On Friday, 13 May, the Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the government Commission for the Calculation of Damage [1] Caused by Occupation of USSR, is organizing an international conference "Imagined Community: Role of Disinformation in USSR and Russian Politics". The aim of the conference is to analyze the impact of disinformation on society in the past and in the present, and to answer the question of how to mitigate its impact in the future.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice J.Bordāns states: "We planned and started organizing this conference before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but now, after 24 February, it takes on an even more serious and principled meaning. The Russian military aggression in Ukraine is now in its third month. Latvia was occupied for 50 years. In both of these tragic events, the main ideological weapon of the aggressor was and is disinformation. It is no less pernicious an evil because reducing the impact of disinformation is a fight for truth." Disinformation is now one of Russia's strategic weapons, alongside nuclear weapons, and it is more important than ever to raise this issue in order to limit the devastating impact of Russian disinformation, emphasizes J. Bordāns.
The conference will bring together researchers, experts and policy makers from Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland and the UK to present papers and take part in panel discussions.
Additional information:
The conference will take place in the Ziedonis Hall of the National Library of Latvia and will be broadcast live. Please note that the working languages of the conference will be Latvian, English and Russian. The conference program is available here.
Media access:
The international conference "Imagined Community: Role of Disinformation in USSR and Russian Politics" will take place in Riga, at the Ziedonis Hall of the National Library of Latvia at 10.00. Media representatives are welcome to attend the conference by registering in advance by 12 May 2022 at 16.00 with Evija Rimšāne by sending their name and the media they represent by e-mail: Evija.Rimsane@tm.gov.lv.
[1] Commission to determine the number of victims of the Soviet totalitarian communist occupation regime and mass grave sites, to collect information on repressions and mass deportations, and to estimate the damage caused to the Latvian state and its people.