Dr. Wolfgang Ressmann, Managing Director of OK-TV Ludwigshafen, Germany, and the Chairman of the Federal Association of Citizen Media, as well as the Chairman of the Youth4Media-Network.

“Thank you that you introduced what i do behind on the screen. You see this media dialogue symbol or logo i’m working since 2015, it was the year after the Maidan protests and after the so-called singular Ukrainian revolution supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and our project means putting together: universities journalist, organizations on the national level or artists to think about the topics you also have on the bar in the Balkan region”, pointed out d-r Ressmann at the Regional Conference “Attacks on Democracy and Human Rights”. (July 28, 2021, Skopje)

Ressmann referred to Russian propaganda with fake news across Europe, with a special emphasis on the situation in Germany.

“The whole problems with Russia propaganda with fake news and destabilization of democratic societies and I think it’s not only a problem in the Balkan region. Is a problem in whole Europe on different stages, let’s say me in this in this way i want to start with a short report about the situation in Germany . We also have in Germany Russian propaganda, we have Russia Today this tv station you… I think you know well, and this one and the so-called news, a lot of news of them are connected to the right-wing populists the whole complex of corona opponents that the core of anti-democratic movement or to the  right-wing populists supporting Putin in Moscow and so on. And so we have also a lot of, yeah let’s say real fights in the in the audience and the public with fake news and  propaganda especially the Russian propaganda but it’s all, but it’s only a small minority what we have in Germany about 10 percent at the election.

What this right-wing populists and the anti-democrats are getting on votes on the federal level in in the European Union”, pointed Ressmann.

He compared the situation with the hybrid attacks in the Balkans, with the countries of the Eastern Partnership (Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus …).

“You know we have several problems too, we have the writing populists and nationalists in Hungary, we have them in in Poland and Slovenia too and they chose that, and we have the Croatian nationally the nationalist forces, which are and they all work together also in a network in Europe, to fight against this democratic structure of the European Union, so and in between the Balkan. The Balkan problematic and this was also the point where I contact and information exchange with Mr. Deralla’s in several years comparable with the situation in the eastern partnership countries i said that i started 2015 in Ukraine and meanwhile we are working with Georgia with Armenia with Moldova and especially Belarus and everywhere the same  problems appear in a very dangerous form. Frozen conflicts on the one side in the Ukraine the open wall but the destabilization of society is on a very, very high level but the destabilization is also or in Georgia visible or the other politics of Russia in Armenia after the war, after the attack of the Turkish and Azerbaijani forces in the backer above war some month ago gave Russia the chance to send troops to this region or to this region again we have  the frozen conflict in Moldova with Transnistria.

The occupied territories in Georgia and it’s all convenient combined with Russian propaganda and media influence in this former soviet republics and i think one of the main point is when we have a look at the whole Europe landscape that the idea or to build, to rebuild the old empires. The one empire is a soviet union to rebuild it and with all zones of influence from Russia’s side this is one of the problems we have, and one of the reasons we are talking about hate speech, said Ressmann.

“That’s information and hybrid war attacks and on the other side we have also the Turkish thinking of the old to rebuild the old Ottoman Empire. This is one of the reasons of the Bakara Bhakwar in my, so i believe and I’m sure that is right . When we talk about based on these issues we have also i think positive a very positive thing that we have a lot of supporters of democracy human rights answer in Europe in the former soviet republics and on the Balkan too. Democracy, we have all to fight for democracy every day and we have supporters and this is I think the big difference to the cold war, the cold war times and we have to use our forces against this Russia propaganda.

Our media to tell about the backgrounds of the kleptocratic regimes which are not ideological based. In my view they only want to get money and to make their influence bigger to get even more money and more power and like you see in Belarus this is a dictatorship. Unbelievable in the 20th century nobody has believed that could be possible that all journalists which are independent or in jail or in the countries of Western Europe and Eastern Europe. The head of the Belarus journalist organization Andrey Bastunets is a good friend of mine and member of media dialogue is at the moment in Georgia, his deputy in Ukraine so we have journalists under pressure in the whole Balkan area too.”, Resman referred to the role of the media in terms of the form of reporting.

“It’s the same base and we have the same front lines where we have to fight for peace too. I think also this is very dangerous for peace in Europe. We have this open war in  Ukraine, we have this frozen conflicts and war situation in Armenia and Azerbaijan and we have a very, very critical situation in my view, you know it, I think much better than I, in whole Balkan region so that our test is to inform the audience on the background, the networks of populism, the network the networking of the Russian propaganda system and to extension ourselves against these powers and we have to make it open to the media system to report about it and we have to work together between the EU and the Balkan countries which are waiting to become member on the door at the EU and we have also to work together with the democratic societies or the building of democratic societies in the countries of eastern partnerships in the former soviet republics. We must build a power against this propaganda and the kleptocrats and new dictators in Europe and I think your conference is one of the ways. I would like, it would be great if we have a chance perhaps to combine media dialogue ease to have a media dialogue on a project on Balkan 2 in the future. You can have a look at our website. I will share it in the link so that is my statement. I am very lucky to meet you all here knowing that we are all on the right side of democracy, human rights and fighting against the ones who want to destabilize our democratic job.”, stressed Ressmann.

Camera: Dehran Muratov

Video Editing: Arian Mehmeti

Photography: Ognen Boshnjakovski