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The war Russia is fighting in Ukraine also comes with massive propaganda spread by the Kremlin’s official channels from the very first day, when Russia denied the scale of its aggression, claiming it is carrying out a “special operation” in Donbas to “denazify” Ukraine. The Kremlin subsequently launched a huge wave of narratives to support its embellished version of the war. The Kremlin’s propaganda is trying to prove, despite all evidence on the ground, that everything is unfolding according to plan, that a professional army, equipped with precision weapons, is completing its mission without targeting civilian objectives. At the same time, Russia continued to spread propaganda to justify the invasion, promoting a number of false narratives regarding Ukraine, which Veridica has debunked: that Ukraine had been planning an attack in Donbas, that it purportedly hosted American secret laboratories manufacturing biological weapons on its territory or it was trying to produce nuclear weapons. Veridica has in the meantime identified new narratives of the Russian propaganda. Some promote theses and ideas that have been disseminated as part of propaganda, disinformation and even Moscow official discourse – the obsession for imaginary “Nazis”, labeling anyone opposing Kremlin policy “traitors”, and criticism against the so-called LGBTQ “ideology” and an alleged conspiracy to impose it to the detriment of traditional values.
Ukrainian “Nazis” are attacking civilian objectives and using people for human shields
The regime in Moscow has denied the fact that the Russian army is attacking civilians, although some Ukrainian cities have been all but leveled. Additionally, there is a large number of video footage and photos depicting residential buildings, houses, schools, kindergartens and hospitals destroyed by artillery fire and shelling, as well as hundreds of civilians killed. The Russian Defense Minister claims the Russian army is merely targeting military objectives, while Russian propaganda is publishing a large number of articles, claiming the Ukrainian forces are attacking their own population, using civilians for human shields.
More recently, the Russian Defense Ministry dismissed the allegations according to which Russia carried out an airstrike on the theatre in Mariupol, claiming instead that “civilians were held hostage inside by fighters with the “Azov” nationalist battalion who created a new bloodbath by blowing up the theatre building after setting charges beforehand”, that the upper floors of the building were used as shooting spots, although this is not one of the tallest buildings in the city. The Ukrainian authorities announced a 1,000-kg high-explosive bomb was dropped on the theatre building. Satellite images confirmed the word “children” was visibly written in Russian on the façade of the building, a message for the pilots of Russian bomb carriers. The basement shelter however resisted the explosion, and everyone taking shelter there survived.
Similarly, regarding the attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol, the Russian media originally claimed the hospital had been attacked by Ukrainian nationalists. Later, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said the hospital had been used by extremists as a barracks for the Azov battalion. Additionally, Russian propaganda tried to prove that the images of pregnant women inside the maternity hospital had been faked by a blogger.
Purging society of traitors will strengthen Russia
“The Russian people can tell true patriots from traitors. […] I am confident such a natural and necessary purge of society will only strengthen our country”, Vladimir Putin said during a meeting tacking measures in support of the Russian Federation’s regions. The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, later explained that in times of great hardship, people who turn out to be traitors leave their jobs or the country or their own accord.
After Russia attacked Ukraine, numerous Russian citizens decided to leave Russia, including journalists, business people, cultural figures, scientists and celebrities. The opposition media has been all but shot down. During the protests staged in major cities across the Federation during the first days of the war, thousands of people were detained. Messages such as “Don’t betray the fatherland” appeared on the front door of certain Russian activists.
Russia will defend Russian citizens who are discriminated for national, linguistic and cultural reasons
This narrative stems from the announcements made by Russia’s embassies in various countries, including in the Republic of Moldova and Romania, whereby the Federation called on Russians who are discriminated or feel threatened to notify Russia’s diplomatic missions. Such announcements surfaced in a number of other countries, including Germany and the Czech Republic.
“This message does little to preserve order at society level, and we call on our partners to refrain from such gestures and to display a better understanding of the situation in our country”, the Moldovan Foreign Ministry reacted. All citizens in the Republic of Moldova are safe, irrespective of the language they speak, president Maia Sandu also argued.
Russia will not stop in Ukraine, but will go even further
In one of his most violent outbursts on television, Vladimir Solovyov, one of the Kremlin’s top propaganda theorists, claimed Russia will not stop in Ukraine. “Putin told you about NATO’s structures pre-1997, about nuclear weapons in ex-Soviet states. And if you think we’re going to stop with Ukraine, think 300 times, I will remind you that Ukraine is merely an intermediate stage in the provision of the safety of the Russian Federation”, Solovyov spelled it out during his show, “Solovyov Live”.
The war has a metaphysical significance and is meant to legitimize gay parades in Donbas
Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill referred to the military operation in Ukraine during his sermon on Forgiveness Sunday: “For eight years we have seen attempts to destroy everything that exists in Donbas. The very Donbas that rejects the values presently promoted by those who aspire to rule the world. It is a test of loyalty, a pass in this world of “happiness”, in this society of mass consumption, a world of “freedom”. What kind of test is this? A simple and at the same time a terrible test – this is a gay parade. To request a gay parade is a test of loyalty to this world”, the Russian patriarch said, adding that “we have entered a battle whose meaning is metaphysical”.
