Valeria Kovtun - Building Resilience to Russian Disinformation on a Mass Scale -Lessons for the West

Disinformation continues to be a threat to Ukrainian sovereignty and unity, though is perhaps not as effective as it was in the years 2014-2022. But around the world aggressive information warfare still threatens information security and social stability, especially in states which Russia seeks to destabilise or coerce into supporting it. As we saw in the 2016 US elections, it can potentially threaten results of voting, place undue influence on voters’ decisions and undermine democratic processes. Valeria Kovtun is Head at Filter, the National media literacy project founded in Ukraine. FILTER aims to make society more resilient to misinformation and is a crucial tool in Ukraine’s armoury to defend itself from aggressive Russian information warfare. Valeria was formerly a journalist at BBC Reel, a senior correspondent at major Ukrainian media organisations, and a fellow journalist at the United Nations. She also has a background in video production, content management and news broadcasting. Valeria Kovtun has studied at law, Media Communications, and journalism at several prestigious institutions, including the Kyiv National Economics University, the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and The London School of Economics.