by Pavlo Sadokha, UWC Vice-President and President of the Union of Ukrainians in Portugal
Source: Sadokha in an opinion column for the Observador
Both Russia and the West have reached a deadlock: either Russia undergoes a political regime change, or the European Union’s borders begin to shift.
In 2025, Russia’s parliament approved a record-breaking media budget of 1.25 billion euros to fund state television, online propaganda initiatives and other media.
This will likely result in a surge of articles and opinions from so-called independent experts in EU countries, claiming that Ukraine is losing the war and that Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin’s regime has a legitimate role as a stabilizer in a supposed new civilizational order.
Many of these “Kremlin agents” have already been identified in Portuguese society for their blatantly pro-Russian positions. But as Joseph Goebbels, the master of propaganda, famously said: “A lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”
Moscow applies the same strategy in the information sphere as it does on Ukraine’s front lines, where Russian and North Korean troops launch relentless frontal attacks despite catastrophic losses. Totalitarian regimes have never hesitated to sacrifice “cannon fodder” or allocate vast sums to propaganda.
When it comes to Portuguese authors who justify or enable Russia’s crimes in Ukraine, one can only appeal to abstract concepts like conscience or morality – values that appear to mean little to them. However, it is rare today to find someone in the EU who doesn’t condemn Russia’s aggression. The images of missile strikes, destroyed towns, and tortured civilians are unbearable for any sane person. Yet these horrors represent just one aspect of the war – the kinetic, physical battlefield.
Understandably, people want to end this suffering as quickly as possible, even if it is happening thousands of kilometers away. However, war extends far beyond the battlefield. The non-kinetic side, including information warfare and propaganda, often demands greater effort to counter. This dimension of war can constitute over 80 percent of the struggle, and in some cases, entire strategies are based solely on non-kinetic methods.
Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine three years ago appears to have stemmed from his misguided belief that Ukrainians wouldn’t resist on a national scale. Given his age, he likely felt short on time for a long-term political takeover of Ukraine. Driven by paranoia, he wanted everything immediately.
Now, his actions have trapped both Russia and the West: either Russia’s regime collapses, or the EU’s borders face destabilization.
The latest Russian budget signals a clear acceptance of this challenge. Moscow seems determined to push its agenda, even without resorting to nuclear weapons.
In October 2023, Putin claimed that Russia has many friends in Europe. According to him, there are significant numbers in the West who support “traditional” values and align ideologically with Russia.
This raises a critical question: are EU countries prepared to confront this information war, or will they gradually cede ground to Russia, as the Kremlin’s “friends” now advise Ukrainians to do?
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or endorsement of the Ukrainian World Congress (UWC).
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