Packing war

How the Kremlin’s war propaganda has changed, explains an employee of a pro-government media outlet

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, state propaganda has gone through at least four stages. An employee of one of the pro-Kremlin propaganda media wrote specifically for Vorstka how propaganda guidelines for covering the fighting in Ukraine changed as military plans did not come to fruition. At first, Russian citizens were told about the denazification of Ukraine, then about the “advantages of peaceful life” in the “liberated territories,” but after major military failures, the main message of the propaganda had to be rethought again.

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Training manual No. 1. “Nazis”

There were four very uneven stages in the coverage of the Northern Military District, from the point of view of the ideological “packaging” of these events. The first stage lasted only a couple of months and was conventionally called “cosplaying the Great Patriotic War.” For the first two months, the main message in the materials was “denazification.” From above we were asked at every opportunity to draw analogies with the liberation of the Ukrainian SSR in 1943-44 . Draw analogies with the attacks of the “First Ukrainian” or “Second Ukrainian Front” on Hitler’s troops, and so on.

In mid-April, an order came from the Presidential Administration (presidential administration) to cover in detail the round table of political scientists “Denazification: history, tools, prospects.” The organizer of the discussion was EISI (Expert Institute for Social Research) - this is the main “think tank” for the departments subordinate to Sergei Kiriyenko, the first deputy head of the Administration.

“Since Putin then repeated that Russia was not going to seize the territory of Ukraine, this thesis was then considered an axiom. On this wave, one of the official political scientists, Marat Bashirov, even called upon entering another populated area not to tear off the yellow-blue flags from administrative buildings and simply hang the Russian tricolor nearby. They say, we are not against Ukraine, we are simply liberating this republic from the Nazis, just like during the Second World War,” the source explained.

What did the propaganda say?

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“So, Ukraine will have to go through demilitarization and denazification. These are the officially stated goals of the Russian special operation. Nazi Germany, which collapsed in World War II, went through a similar procedure. Past experience says that demilitarization and denazification are possible only thanks to external force, only by force and only as a result of the military defeat of the Nazi regime. Ukraine in this case is only a special case of historical practice.”

Dmitry Kiselev, News of the Week , March 6, 2022.

“In fact, for all interested parties - both Russians and Ukrainians - everything is extremely clear and understandable. The Russians came to liberate their land from the Nazis. We already did this in 1943-1944, on exactly the same territory. Then perhaps the scale of local collaboration was smaller . And so everything is one to one.”

Victoria Nikiforova. "What Russia is fighting for in Ukraine" . RIA Novosti, April 6, 2022.

Simultaneously with instructions on what should be written, the editors received instructions on what not to write. Thus, a “ban” came to the calls of Ukrainian oppositionists from the former Party of Regions to create military-civil administrations (MCA) in cities occupied by the Russian army.

Oleg Tsarev and other deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, who fled to Russia after 2014, spoke on social networks with calls to create at least some kind of power in such territories as soon as possible. The argument was this: the residents found themselves there without food and fuel supplies, even if “humanitarian aid” is brought from Russia, there is no one to entrust its distribution, the people suffer, and as a result, anarchy leads to a rapid decline in pro-Russian sentiment. I do not rule out that Tsarev sincerely sympathized with his fellow countrymen, but he was probably also driven by simple self-interest. It is clear that the main candidates for the CAA should be former supporters of Yanukovych.

However, we and, it seems, all editors were forbidden to even mention this topic . Most likely, at that moment the final decision had not yet been made at the top; Putin still had hope that he would be able to quickly install his own government in Kyiv and the CAA would not be needed. The ban was lifted in early April. I realized this when the “head of the military-civil administration” of the Kherson city of Kakhovka, Pavel Filipchuk, appeared on the Vesti 24 screen. Since then , it was ordered, on the contrary, to discuss in detail the “establishment of peaceful life” in the occupied territory . I strongly suspect that the ban was lifted after Kiriyenko, our curator, was assigned to “establish a peaceful life.” In mid-summer, however, the term “CAA” itself was banned, although it was still mentioned in official Russian documents. Instead, they were ordered to use ordinary, “peaceful” terms, such as “administration of the Kherson region.”

