Paul Goble
Staunton, Dec. 17 – During the Cold War, many in the West said that “we send diplomats to Moscow and the Soviets treat them as spies while the Soviets send spies to Western capitals and we treat them like diplomats.” Tragically, and despite expectations, that pattern continues to hold.
The way in which the Putin regime mistreats Western officials who come to Russia is legendary, but less well known is that his government has found it even easier to send its agents to the West to conduct propaganda and even espionage now given that many in Western governments have convinced themselves that the world has changed.
That makes a new article by Aleksey Blokhin, a journalist for the PointMedia portal, in about the 87 Russian Houses that Moscow currently maintains in 72 countries around the world especially important, given that many governments against whom these institutions are working are doing nothing about them (pointmedia.io/story/6942adc8e657f59b666dce8d).
“Officially,” he writes, “’Russian Houses work to promote Russian culture abroad,” and “in reality, if one looks at the calendars of the activities of any of them, the majority of events are exclusively cultural.” But “beneath this cultural cover” is their real purpose: forming an information milieu in which Kremlin policies appear normal, justified or inevitable.”
He gives numerous heavily footnoted examples to support that conclusion, including courses for journalists, propaganda exhibits, lectures by visiting Russian experts, programs for young people including tours and study in the Russian Federation, and even attraction of foreigners to come to Russia and then fight in Ukraine.
According to Blokhin, “foreign governments recognize this but few are reacting.” Since Putin launched his expanded war in Ukraine in 2022, some have been closed but mostly only in eastern and southern Europe. Elsewhere, they continue to operate and to undermine the host governments and societies.
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