Ukrainian Ambassador to Latvia: Russian authorities are manipulating the opinion of Russians as they please
Russian authorities easily “appoint” enemies and friends for the country, and its citizens are very vulnerable to the Kremlin’s opinion. This was the view expressed by Ukraine’s Ambassador to the Republic of Latvia, Yevhen Perebyinis.
According to him, in most cases the authorities are to blame for the conflicts between countries.
“Today, the results of the survey show that nearly half see Ukraine as Russia’s enemy. That raised the question of why people who consider themselves brothers to Ukraine do not support anything that is going on between the countries. I think it’s due to the influence of media, propaganda,” the diplomat said on air with Baltkom radio station. As an example, he mentioned the relationship between Turkey and Russia.
“After Turkey shot down a Russian plane, surveys have shown that Russians consider Turkey as almost the main enemy. Once changes in relations between Turkey and Russia took place, a U-turn was made in everything… I do not rule out the possibility that if something changed in Russia’s leadership, tomorrow they’ll say that Ukraine is a brother— everybody would believe it. But I don’t think it’s good when people are not able to critically analyze what authorities say and do,” Perebyinis noted.