
Radu Magdin, analyst, former advisor to the Romanian Prime Minister
Rey Marcin, Blogger, Rosyjska V Kolumna w Polsce, Poland
Athanasius McVay, Historian, archival reserarcher, Fellow of the Chair of Ukrainian Studies, University of Toronto
Grigorij Mesežnikov, President of the Institute for Public Affairs
Violeta Moskalu, Founder of Global Ukraine Foundation
Ben Nimmo, information defense fellow, Digital Forensic Research Lab, Atlantic Council
Jelena Milic, Director, Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies
Nerijus Maliukevičius, Scientific researcher at Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science
Mantas Martišius, Scientific researcher at Vilnius University Communication faculty
Rita Miliute, Lithuanian Radio and Television, journalist
Daniel Milo, Head of STRATCOM Program, GLOBSEC Policy Institute
Jaroslav Nad, Director, Slovak Security Policy Institute
Gintarė Narkevičiūtė, Director for Foreign Affairs, The Ronald Reagan House
Mário Nicolini, Founder & Honorary President, Euro-Atlantic Center
Konrad Niklewicz, Civic Institute, managing deputy director
Paul Niland, Writer and commentator on Ukrainian affairs
James Nixey, Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House
Renatas Norkus, Director of the Transatlantic Cooperation & Security Policy Department, MFA of Lithuania
Vít Novotný, Senior Research Officer, Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies
Evan O’Connell, Senior Consultant, Aspect Consulting
Patrik Oksanen, editorial writer on security, defence and EU for MittMedia Newsgroup Sweden
Oleg Panfilov, Ilia State University, Professor
Jane Pannell, Former RN, project Director, University of California San Francisco, USA
Bjarne Kim Pedersen, Author
Marco Pelliccia, Bangor Business School, Assistant Professor
Amanda Paul, European Policy Centre, Senior Policy Analyst
Szabolcs Panyi, Journalist, Index.hu
Zygimahtas Pavilionis, Chair of Transatlantic and Democracy Subcommittee at the Lithuanian Parliament
Nataliia Popovych, Co-Founder, Ukraine Crisis Media Center
Dmytro Potekhin, Nonviolent Solutions Agency
Oleksandr Potiekhin, Director of the Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine
Wojciech Przybylski, Res Publica Nowa
Tudor Radu, Pol & Mil Analyst, Antena 3 TV Romania
Adam Reichardt, New Eastern Europe
Julian Röpcke, Political Editor, BILD
Sven Salumets, NGO Vaba Ukraina, Member of the Board, Estonia
Peter H. Sandin, Founder and Director, VerbalLitteratur
Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, MEP
Alya Shandra, Euromaidan Press, managing editor
Anton Shekhovtsov, Research Associate, Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation
Eugeniusz Smolar, Centre for International Relations
Ivana Smolenova, Prague Security Studies Institute
Ruslan Stefanov, Director, Economic Program, Center for the Study of Democracy
Jaromír Štětina, MEP, Vice-Chair of Subcommittee on Security and Defence
Jana Streleca, NGO “Ukrainas konfliktā cietušo atbalsta fonds”, Chairlady
Pavel Svoboda, EP Committee on Legal Affairs Chair
János Széky, Journalist, Élet és Irodalom
Justas Šireika, Director, Information Security and Analysis Centre
Nicolas Tenzer, Chairman, CERAP (Centre d’étude et de réflexion pour l’Action politique)
Haris Trgo, Commentator on European foreign affairs and EU politics
Andreas Umland,  Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation
Artjoms Ursulskis, Adviser of the European Affairs Committee, Saeima of the Republic of Latvia
Ludmila Verbicka, Co-Founder, Head of the Ukrainian-Slovak initiative
Fredrik Wesslau, ECFR, Director of the Wider Europe Programme
Kataryna Wolczuk, Professor, University of Birmingham
Ernest Wyciszkiewicz, Director, Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding
Tornike Zurabashvili, Editor-in-Chief, Civil.ge