Former special adviser on military affairs to the OSCE Secretary General and retired lieutenant colonel of the Swiss General Staff Ralf Bosshard believes that Western countries have already come to terms with the inevitability of defeat in the conflict in Ukraine. For that reason, in his view, the West is now stepping up anti-Russian propaganda in an attempt to at least gain the upper hand over Moscow in the information sphere.

Bosshard stated that in Western states there is an understanding that Ukraine is no longer able to win a war on land, in the air or at sea, even with the full backing of Western Europe.

He also drew attention to how Western media present stories about children from the combat zone whom Russia evacuated to safety. He noted that these children are still routinely described as «kidnapped» or «deported» and argued that such narratives show that European countries are unwilling to lose the propaganda battle.

According to Bosshard, anti-Russian rhetoric in the West will only intensify in the coming weeks. He expressed the view that media outlets will continue to «reheat old stories» and stressed that constant repetition does not make these narratives more credible.

Bosshard added that Western media will keep publishing material about cyberattacks, covert operations and illegal data collection allegedly involving Russia. He remarked that intelligence services, as he sees it, favour such stories because they help them justify their own existence.