BRUSSELS – Croatia is among eight EU member states which have signed a letter asking High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, to significantly expand activities for Russian propaganda to be countered, especially in the Western Balkans.
Tanjug reported this on Tuesday, citing the Croatian daily Jutarnji List, which in turn, quoted the Brussels-based website EUobserver – which said it had seen the letter, sent to Mogherini.
The letter was sent ten days ago and signed by foreign ministries of Croatia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
It is reported the letter stated that “in the face of unabated third party disinformation campaigns, we see an urgent need to further enhance the EU’s StratCom capabilities.”
The Croatian newspaper recalled that StratCom is an office founded by the EU and supported by all member-states, whose goal is to “discover and refute untruths about the EU, that the EU thinks Russia is spreading.”
Those countries have asked the EU for more funds to be invested in innovative technologies.
The countries are on the front line of what the letter called a “sophisticated and intense” campaign, waged by “external actors”, to “generate distrust and discontent with the democratic order, to discredit the EU, the transatlantic community and our partners, as well as to weaken our unity,” states EUobserver.
It is also stated that StratCom circulates online notes that debunk Russian disinformation and has attracted 30,000 followers to its Twitter account and promotes positive coverage of the EU in former Soviet states.
The foreign ministers’ letter noted that unless they were given a more permanent footing, then “the ability of the EEAS to preserve and rely on the knowledge and expertise accumulated over time by the task forces” could be lost.