The Sting of Satan. Disinformation As a Weapon of Moscow

Ivan Sichen

 

 

In the 18th century, the future Russia was marked on European maps as “Tataria” or “Tartaria”, which in a free interpretation means hell or satanic evil. The same applies to the modern Russian Federation, led by V. Putin. How else can we view Moscow’s war against Ukraine, which has become the quintessence of the aggressive policy of the Russian ruling regime. Today’s Russia, with all its imperial ambitions, has clearly shown the world the claws and fangs of Satan. However, in addition to claws and fangs, Satan also has a sting. Today, its sting is the system of information propaganda created by the Kremlin to zombie its own population and misinform the world. Methods of informational influence are actively used by Russia in the war against Ukraine, which requires special attention.

 

As the famous European banker N. Rothschild once said, “Who owns the information, he owns the world”. This is the main essence of the concept of information wars, which have actually become weapons of mass destruction. The effectiveness of such weapons has already made it one of the main instruments of foreign and domestic policy in many countries, especially those with totalitarian regimes such as the ruling elite of today’s Russia.

As a result of active information “zombification” since the mid-2000s, most of the Russians have become “information zombies” and support Putin’s policy, despite its brutal and anti-human nature. The same applies to Russia’s war against Ukraine, which today is not only approved, but has led to another surge of great-power sentiment in the Russian society.

Unfortunately, Russia has made some Ukrainian citizens the same “information zombies”, which allowed it to seize Crimea in 2014 and provoke an armed conflict in the Donbas. However, in 2022, Russia’s measures of information influence on Ukraine failed, which was completely unexpected for the Putin regime.

Moscow’s failure on the information front was also one of the main reasons for Russia’s military failures in Ukraine, with all their negative consequences for the aggressor. Given these circumstances, Moscow is stepping up its propaganda efforts to change the situation in its favor. Let’s analyze such measures in more detail with giving them the corresponding comments.

Thus, today the main directions of Moscow’s informational influence on its own population, the world community and Ukraine include:

  • justification of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine. Russian media, politicians and propagandists continue to call the full-scale war against our state a “special operation to ensure Russia’s security”. As a month ago, the goals of the operation are declared “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine, “liberation of the Ukrainian population from nationalists”, as well as “protection of the DPR and LPR”. This is completely contrary to Moscow’s real plans and actions, which is quite obvious and does not require further detail. However, most Russians continue to believe the Kremlin’s propaganda. 2 % of Ukrainian citizens also trust them;
  • exaggerating the successes of Russia’s armed forces and concealing their losses. Contrary to the real situation, from the first days of the war there were reports of “rapid advance of Russian troops deep into Ukraine”, “establishment of the Russian Armed Forces’ control over Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv and suburbs of Kyiv”, and “actual defeat of the Ukrainian army”. Putin personally summed up such insinuations in the second half of March 2022. In his words, “Russia has completed the first stage of a special operation in Ukraine”, although in fact Moscow failed it and began to limit its goals. At this, according to official reports, the number of casualties among Russian military is more than ten times lower. Destroyed and abandoned military equipment is not mentioned at all;
  • creating the impression of “support for the special operation of Russia by the population of Ukraine”. For this purpose, special fake events are organized both in the occupied territories of Ukraine and in the Russian Federation itself. In particular, they include paid pro-Russian meetings involving Ukrainian citizens and Russian extras, interviews and statements by collaborators in Russian-occupied cities, and distribution of “humanitarian aid” followed by media coverage of such actions. However, except for the “zombie” population of Russia itself, it cannot deceive anyone;
  • discrediting the defenders of Ukraine, who are called by the Russian media “Ukrainian nationalists” or “neo-Nazis”, who allegedly act against the interests of their own people. At this, “Ukrainian nationalists” are blamed for their own actions by Russian troops in shelling peaceful settlements and humanitarian corridors, as well as killing civilians. It is also alleged that the “nationalists” mine critical infrastructure, including chemical and nuclear plants, hydraulic facilities, etc. In addition to purely propaganda purposes, a separate goal of information campaigns may be to prepare provocations or disguise plans to use chemical weapons by Russia;
  • intimidation of the leadership and the population of Ukraine with statements about “Russia’s having enough forces to achieve the goals of the special operation”. Russians report about reserves being brought to the borders of Ukraine, about the involvement in the operation of Kadyrov’s fighters from Chechnya, Syrian militants and various paramilitary groups. At the same time, Russia is trying to blackmail Ukraine’s western partners with the possibility of using nuclear weapons. Publications of this content cause euphoria among Russians, but outside of Russia they are perceived as signs of the weakness of the Russian army, the failure of its tasks and, in general, the inability to perform them without external help. This is how Russia’s involving all sorts of mercenaries in Ukraine’s hostilities, as well as nuclear threats against the West, are seen in the world;
  • counteracting the psychological impact of Western sanctions on the consciousness of the Russian population. As before, they speak about “Russia’s ability to overcome new sanctions that only harm the West itself”. This is confirmed by “facts” about the alleged decline in prices for basic foodstuffs in Russia, a significant reduction in the number of unemployed, as well as the refusal of some Western companies to leave the Russian market. Besides, they “predict” significant losses of European, American and other companies that have stopped cooperating with Russia, an energy crisis in Europe in the near future and even a threat of famine in European countries. However, the majority of the Russian population no longer believes in such “reassurance”, because they see with their own eyes what is happening in the country, and experience the aggravation of its socio-economic problems;
  • raising the morale of the Russian army and the level of the Russian population’s support for the war against Ukraine. Given the fundamental importance of this issue for the Putin regime, a wide range of different forms and methods of information and psychological influence is used. The main ones are the continuation of information activities in all of the above directions, as well as conducting special campaigns, including: mass meetings; speeches by propagandists and concerts; meetings of labor collectives of enterprises, state (budget) institutions, pupils and students of educational institutions. However, the military-political leadership of the Russian Federation is beginning to understand the impossibility of overcoming the processes of demoralization of the Russian military by these methods alone. That is why Russian military are intimidated by “torture that awaits them in Ukrainian captivity”. Such fakes are also aimed at additional attempts to discredit the defenders of Ukraine.

Against this background, the Kremlin’s special attention is paid to suppressing all possible channels for disseminating in Russia the truth about the war against Ukraine. Thus, the work of most Russian and foreign media, as well as social networks that publish such information, is blocked in the country. In addition, the Federal Assembly (Parliament) of Russia has introduced criminal liability for spreading “fake” information about the Russian armed forces, but, in fact – the truth about their condition, losses and crimes.

The same is being done by Russian invaders in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Moreover, Russia is trying to completely destroy Ukraine’s information space by carrying out cyber-attacks, launching missile strikes on radio and television centers, and seizing and killing journalists.

However, as the situation shows, Russian Satan is already losing its information “sting”. Moscow has completely lost the information wars on the Western and Ukrainian fronts. And now it is gradually losing on the domestic front. At present, Kremlin propagandists are no longer able to hide what is really happening. And Russia’s loss in the information sphere will inevitably mean its defeat on all other fronts, including in the confrontation with Ukraine.

 

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