The Chairman of the Commission Vasilii Piskarev
Vasily Ivanovich
informed the parliamentarians from the CSTO member
states about the legislative initiatives to counter foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs, which are being reviewed in the State Duma.
“During the year of the Commission's work, we have managed to collect voluminous materials that helped us to reveal who, how, and with whose support tries to interfere in our internal affairs. We had determined what legislative norms should be improved to deter such interference, and we have already started to prepare amendments to the existing laws,” said Vasilii Piskarev.
The parliamentarian gave practical examples of how foreign states through a controlled network of non-profit non-governmental organizations, including those recognized as undesirable in Russia, and foreign media outlets promote a protest agenda, involve minors in rallies, interfere in elections, drug policy, try to undermine traditional family values, distort history, and actively show these technologies to their supporters.
Vasilii Piskarev noted that during 3 months of 2019, when the level of protest activities was very high, the Commission revealed more than ten thousand materials with negative content prepared by foreign media about the elections in Russia.
“Neutral or positive materials were found 100 times fewer. These information attacks took place at the same time with unauthorized actions,” added the Chairman of the Commission.
He also noted similarity in techniques used at the protests in Moscow and Hong Kong. “I mean the coordination of actions through social networks and messengers, transformation of rallies into marches, road closures, low average age of protest participants and gamification of a protest, coordinated information support provided by foreign media, widespread of fake information and staged photos,” explained the Chairman of the Commission.
According to Vasilii Piskarev, similar techniques were used in Belarus this year.
He said that “the State Duma Commission continued to monitor activities of more than 10 anti-Russian foreign training centers supported by the NGOs, recognized as undesirable in Russia, and of over forty of their graduates — Russian citizens receiving regularly foreign funding for their subversive activities in our country.”
The Chairman of the Commission stressed that professional provocateurs, trained in foreign centers, tried to involve young people in the protest movement for the drugs legalization, and they actively used messengers and social networks for that.
Vasilii Piskarev also drew attention of the CSTO PA colleagues to the increasing attempts to whitewash Nazi criminals, their supporters, collaborators and to justify their crimes under the guise of realization of the right to freedom of expression. “The destructive campaign to revise, falsify and distort history has already led to the situation when in Europe and the USA, there is now a generation that does not know the truth about World War II, war criminals and their many heinous crimes,” stressed the parliamentarian.
At the end of the meeting, Vasilii Piskarev proposed to consider Russian legislative experience of counteracting foreign interference and expressed readiness to provide his colleagues with the necessary assistance.
“We also propose to consider creating, if necessary, independent working bodies in the parliaments of the CSTO member states to counter foreign interference. I am convinced that our joint work within the CSTO to counter foreign interference will help to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our states,” concluded the Chairman of the Commission.
