The image of Russia as a defender of traditional values is a cognitive weapon aimed at the conservative audiences of Ukraine's partner countries, and destroying myths about Ukraine in conservative and religious circles is an important task, noted Chairman of the Board of the non-governmental organization "Conservative Platform" Yuriy Honcharenko.
"We work with various religious and non-religious structures in Ukraine, Europe, the USA, and even Latin America. There is a lot of work here; it all intersects at very different levels because, for example, how do you explain to people in Latin America whose side truth is on in the war with Russia? We know that Latin America is a deeply faithful Christian region with high church influence, and accordingly, representatives of Russia use religion as a tool to deceive and attract mercenaries whom they use for free by selling them false conservatism. Our task, accordingly, is to destroy these myths, and we are doing this, planning to strengthen this work, particularly in Latin America, so that Russia cannot recruit these mercenaries or convince them," Honcharenko said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Thursday titled "Conservatism vs. empire: why Russia Is not a conservative country."
An award ceremony for the winners of the all-Ukrainian student essay contest organized by the Conservative Platform, dedicated to deconstructing Russian propaganda regarding conservative values, took place in Kyiv on August 27. Participants summarized the project's results, announced the contest winners, and presented the brochure "Religion and National Security of Ukraine in Conditions of War."
Head of the Conservative Platform project Valeriy Maydaniuk emphasized the importance of the contest in the context of the fact that "conservatism is an ideology today that undeservedly finds itself in such a position in Ukraine." "An ideology that stood at the origins of Ukraine, an ideology that was essentially the ideological foundation of the Ukrainian national movement in the 1990s, today remains essentially low-influence and unpopular in Ukraine. Our organization, Conservative Platform, and our team as a whole aim to restore this historical justice and popularize conservatism, particularly among the youth," he said.
Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) Maksym Kolyba, who participated in the press conference remotely, noted that in Ukraine the issue of conservatism is often misunderstood. "In general, citizens even subject it to a certain obstruction because they do not understand it and compare it with what it is not. Therefore, I believe this essay contest was important as students themselves, and not only students, tried to understand the difference between what conservatism is and what tradition is, what supporting values in Ukraine and in Russia means. And the thoughts of the participants were generally good and, in my opinion, very righteous," he stated.
According to the deputy dean, in various democratic countries of the West, conservatism is instead at a fairly high level of understanding, and Russia attempts to play precisely on this. "I think that against Russia in the West, we should not fight because it supposedly supports traditions. We are the ones who actually support them, and I think we should talk about this. Therefore, I consider this contest very important at present," Kolyba stated.
Contest participants joined the event online and presented the main arguments of their works. They were awarded prizes, including books personally signed by Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov.
"We deliberately did not announce what the award would be so that people would write these works not for the sake of prizes, but exclusively out of value considerations," Honcharenko noted.
Conservative Platform is a project of national influence and lobbying for Ukraine's interests in the world. It states its goal as bringing to conservative audiences worldwide the truth about the aggression of Russia and establishing Ukraine as a true bearer of conservative values: faith, family, community, property, and national identity.
