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Army of the future will need to work on ‘reprogramming people,’ Borrell believes

He provided the EU’s defeat in a cognitive war in Africa as an example

WASHINGTON, July 12. /TASS/. The army of the future will have to operate not on a battlefield, but in informational and cyberspace, it will have to work on "reprogramming people," outgoing EU High Representative Josep Borrell said, speaking at the NATO Public Forum.

"We need a different army. We need people watching the network and people explaining what is going on, reprogramming the listeners, giving them correct information, in order to prevent an intervention in electoral processes," he said.

Borrell urged to focus on a cognitive war, being carried out not on a physical battlefield, but in the minds of the people.

"We don’t need to drop bombs and send tanks, we need to send news, occupy the cyberspace. And the EU does a lot in this area," he said.

He provided the EU’s defeat in a cognitive war in Africa as an example.

"If you travel to African states, you will see that people in Africa support Putin. They say: Putin saved Donbass, now he will come in Africa and will save it too."

"What intellectual processes stand behind such attitude?" Borrell asked with a visible bewilderment, showing with his pose and tone that such perception is deeply puzzling to him.