Is there going to be a full-scale war, or not? Violence increased sharply along the entire frontline in eastern Ukraine this week. Both sides blame each other for the shelling and explosions. And that led to a wave of conflicting messages.
The West and Russia have been embroiled in a large-scale information war over Ukraine for weeks. According to Washington, Russia could still invade the country at any moment. Moscow speaks of ‘fake news’ and ‘hysteria’. Ukraine is deeply concerned that Russia is ordering the separatists in the east for the violence, then using it as a pretext for further military intervention in the region.
If you watch Russian state television, that seems to be a possibility. “The West is forcing Russia to intervene. We don’t want that, but Ukraine, armed by NATO, is provoking us with attacks in the Donbas,” say experts on talk shows. “This is a humanitarian crisis, Russia must protect its citizens in the Donbas.” And: “It seems that we now gradually have no choice, the war is on the doorstep.”
Most of the independent press has been silenced in Russia in the past year. As a result, Russians are almost exclusively presented with this one-sided image full of Kremlin rhetoric.
How do people deal with that? Ignore the news, and sometimes turn off the television completely:
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