The information component has long been an integral part of modern conflicts. Ukraine has always been the target of Russia’s massive information attacks aimed at generating and reinforcing propaganda myths. One of the most striking examples is myths about Crimea. The discussion “How to weaken the effect of pro-Moscow myths about Crimea”, held by Ukraine Crisis Media Center, highlighted the mechanisms of creating such myths, their impact and possible ways to counteract them.
The discussion included a presentation of the video “The true history of Crimea. Why has Russia been trying to take the Peninsula for centuries”, based on the findings of the study “Myths and narratives of Russian propaganda that destroy Ukrainian identity in the south and east of Ukraine. Debunking and exposure.” The research was conducted by UCMC experts by interviewing historians, local historians, journalists, librarians and civic activists in the target regions of the project.
The event was held as part of the project “Strengthening Information Resilience in Ukraine” in partnership with the International Practitioners’ Partnership Network (Estonia) with the support of the European Union.
Myths spread best where there is no information
The first cities – Greek colonies – were built in Crimea before Common Era. In the 9th century, the peninsula was home to a community of the Rus who went to church and attended services.
It is known that Rus is the language of Rus, not of Russia. Muscovy did not even exist at that time. In the same century, the great Kyivan prince Sviatoslav liberated Crimea from Khazar rule and built the Tmutorokan fortress there. In the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate was created under the protectorate of the Ottoman Empire, and Muscovites began to pay a huge tribute to it. These and other facts became the basis of the video “The true history of Crimea. Why Russia has been trying to take the peninsula for centuries,” which is the result of UCMC’s special research.
Most of Russia’s myths about Crimea relate to the imperial period, when the peninsula was actually seized by them. There are also widespread narratives that there was nothing and no one on the peninsula before the Russians arrived.
According to Yevhen Bondarenko, Head of the Information Support Department at the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, we must distinguish between the myths created by Russian propaganda that impose a false mythology and also understand that the general public lacks information about the historical aspects of the development of the Crimean peninsula.
This is how the information space works: particular information takes root where there is simply no other,” the official explained. “We very often overestimate Russian propaganda, believe that they invent myths, but in fact it often means that we do not work enough in one area or another. I like to give an example of 2022, when the full-scale invasion began. We then actively monitored changes in narratives and public attitudes toward Crimea, and we noticed an interesting trend. People responded very emotionally to resistance actions in Kherson, Melitopol and other cities that fell under occupation, and asked: where was Crimea in 2014? And then we showed the protests on the peninsula in March-April 2014, which continued until the Russians began to use their favorite techniques of kidnapping civic activists, detaining people, threatening them, etc. It would seem that this is the modern history of Ukraine, which happened only a decade ago. But if we now ask if anyone knows about Reshat Ametov, the first civilian tortured by Russia for going out on a single picket on March 3, 2014 to the square in Simferopol, we’ll see that almost no one knows about him.
Few Ukrainians know the names of the soldiers killed by Russians in Crimea at the beginning of the invasion. Therefore, the task of the authorities and civic activists is to regularly communicate and transform narratives, Yevhen Bondarenko is convinced.
Since 2022, the Information Support Department at the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has been actively researching certain myths about the peninsula and debunking them together with the Institute of National Memory. For example, why the Crimean War actually began, or why the Russian Empire annexed the Crimean Khanate. Our society needs to know these things too. Over the past year alone, this work has resulted in about 40 thematic publications.
“But at the same time, we noticed another area that needs to be covered in the media,” added Yevhen Bondarenko. “This is the integration of the national memory of the Crimean peninsula into the national memory of Ukraine. Because how did Soviet scientists work? They were given standards for what should be included in history and what should not. And if you study textbooks and the logic of Ukrainian history in general, Crimea sometimes falls out of it for a couple of centuries, and then reappears. A lot of facts about what happened to it during this period are hidden. That is why we need high-quality historical research. Today’s young historians must critically rethink all the scientific works that were done earlier, including in the Soviet era.
There should be more video products like the one presented, and they should become part of mass culture. After all, Crimea is part of the South, but Ukrainians often single out the peninsula as a separate territory. This leads to a misconception that there is one reality before the Perekop, and a completely different one beyond it.
“According to our research, only 9% of the Ukrainians surveyed are confident that they have sufficient knowledge about the Crimean peninsula. So, society admits that it knows very little about this territory, and therefore, in such a situation, it is very easy to promote narratives and misconceptions,” the official summarized.
