Finnish lessons for Australia to counter Russian threat

Finland's ambassador to Australia Arto Haapea said there are lessons Australia should learn from Europe and NATO nations.

Russian misinformation aims to stoke social divisions and undermine trust in public systems and elections in the West, he said.

It also spreads misinformation domestically to prop up support for its war in Ukraine, which Finland also tries to counter with Russian-language media.

Internationally, politically and emotionally charged debates, such as the current immigration debate in Australia, act as a beacon for Moscow, he said. 

"That would be straight out of Russian playbook," Mr Haapea told AAP. 

"Immigration - that would be the very typical place where they start to use that divide or that debate and sow some seeds of discord in society."

Australia's military support for Ukraine has also made it a target, the ambassador said. 

Long-term aims would include undermining public support for the war as the public becomes fatigued and questions the government's decision to continue aiding Ukraine, he said.

There are also concerns about increasing co-operation between Russia and China. 

"Collaboration between Russia and China is ever closer and we should be very, very vigilant about that," Mr Haapea said. 

"We can see a lot of things in the Russian playbook that are straight out of a Chinese playbook when it comes to targeting minorities."

Russia is increasingly expanding its influence in Southeast Asia - often anti-West - while China is also seeking to spread its own narratives across the Indo-Pacific as it expands soft power within Pacific island nations.

Ukrainian ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko said Russia is using its push into the region to shore up trade, political and military connections by channelling the narrative the war in Ukraine is the result of the West, which provoked Russia. 

Russia was ''building on the anti-colonial settlement to basically neutralise criticisms from those countries or get them in favour of Russia in international forums, like the United Nations'', he said.

Shifting public and political sentiment in these nations would also help Russia shore up agriculture, fuel and military exports it couldn't otherwise get under sanctions from Western nations, he said.

Part of Finland's antidote is to start teaching children to spot misinformation and challenge news articles as part of a civic education campaign in schools. 

"You can't talk about countering mis and disinformation without talking about the education system, which starts very early on - we start asking kids to analyse news sources," Mr Haapea said.

"How reliable is this news source? What was the motivation behind writing this piece of news?"

Authorities and civil society also needed to quickly respond to and correct misinformation, he said.