At the same time, Kremlin ideologues and committed experts have expressed the opinion that Ukraine, of course, under the leadership of the United States, is preparing various provocations, starting with the possible use of a “dirty bomb” to blow up the Kakhovka dam, therefore, Russia must have a developed strategy to respond to such actions. Such statements, which are often repeated, raise fears that the aggressor country is preparing for some cruel attacks, declaring them “preventive actions” against possible provocations by the Ukrainians. Likewise, during the past week, propagandists have not stopped telling how responsible and humane Russia behaves when it “evacuates” or, in other words, deportes civilians from the Kherson region.
Ukraine is already previously accused of planned crimes
Russia is trying both for local needs and in the eyes of the international community to increasingly discredit Ukraine. These efforts have two goals: to dissuade the West from providing military aid to Ukraine and to create excuses for any Russian action. Thus, for example, last week Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu contacted several NATO defense ministers, claiming that Ukraine would use a “dirty bomb” and then insult Russia with the use of weapons of destruction. mass. In addition, official Moscow warns of the possibility that Ukraine may use chemical weapons. According to analysts from the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW), neither the United States nor any other Western countries see any basis for such Russian claims.
Likewise, over the past week, propagandists claimed that Ukrainians attempted to blow up the Kakhovka Dam. ISW, meanwhile, reports that Russian forces will attempt to blow up the Kahovka hydroelectric dam to cover their departure and prevent Ukrainian forces from pursuing them deeper into the Russian-occupied Kherson region.
According to ISW, Russian authorities may believe that the dam explosion will create a buffer zone around the eastern part of the Kherson region that will prevent Ukraine from approaching Russian-occupied Crimean artillery. At the same time, ISW stresses that Russia will definitively blame Ukraine for the dam attack.
Russia must become super militarized
Along with such fictions about Ukraine’s “dangerous acts”, Russian propaganda agents claim that the entire Western world has conspired against Russia and wants to destroy it, so it is under threat along its entire border. Threatened by both the Baltic states and Finland, Russia faces threats in Central Asia, the Caucasus and even the Arctic. Therefore, Russia’s main task for the next 30 years is to become a super-militarized state and fortress. Indeed, according to some Russian ideologues, Russia’s path is to follow in the footsteps of North Korea.
Meanwhile, a member of the Russian Duma and a high-ranking Russian soldier, Aleksandrs Gurolyov, delivered an open speech of hatred against the West: “When you watch Ukrainian cities go dark, without electricity, don’t forget that the same thing can happen. you too, the Iskander missiles can reach you too. ” Guroliov also pointed out that nuclear weapons were created by the Soviet people, currently the Russian people, for the defense of their homeland, and will be used for such purposes.
What is allowed for Russia is not allowed for Ukraine
Speaking of the Russian drone strikes in Kiev, hosts of the “60 Minutes” propaganda program Olga Skabeyeva and Yevgeny Popov cheerfully announced that it was a response to the Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod in Russia. For more than five minutes, footage was shamelessly shown of the damage drone bombing is causing to the Ukrainian capital. The commander of the Ukrainian separatist battalion “Vostok” Aleksandrs Khodakovskis admitted in the program that the massive drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities were not only an act of revenge, but also an important military aid to the Russian army. At the same time, Jānis Sārts, head of NATO’s Center of Excellence for Strategic Communications, said these attacks are militarily senseless and change nothing in the course of the war.
This is also implicitly recognized by the participants in propaganda programs – current and former soldiers of various calibers, who point out that missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, primarily energy supply networks, are carried out in order to bring the Country to a state of collapse and create absolute insecurity and fear in Ukrainian society.
It goes without saying that this rhetoric is full of hypocrisy and double standards. Namely, the propagandists claim that any attack by the Ukrainian army on the infrastructure of the Russian-occupied territories targets civilians and near war crimes, while their efforts to leave Ukraine without electricity and heating for the winter are considered absolutely legitimate war tactics. In the territories controlled by the Ukrainians there are no civil infrastructures, as they have a dual character, including military ones, while in the territories occupied by the Russians all infrastructures are considered absolutely civil and targeting them is considered terrorism.
Iran’s non-existent but fantastic drones
As for the drones, which Western analysts no doubt were supplied by Iran, the Russians do not officially confirm this. At the same time, so-called war correspondents and military personnel praise the accuracy of Iranian drones and condemn any international sanctions against the Middle Eastern country. On the other hand, various political scientists say how great the close collaboration between Russia and Iran would be and that it would be a severe blow to the US and the entire West. Propagandists keep repeating how unjustified the international sanctions imposed on Iran are. So, on the one hand, it is not officially recognized that Iran has supplied drones to Russia, but on the other hand, it is said how high-quality and accurate the weapons produced by this country are.
In this context another interesting aspect emerges. Russian ideologues welcomed the news with great enthusiasm that Israel refused to supply arms to Ukraine because they feared they could end up in Iran’s hands. On the lips of propagandists, this Israeli argument, of course, becomes irrefutable proof of their repeated mantra that Ukraine is selling Western weapons supplied to it on the black market.
Deportations of civilians
Russia is one of the most legal countries in the world, primarily caring for the lives of civilians in wartime. This is how propagandists evaluate the decision to evacuate or deport people from the Kherson region, on which the Ukrainians will likely depend. Meanwhile, ISW said: “Russia continues its mass forced deportations of Ukrainians, which could be a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing as well as clear violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. On 14 October. , Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Husnulin announced that “several thousand” of Kherson children from the region “are already in other regions of Russia, resting in retirement homes and children’s camps.” Russian authorities openly admitted that children from the occupied regions of Ukraine were housed for adoption by Russian families in a way that could constitute a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
It should be noted that all Russian war correspondents and military analysts admit that the most tense situation on the front is right near Kherson, and also point out that the Russians may have to lose this area. In this context, Hristo Grozev, military analyst at the “Bellingcat” investigative journalism center, said: “General Surovikin is preparing Russian public opinion for the loss of Kherson. The excuses, among others, are:” Kiev can use weapons prohibited, we cannot afford to subjugate the population to them, serious decisions must be made … “To encourage public opinion, it is argued that the Ukrainians have concentrated all their forces on Kherson, so in other directions they will only have losses or at least none Attack capabilities At the same time, ISW analysts point out that the offensive of the Ukrainian armed forces could continue in other directions as well.
Putin is said to be the target of Western nuclear weapons
On the other hand, the propagandist Vladimir Solovyov in his “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” program increasingly actively proposes that the war is with a terrorist organization, such as the Ukrainian state is considered. At the same time, of course, the rhetoric about the “holy” fatherly war against NATO, which is a question of Russia’s existence and “to be or not to be”, is being heard with new vigor.
It must be said that Russian ideologues have very painfully taken NATO’s annual nuclear response exercise “Steadfast Noon”, in which up to 60 aircraft participated in training flights over Belgium, the North Sea and Great Britain. At the same time, this message was like honeybread for propagandists, because it served as ideological proof and a weapon of persuasion for the Russian public that it is NATO and especially the United States that wants a nuclear war and is ready. to use nuclear weapons.
Propagandists also falsely claimed that this was an extreme exercise in which the scenario of a nuclear attack on Russia took place. This does not correspond to the truth, because such a scenario was not carried out in the exercises, furthermore the exercises are annual and the NATO press release states that they “are not linked to any current events in the world”. However, this did not stop Solovyov from speaking to the extent that these exercises are clear evidence of the West’s willingness to use nuclear weapons against Russia and in this regard, according to the United States, the first legitimate target is Russian President Vladimir. Putin.
