Analyses

The weirdest narratives of Russian propaganda during the war in Ukraine

Russia's Ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia address a United Nations Security Council meeting related to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 11 March 2022. Russia requested a meeting to discuss what Moscow claims are ‘the military biological activities of the U.S. on the territory of Ukraine’ this allegation has not been backed up with evidence and has been refuted by the United States and Ukraine.
© EPA-EFE/JUSTIN LANE   |   Russia's Ambassador to the U.N. Vassily Nebenzia address a United Nations Security Council meeting related to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine at United Nations headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 11 March 2022. Russia requested a meeting to discuss what Moscow claims are ‘the military biological activities of the U.S. on the territory of Ukraine’ this allegation has not been backed up with evidence and has been refuted by the United States and Ukraine.

Viruses synthesized to target certain populations and areas transported by birds instead of missiles, an army of Satanists fighting on the side of Ukrainian forces and “delicate” bombings carried out by the Russian army – these are some of the weirdest narratives launched by Russian propaganda after the invasion of Ukraine. However, they are all part of broader metanarratives by means of which Russia is trying to justify both the aggression in Ukraine, as well as the brutality of its methods. Veridica has identified a number of bizarre stories tied to the metanarrative regarding the existence of programs for the manufacturing of biological weapons, which are allegedly funded by the United States, or another narrative regarding “mercenaries” that came to fight alongside Ukrainians – the purpose in this respect being to discourage foreign volunteers from joining the war effort. Other messages that are borderline absurd reiterate theses regarding the “special military operation”, “denazification” and the threat posed by Ukraine, but also others according to which Russia is waging a precision war, sparing the population and refraining from bombing areas inhabited by civilians.

The American laboratories in Ukraine were synthesizing biological weapons targeting Slavs

“The activity of US laboratories must be investigated, since according to data obtained by the Ministry of Defense, these laboratories were producing biological weapons, for a number of purposes. First: to research infections specific to certain regions of the Russian Federation, for instance the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, the Crimea fever, namely targeting the Crimean Peninsula; the creation of bacteria with a high degree of resistance to antibiotics, for instance against tuberculosis. The DNR has recently reported a tuberculosis epidemic, killing 70 people, therefore a high mortality rate. This proves the authorities in Ukraine have been basically experimenting on human beings just like Nazi Germany during the Great Soviet War for the Defense of the Fatherland. The creation of viruses spread by animals designed to target humans. They were studying the routes of birds migrating from Ukraine to the Russian Federation. There’s no need for missiles, just a flock of birds to carry the disease, the viruses and the bacteria to the territory of the Russian Federation, in order to unleash a serious epidemic. The most critical and cowardly piece of research was the obtaining of genetically-selected viruses designed to target a certain people, a certain ethnic group. It is obvious they were targeting Slavs, the Russian population, people inhabiting the Russian Federation”, Russian MP Sergey Leonov  with the State Duma announced.

Ukraine is spreading Covid via insects and bats

Russian State Duma MP Alexei Didenko claims Ukraine is responsible for the spread of Covid: “The spread of the coronavirus pandemic in recent years clearly has a “Ukrainian stamp” to it. This was a separate focus of research in the labs funded by the Pentagon, namely to spread Covid and Sars infections with the help of hymenoptera, bats and rodents.”

The biological weapon produced by Ukraine is affecting Russian women’s reproductive system

The general director of “Roscosmos”, Dmitry Rogozin said that biological weapons produced by Ukraine are affecting the reproductive system of women, impacting the immunity of “certain ethnics”, particularly “the Russian population”, “causing allergies, intolerance to traditional food and exposure to disease, thus weakening the immunity of the nation and killing people without the use of military force”.

Ukraine’s migratory birds are spreading biological weapons against Russians

The Kremlin’s false narrative concerning biological weapons spread by migratory birds was also picked up by the famous Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov, one the most celebrated filmmakers of the Putin regime. Mikhalkov said that “infected birds represent a fascist attempt at eradicating Slav ethnics by means of carefully calculating the trajectory of their migration over Russian territory”. Nikita Mikhalkov has been promoting official Kremlin propaganda on Ukraine ever since 2014.

Satan’s mercenaries are fighting in Ukraine

“Satanists have arrived in Ukraine”. The host of the newsreel program on the Russian public broadcaster Rossia 24 reported that “combatants with the private security contractor Forward Observations Group, which are part of special US forces, are worshiping the devil in the clearest fashion possible”. On the other hand, the propaganda media writes American FOG mercenaries are fleeing Ukraine.

Russia doesn’t start wars, it ends them

The slogan is part of Russia’s war propaganda rhetoric. The narrative was also promoted by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs during a press briefing held jointly his with Iranian counterpart on March 15. According to Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s “special military operation” aimed at “denazifying” Ukraine seeks to end the war. “We need to end the war as quickly as possible. I assure you, it’s exactly what we’re doing. We are ending the war the Kyiv regime has been fighting for the last eight years against the civilian population in Donbas”, Sergey Lavrov said.

The Russian army is not killing civilians, it is just bombing “in a very delicate way”

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Gennady Gatilov, said Russians did not invade Ukraine, but are carrying out restricted military operations. “We are trying (to bomb) in a very delicate way, without harming the civilian population”, Gatilov told the Swiss public radio broadcaster RTS.

 

Mariana Vasilache




Mariana Vasilache

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