The race to lie

Apr 16, 2022

By Jérôme Chapuis
Following shock and astonishment, the urgency now is to gather the evidence. The crime scene extends over several streets of Bucha. Having become a symbol, after the arrival last week of Ukrainian soldiers and photojournalists, this suburb of Kyiv is not the only one to have been the scene of atrocities in recent weeks. There is little doubt that war crimes — even crimes against humanity — have been committed. It will take time to establish the facts and responsibilities. For the moment, we do not know the precise number of civilian victims, their identities, or the nature of the abuses. But, in order to know the truth, it is necessary to begin by looking for it.

Once again, Russian propaganda has tried to catch everyone off guard. As early as April 3, Moscow threw up a smokescreen, trying in every way possible to deny and discredit the evidence, videos, photographs and chronology. A Kremlin spokesperson denounced the atrocities in Bucha as a staged event. And public television set out to dismantle a “Ukrainian psycho-information operation”. This counternarrative is intended primarily for the Russians themselves, who have been immersed since the Feb 24 invasion in a regime of alternative truth. Elsewhere, it does not fool many people. Satellite images made available on April 5 undermined the Kremlin’s version. They seem to confirm that the bodies littering the streets of Bucha were there before the Russian troops began withdrawing late last week.

But the findings must also be treated with caution. That’s not a capitulation to Russian propaganda. It’s because methodical doubt and patient research of the facts are still what best distinguishes democracies from a regime that is consumed by paranoia and the race to lie. —(Editor-in-chief of La Croix) LCI (https:// international.lacroix.com/