According to Statista, in January this year, a German market and consumer data specialist said that 59% of Russians trusted President Vladimir Putin. Last month, that number had risen to 78% of Russians surveyed trusting him. Similarly, 30% said in January that they did not trust him and only 13% had not trusted him in the past month. Propaganda, fear or perhaps other factors are creating new confidence in Putin. Alas, most of the world does not share this level of trust in the Russian president.

Last week’s agreement to allow food exports and the subsequent bombardment show the difficult environment Western leaders face when dealing with Russia. One of the biggest challenges for Western governments is how to deal with Russian leaders who constantly lie, even when they don’t need to.

Russia constantly tells the West what it wants to hear, only to disappoint it. They are relentless in their attempts at disinformation. Often we believe or want to believe what they say. It is all the more disconcerting that our leaders and policy makers cannot simply ignore the lies that are pouring out of the Kremlin.

Moscow is acting as if it expects countries not to question the overt deception. These lies have been relentless over the past decade, with Russia hijacking its role in the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. In 2018, Russia denied the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughters in the UK and the attempted assassination of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in 2020.

The West sees through the lies about Ukrainian grain exports. No more than 24 hours after the signing of the grain agreement between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, Russia bombed the Ukrainian port of Odessa. World leaders condemned the attack, with Ukrainian President Zelensky saying it was an example of “Russian barbarism”. The Russian Defense Ministry quickly confirmed the strikes, saying their missiles hit military infrastructure and weapons stockpiles and crippled a Ukrainian ship repair facility. The same report shamelessly stated that the attack came a day after the signing of a mutually beneficial grain export agreement. Other than the safe passage of grain, the signed agreement did not provide for any attacks on port facilities, merchant ships or civilian vessels used to transport grain.

With many lies about the flow of Russian gas to Germany, Putin has publicly blamed Canada for the problem with Nord Stream 1, saying he will have no choice but to turn it off for now. other repairs. Putin and Gazprom said there were elaborate technical issues, saying one of the turbines was “corroded” internally, hinting at other difficulties, such as the need for documentation from Siemens Energy Canada to reinstall the turbine. Again, few believe the rhetoric is true.

The nuclear missile threat is a recurring problem that Putin and his leaders continue to use. Why? Like the food and energy uncertainties created by Russia, the leverage effect is achieved by creating insecurity through the “possible use”, rather than the actual employment of nuclear weapons. Although the use of nuclear weapons would be devastating, once used, Putin’s ability to threaten the West is gone. By delaying and threatening the use, the pressure is kept on the west indefinitely.

As the Whac-A-Mole game with Moscow persists, the Russian government continues to spread misinformation about its unwarranted war. Global food insecurity, innocent lives and many other challenges associated with the conflict should be enough to make Moscow reflect on the devastation.

Our State Department acknowledges the problem with Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently stating, “As with his decision to start this unwarranted war, the responsibility for the disruption of these supplies and the suffering it causes around the world rests entirely and only to the Russian government. .”

However, Russian propaganda is fast and continuous. Never fact-checking, Moscow broadcasts its interpretation of emerging events to further its goals. Even when propaganda is useless.