Russian “offshore journalists” need help, not hindrance

are accompanied by propaganda, aimed at breaking the enemy’s will to fight. Much of Vladimir Putin’s propaganda is targeted at his own people. As well as mobilising supporters, its purpose is to demoralise opponents of the war and break their will. Mr Putin’s assault on Ukraine would have been impossible without years of sustained assault on the minds of the Russian public, many of whom have swallowed his story that he is defending Russia from Western aggression, rather than invading a neighbour without provocation. Mr Putin’s falsehoods, like his tanks, do not stop at Russia’s borders. Ever since he decided that liberal democracy was his enemy, liberal democracies have been under attack. Russian trolls and foreign-language state media have pumped out a flood of outrageous and contradictory lies to Western audiences, hoping to undermine public confidence that anyone is telling the truth. Russia has meddled in America’s elections, stoked the discord in France in 2018, fuelled racial hatred in Germany and amplified Catalan separatism in Spain. In the Baltic states, pro-Kremlin channels have long tried to stir up Russian-speaking minorities.