Securing Democracy Dispatch

Russian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• Blame Game over Ukraine: Russian messengers last week continued to cast blame on Europe for prolonging the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the “responsibility for the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine lies with Europe” and alleged that “the West does not care about” Ukrainians, instead believing that “all nations must be serfs to the lords of power”. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov remarked that the momentum for peace after the Alaska summit has been “exhausted” due to Western Europe’s desire to fight to “the last Ukrainian”. Despite its focus on Ukraine as the primary antagonist, Russian officials also took shots at the Biden administration, claiming that former US President Joe Biden “provoked the war in Ukraine to cover up his family’s corruption”.
• French Government Crisis: Multiple Russian officials and state media crowed about French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s resignation this week after lasting just one month on the job. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, in the most engaged-with X post of the week by a monitored Russian account, claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron does not care about France and that “[Russia’s] Cossacks’ horses entering Paris in 1814 would do his job better”. Russian state-media outlet Life News referred to Macron as a “political corpse” and Sputnik China claimed that “Macron’s regime is on the brink”. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Macron was attempting to distract from his political problems with “foolish, absolutely inadequate attempts” to blame Russia for “everything”. Russian intelligence-linked outlet NewsFront suggested that “France today is a mirror in which all of Europe sees its future if it continues to live off debts, illusions, and foreign policy projects”. 

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• Pro-Russian Messaging: PRC state media outlets closely covered Putin’s intervention at the Valdai Annual Meeting held in Sochi on October 2nd. In particular, CGTN Europe, Phoenix TV, and the Global Times relayed Putin’s rebuttal of US President Donald Trump (who called Russia a “paper tiger” at the United Nations), implying that NATO was the real paper tiger. PRC state media also shared Putin’s warnings related to the US provision of long-range missiles to Ukraine and his threat to match any allied nuclear tests. PRC outlets seemed to humanize the Russian leader, amplifying his “jokes” about drones flying above Denmark and broadcasting the fact that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “warmly congratulated” his Russian counterpart on his birthday. CGTN Europe also relayed Russian statements that European plans to use Moscow’s assets to pay for support to Ukraine would amount to “theft”.
• War in Gaza: Last week, PRC messaging continued to draw attention to the ongoing war in Gaza. It covered the Israeli interception of the international flotilla that intended to deliver humanitarian aid to the territory, sharing content from both the flotilla’s proponents and opponents. CGTN Europe posted a video comparing the “bustling market streets” from two years ago to today’s “utter devastation”. CGTN amplified pro-Palestine protests in Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Türkiye, and Spain. PRC messaging also covered Trump’s “Gaza Deal” but cast doubt on its effectiveness, highlighting the fact that bombardments were ongoing despite Trump’s ceasefire plan. The Global Times relayed a statement from the PRC envoy to the United Nations blaming the United States’ “repeated abuse of the veto” at the UN Security Council for the poor international response to the war.

Iranian diplomats and state media focused on one main narrative this week:

• War in Gaza: Iranian state messengers continued to cover Trump’s peace deal to end the war in Gaza. Although Iran’s MFA formally stated that it supports any initiative that would end the crisis in Gaza, Iranian state media openly criticized the plan. Iranian state media questioned the grounds for Trump’s peace plan, with Press TV claiming the plan imagines Gaza as Trump’s “personal investment zone”. Similarly, Iran’s Spanish-language outlet HispanTV posted a cartoon suggesting that Trump merely created the plan to win a Nobel Peace Prize. Other outlets raised skepticism about Israel’s promises to follow through on the agreements of the peace plan, pointing to Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza despite Trump’s recent ceasefire order. In contrast, Iranian state media also praised Hamas’ “calculated” and “strategic response” to the peace plan, claiming that they “stumped Trump [and] outwitted [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu” and amplifying Trump’s statement that Hamas is “ready for lasting peace”. 

PRC threatened repercussions over UK measures to combat foreign interference: The PRC threatened retaliation if the United Kingdom decided to subject parts of the PRC’s security apparatus or the Chinese Communist Party to its newly implemented restrictions aimed at combatting foreign interference, according to UK government sources and The Guardian. Acting Manager for Europe and Fellow Etienne Soula tells the Dispatch, “This latest article suggests that some democracies are getting cold feet when it comes to pushing back against foreign authoritarian encroachment in their institutions. Despite Downing Street’s denials, it’s hard to avoid drawing a parallel between this report and the recent collapse of an espionage prosecution involving China after the UK government declined to provide supporting evidence. At a time when authoritarian states are growing increasingly brazen and confident in their assaults against democratic societies, such indecision only invites further aggression.”

Germany comes out against controversial “chat-control” proposal: Germany will reject a Danish proposal to grant EU governments greater authority to scan citizens’ communications on personal devices—including messages sent before encryption—for criminal behavior, citing concerns over privacy rights. The messaging service Signal threatened to leave the EU if the proposal became law. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer says, “This tension between privacy and security as it relates to encrypted messaging apps has, and will continue to be, a source of friction in democracies. While there are very real concerns about illicit activity on encrypted channels, Germany’s pushback here is warranted and frankly a good sign that Europe understands the risks of breaking encryption in the name of security.”

In Case You Missed It

• The EU is considering restrictions that would require Russian diplomats and their families to notify member states of their intention to transit through their territory and embolden those countries to deny them entry.
• OpenAI banned several accounts suspected of belonging to Chinese-government entities after they asked the chatbot to outline tools to monitor social-media conversations.
• Chinese hackers infiltrated the prominent American law firm Williams & Connolly’s computer systems, the latest in a spate of PRC efforts to target US law firms.
• Governments and cybercriminals have enlisted AI to improve the efficiency of existing hacking methods, such as phishing and developing malware, rather than develop new tactics, according to OpenAI’s October threat report.

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.