US ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt has suggested that the number one priority for Ukraine and Ukrainian society in 2016 needs to be prevailing in the war against corruption and economic cooperation, the US embassy has said in a statement.
"It’s a huge mistake for the Ukrainian government, for the Ukrainian people, to create a troll factory like St. Petersburg, churning out counter-propaganda in social media. It’s a huge mistake to create a “Ministry of Truth” that tries to generate alternative stories. That is not the way to defeat this information warfare," the ambassador said.
"The biggest mistake that Ukraine could make, is to spend all of your time and all of your energy trying to counter those lies – to spend all of your breath saying: 'There are no fascists! What are you talking about?' That’s exactly what Russia wants," he added.
In Pyatt's words, Ukraine's only "weapon" in hybrid warfare should be its successful development.
"In fact, Ukraine doesn’t need more state-sponsored media. What Ukraine needs is a successful Ukraine," he said.