A CENTRAL pillar of Vladimir Putin’s political strategy is the propagation of false equivalences. The Kremlin tries to convince Russians, and the world, that there is really no difference between its autocratic and frequently murderous practices and the practices of the democratic world. Sadly, President Trump has been a major contributor to this poisonous propaganda. Soon after taking office, he responded to the description of Mr. Putin as “a killer” by saying, “There are a lot of killers. . . . You think our country is so innocent?” Last week he endorsed Mr. Putin’s attempt to equate Russian military spies indicted for secretly hacking the Democratic National Committee with American officials who openly supported human rights legislation under which some of the thugs around Mr. Putin have been sanctioned.
A backlash in Washington, including a 98-to-0 vote by the Senate, forced the White House to back away from allowing Russia to persecute those State Department officials, congressional aides and a former ambassador to Russia. But other U.S. institutions under similar pressure from Moscow could use more support. Prominent among them are Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Voice of America and affiliated broadcast organizations whose journalists are being threatened for providing Russians with uncensored news.
Since late last year, the Putin regime has required these U.S.-funded media outlets to register as “foreign agents” under a hastily passed law that has been applied only to American organizations. The Russians claimed they were reciprocating for the Justice Department’s requirement that the U.S. branch of RT, the Kremlin’s propaganda arm, register under a law governing foreign government lobbyists.