“Although the Ukrainian resistance in Crimea has not stopped for all these 11 years, little is said about it in our information space. Experts recognize that it is necessary to make more films, books and other thematic products in order to interact with society and convey facts and truth about our temporarily occupied territory. It is also important to communicate and convey the true reasons for the occupation of Crimea in the international arena – to create a military bridgehead for aggression in the Black Sea region.
Occupiers use narratives as an ideological weapon
Unfortunately, Russian propaganda works very well. This was noted by Nadzhiye Ametova, a journalist at the Crimean News/Qırım Media news agency. When she moved to Kyiv, she met Ukrainians who repeated myths and narratives that Russia had been spreading for many years. One of them was that Crimea was given to Ukraine by Khrushchov, and before that the peninsula had always been Russian. The journalist had to explain them about the existence of the Crimean Khanate, the first annexation in 1783, and other little-known facts.
– What is happening in the occupied territories today? Russians are burning books, textbooks, destroying historical artifacts. All this was done in Crimea. And we should tell society about this, because the Russians’ rhetoric and their methods have not changed for centuries, – Nadzhiye Ametova said.
According to her, before the annexation of Crimea, Ukrainian history textbooks had very few pages about Crimean Tatar life and the deportation of this people from their native lands. Has there been more of this information in school education since then? It may have been true, but it is still not enough. Interviewing people on the streets of Kyiv, the journalist is often disappointed with their answers.
The day before the full-scale invasion, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a strategy for the development of the Crimean Tatar language, and this was supposed to be an impetus for Ukrainians to know more about this people, their sad history, culture, and customs.
– Because we have no other choice. Either we learn to study each other and live together, or we will again fall under Russia’s negative influence, – the journalist explains.
– Many may claim that during the war, we must invest in the needs of the front rather than in an information product. But we should understand that Russia is investing a huge resource in its propaganda and uses it as a weapon, only an ideological one.
Ukrainian schoolchildren are taught almost nothing about the history of Crimea. The responsibility for such activities as the creation of educational videos lies with the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications, the Ministry of Education and Science and other state institutions today. This was stated by Andriy Shchekun, a representative of the National Council of Ukrainians of Crimea, journalist and public figure.
– Officials complain about a lack of funding for such activities, but we see that there is enough money for ministerial purposes, – he clarified.
– In addition, we have quite powerful partners, for example, the Crimean Platform, and we should work with this resource and involve it in our joint struggle for de-occupation of Crimea.
For Andriy Shchekun, as a person who was born in the Soviet Union, lived in Crimea since 1993 and saw all the transformations with his own eyes, and heard the narratives that Russia spread on the peninsula long before its occupation, it is obvious that Ukraine did not counteract this strongly. That is, it did not hinder, did not form its position, did not hear the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians who lived in Crimea and tried to restore the true history of the peninsula within Ukraine with their actions.
– Unfortunately, no conclusions were made, and today we again see a gap in this issue, – the expert noted. – Let’s take the schoolbooks that Ukrainian schoolchildren study today: they contain practically no information about Crimea and its history, except for general phrases. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine should pay attention that Ukrainians learn about Crimea and its significance for our state from childhood through broader knowledge, especially taking into account the ongoing war.
Why is Russia actively producing myths about Crimea? Because it does not have its own true history. Therefore, we must form our true information together with the Crimean Tatars, other indigenous peoples and ethnic Ukrainians, who also have their own history in Crimea. According to Andriy Shchekun, when Russia deported the Crimean Tatars from the peninsula, it fell into its own trap, because there was no one left who could manage the economy there. And since then, Crimea has begun to decline economically. Russians who were resettled from Russia to the peninsula rebelled and asked Khrushchov where he had exiled them.
– We need to tell this to people, because practically no one knows such facts. And the decision to transfer the peninsula to Ukraine was made by the Soviet leader naturally, because it was clear that only Ukraine would economically develop Crimea, – the public figure explains. – But they could not understand that for the peninsula to be prosperous they had to return its indigenous people there. And only Ukraine, having gained independence, took on this political responsibility and gave the Crimean Tatars the opportunity to return to their native land. These are facts that Russia is afraid of, and they need to be voiced and conveyed to the masses.
The participants in the discussion also concluded that Russia will never admit that it destroyed the Crimean Tatar people, just as it is now destroying the Ukrainian identity in Crimea. Therefore, our state and executive authorities need to urgently review the policy of educational programs, starting with children’s institutions, to rethink Russian mythologizing and teach the true history of Ukraine.
