A new ambassador telling the same old lies.

The kremlin always lies.

This is the English version of my letter to newspapers. It was published in Folkbladet 20 December.

Recently, russia's new ambassador to Sweden was interviewed by the Swedish Radio. Judging from the interview, his job description tells him to to deny russian war crimes and repeat the kremlin's lies.

Despite overwhelming evidence of mass murders of civilians, gang rapes, torture, terror bombings and child abductions, the ambassador denied that they were committed by russian troops. The mass graves found in places like Butja and Izium prove the opposite of what the ambassador said. But reality has no meaning for the kremlin, which orders its envoys to lie as well. It doesn't matter how absurd the lies are or if they contradict each other.

A well-known example is the russian downing of MH17. When it happened, the kremlin and its apologists spread lots of lies about what happened. According to one of these lies, the plane was filled with the dead bodies upon departure in Amsterdam that were later found after the plane crashed to the ground. According to one of the other lies, Ukraine had shot down the plane.

The fascist regime in the kremlin does not just lie about Ukraine. It systematically lies about its own and other countries' policies to its own and other populations. As shown by researchers in the Varieties of Democracy project run by the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg, the russian fascist dictatorship is one of the most frequent lying regimes in the world. Year after year after year. Other dictatorships that have distinguished themselves over the years in this way are China, Cuba, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea and Venezuela. The overthrown Assad regime in Syria also distinguished itself in this regard.

Lying regimes.

Source: Varieties of Democracy. Note: The indicator shows how often the government and its agents use social media to disseminate misleading viewpoints or false information to influence citizens of other countries abroad? Responses: 0: Extremely often. The government disseminates false information on all key political issues. 1: Often. The government disseminates false information on many key political issues. 2: About half the time. The government disseminates false information on some key political issues, but not others. 3: Rarely. The government disseminates false information on only a few key political issues. 4: Never, or almost never. The government never disseminates false information on key political issues.

The Varieties of Democracy database also shows which countries are exposed to disinformation and lies from foreign regimes. Not surprisingly, Latvia, Ukraine and the USA are prime targets for foreign regimes. However, according to the same database, Russia is not exposed to lies from other countries. It is not necessary. The Kremlin's actions speak for themselves.

Targets of dissemination for governments in other countries.

Source: Varieties of Democracy. Note: The indicator shows how often foreign governments and their agents use social media to disseminate misleading viewpoints or false information to influence domestic politics in this country. Responses: 0: Extremely often. Foreign governments disseminate false information on all key political issues. 1: Often. Foreign governments disseminate false information on many key political issues. 2: About half the time. Foreign governments disseminate false information on some key political issues, but not others. 3: Rarely. Foreign governments disseminate false information on only a few key political issues. 4: Never, or almost never. Foreign governments never disseminate false information on key political issues.