MOSCOW, October 30. /TASS/. Since the days of the Soviet Union, the US, using misinformation and historical revisionism, has been actively shaping the image of Russia as an aggressor state that allegedly wants to take over other countries, Christopher Helali, independent American journalist, human rights activist and US Communist Party member, said in an interview with TASS.

"The major, you could say, fake news about the Russian Federation in the US is the fact that Russia is an aggressor state and Russia seeks to militarily conquer, for example, Europe. This is a huge narrative that has been shaped, and, of course, we know its legacy goes back to Soviet times, the Iron Curtain, all the narrative that developed after the Second World War," he told TASS journalists at the Dialogue on Fakes 3.0 international forum.

Washington manages to combine this agenda with another, no less blatant lie that Russia is weak and has no basic resources not only to wage war but simply for normal life, the journalist noted.

Helali believes that it is notable that it is precisely the US that is pursuing the policy course of conquering and taking over, and not Russia, which, as "a responsible and stable actor" always notes its aspiration for good-neighborly relations, diplomacy, and it is "never offensive, always defensive." However, US propaganda only broadcasts the facts that fit with its agenda. "The US media conveniently cuts out parts of history so that it shapes certain narratives. It won’t talk about what happened in 2014," he said.

According to the journalist, the special military operation also serves as a source of fake news items for the West, with the main one being that Russia is carrying out strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure, which has absolutely nothing to do with reality. Helali emphasized that Russia is delivering strikes on military infrastructure for military purposes.

Dialogue on Fakes 3.0

The Dialogue on Fakes 3.0 international forum was held in Moscow on October 29. On the forum’s sidelines, about 2,000 leading Russian and international experts and representatives from state organizations, media, business, the scientific community and international organizations discussed the pertinent issues of combating unreliable information, safeguarding the information space from misinformation, advancing fact-checking efforts, and enhancing public understanding of media literacy. The forum was organized in partnership with the Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN), an international organization founded by the Dialogue Regions non-profit, along with TASS and the New Media Workshop. TASS served as the event’s strategic partner.