
The war in Ukraine is being waged by Russia to save traditional values and the family from the debauchery and perversion of the West, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda.
Propaganda: Russia is forced to defend itself on the territory of Ukraine from the non-values and debauchery of the West
NEWS: Putin’s inauguration is a new stage in the history of Russia […]. The war in Ukraine is not just a conflict between states with divergent national interests, it’s a clash of civilizations […].
The collective West means absolute individualism, LGBT and gender equality policies, cosmopolitanism and culturelessness, posthumanism, uncontrolled migration, destruction of identities, critical race theory […].
Russia strongly defends collective identity against individualism; patriotism versus cosmopolitanism; a healthy family against the legalization of perversion; religion against nihilism, materialism and relativism; the authentic man against posthumanist experiments; authentic identity against erosion; historical truth against cancel culture.
So far, none of the civilizations that focus on multipolarity and choose tradition have entered into a direct armed conflict with the West, except Russia. Many hesitate, waiting for the end of this dramatic confrontation.
Russia is at war because it challenges the right of Western civilization to the universality of its values and represents tradition entirely. […] Vladimir Putin is already in the eyes of all mankind the greatest global leader, who heroically opposes Western hegemony. Russia will continue to bet on conservatives, on supporters of civilizational identity. This is how a new slogan is born: traditionalists from all countries, unite!
NARRATIVES: 1. Vladimir Putin is the greatest global leader, supported by the entire planet. 2. Russia is forced to defend itself from the West on the territory of Ukraine. 3. The Russian army is fighting in Ukraine to save authentic values, Christian traditions and the family from the debauchery of the West.
SOCIAL CONTEXT/ETHOS: One of the false meta-narratives promoted by Russia over the last decade is that of the debauched, decadent, satanic and dangerous West, which Moscow is fighting against. According to Russian propaganda, Western values mean homosexuality and pedophilia. Because it opposes these projects, Russian Orthodoxy is seen by the West as an enemy that must be destroyed.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022, is presented as a war of the collective West against the Russian world. The aggressor is presented as an army carrying out a civilizational mission - to defend authentic values, Christian traditions and the institution of the family from "absolute individualism, LGBT and the destruction of identities". The Russian invasion is justified by the need to save the Ukrainian people and all of humanity from these existential dangers.
The article is signed by Aleksandr Dughin, a far-right Russian geopolitician and philosopher, who justifies in his works Russia's policy of expansion and military aggression. In 2023, Dughin, who has been labeled in the past as "Putin's ideologue", wrote on his Facebook page that the war in Ukraine is the last war of mankind. "For the first time we are facing pure, absolute, complete evil. It’s neither partial nor relative anymore.” Aleksandr Dughin has argued before, in various published speeches and books, that Russia must fight against the “satanic West”, without excluding the darkest of scenarios, including a global nuclear war.
PURPOSE: The purpose of these false narratives is to portray the war in Ukraine as a battle between good and evil, in which Russia is defending Christian values and traditions from the destructive influences of the West. The Russian media is manipulating public opinion to justify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Reality: Russia has killed thousands of Christians and families on the territory of Ukraine, invading a sovereign and independent state
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Vladimir Putin is not the greatest and most supported global leader, as the Russian press writes. On the contrary, the Kremlin leader cannot visit a number of states of the world because he is wanted internationally for war crimes and would be arrested. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against the Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused of war crimes in Ukraine for the illegal deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation. Vladimir Putin is, in reality, one of the global leaders with the worst image. Ukrainians really hate Vladimir Putin, as the spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, admitted in 2023.
Russia is not defending itself on the territory of Ukraine from Western aggression. On the contrary, it is Kyiv that is being helped by the West to defend itself against the unprovoked armed aggression of the Russian Federation. The aggressor is Russia, the victim is Ukraine, and the party supporting the defensive efforts of the Ukrainian authorities, according to international law, is the West. Russia does not have to defend itself because it has never been attacked. More than 75 percent of UN member states voted for the resolution on the immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops from Ukraine and condemned the aggression of the Russian army. UN member countries are calling for a "just and lasting" peace, which requires Russia's withdrawal. Moscow has been sanctioned and criticized since 2014 for annexing Crimea and supporting separatist movements in Donbas.
In Ukraine, the Russian army is fighting not to save authentic values, Christian traditions and the family from the debauchery of the West, but to occupy, conquer, destroy and bring an independent state to its knees. Putin's war against Ukraine has nothing to do with Christian values, authentic traditions and the institution of the family. These are just some justifications for the invasion. The Russian Orthodox Church has become an important political tool in the hands of the Kremlin, and has blessed “the holy war”. Also relevant is that Patriarch Kirill worked for the benefit of the Russian intelligence services in various periods of his life. For example, during the Cold War, the current patriarch Kirill's mission as a KGB agent was to influence and spy on some international organizations in Geneva. Kirill is part of the FSB network on which the Putin regime relies, promoting and defending Moscow's political interests, not Orthodoxy or Christian values.
Since the beginning of the war, civilians, mostly Orthodox Christians, have repeatedly been the target of Russian attacks. Mass graves and torture chambers have been discovered in Ukraine, and destruction of civilian targets occurs daily. On November 23, 2022, following the atrocities committed by Vladimir Putin's regime against Ukrainian civilians, the European Parliament listed Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. Finally, it is not a Christian gesture for a state that declares itself a defender of Orthodoxy to kill, torture and cause suffering to one of the largest Orthodox peoples in the world – the Ukrainians.