Training manual No. 2. “Source of wealth”

By the beginning of May, “denazification” suddenly faded into the background. There was an order to write more about how exactly Russia will benefit from the annexation of new territories - financially. That is, to convince people that SVO is simply beneficial from a financial point of view. It became clear that those at the top decided not to leave the occupied lands to Ukraine, but simply to cut them off to Russia. Quote from the manual: “Russia’s budget will increase its own budget due to the inclusion of new territories (the style of the original has been preserved). The liberated territories have great economic potential.” A series of articles such as “Kherson will help the economic development of the country” and “Zaporozhye will help enrich Russia” appeared in pro-Kremlin publications. In short, it was decided to prepare public opinion for annexation . It was proposed to look at new territories as a source of wealth. True, in the notes we always had to make reservations that first there we would have to restore what was destroyed during the Northern Military District. Even the most loyal reader would not believe that Mariupol, turned into ruins, would quickly begin to generate profits.

What did the propaganda say?

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“The Ukrainian authorities have been destroying industry in their own region for years, but now the factories are preparing to reach full capacity, and farmers are preparing to bring their products to the Russian market.

Step by step, life is changing in the regions of Ukraine controlled by the Russian army. Thus, in the Kherson region, an asphalt production plant will soon reach full capacity - scarce bitumen will be supplied from Russia.”

“Residents of the Kherson region spoke about the economic recovery thanks to Russia.” Channel 5 , June 16, 2022

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Manual No. 3. “Russia is restoring”

The AP could not help but understand that such a primitive, purely selfish idea sounds unconvincing, since from this perspective the war looks stupidly like an aggressive one. And so in the summer we received a new task - to develop the thesis “where the Kiev regime destroys, Russia restores.” The main thesis, on the contrary, was not to “take”, but to “give”, that is, to take care of new territories.

“ It is also appropriate to mention the great efforts to restore peaceful life in Mariupol . The city became a symbol of Kyiv propaganda, but in reality it turned out that it was destroyed by the Ukrainian armed forces, but Russia was able to restore water and electricity supplies in record time and continues to work on its revival,” the manual said.

It was also ordered to draw attention to the “social sphere”. In particular, that residents of the Russian “Kherson and Zaporozhye regions” pay less for electricity, water and even gasoline. They also receive high benefits, including maternity capital, which was beyond the means of the Kyiv regime. The authors of the manual concluded that living in the liberated territories was both more profitable and safer than under the rule of “Nazi punitive forces.” Moreover, the authors of the manual optimistically mentioned at the end that “resorts in the Zaporozhye region are ready to receive 5–7 million tourists annually, negotiations with investors have begun.”

What did the propaganda say?

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“Broken roofs, broken windows, destroyed walls. Builders are urgently carrying out restoration work in the liberated city of Shchastya. During the retreat, the Ukrainian military fired heavy artillery at the populated area for a long time. Parts of the shells are still being found in the city. A large number of houses were damaged. Their colleagues from Moscow came to the aid of the republican builders . Now the main task is to prepare the city for winter.”

Igor Pikhanov, “ Russia-24 ”, August 23, 2022

“In two months, Russia built houses in Mariupol for local residents who lost their homes due to hostilities. People receive keys to new apartments. According to the project, which is being carried out by the construction company of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, three residential buildings out of 12 have been built, the construction of the rest will be completed by the end of 2022. Three more houses will be built next year.”

Maxim al-Turi, Russia Today , September 11, 2022

“In Mariupol, the air defense system intercepted two missiles that neo-Nazis sent towards the local port. The city's restoration is now progressing at a record pace. 15 thousand workers from all over the country are working on the construction of new housing.”

“News at 20.00”, “ Russia – 1 ”, October 14, 2022

Training manual No. 4. Russia - Anti-West

In the fall, with the fall of Izyum and Kherson, and with the intensification of shelling of Donetsk, the flow of such instructions dried up. We have almost stopped talking about establishing a “peaceful life”. But new main theses have emerged - and they are no secret, thanks to Putin’s Valdai speech. The new manuals consisted of direct quotes or paraphrases of this speech. “Civilization Russia is self-sufficient. Take useful things from others while remaining yourself. Symphony of cultures. Russia can become a leader in overcoming the global civilizational crisis that is affecting all of humanity,” read another manual.

We seemed to imperceptibly help the reader to forget the “aggressive agenda” about the seizure of a neighboring state, and in return to focus on the “creative” positive idea - “to become the leader of the countries of the Non-Western”, to help civilization overcome the crisis . AP speechwriters even came up with beautiful new formulas, such as “symphony of cultures.” Our editors focused on these concepts in the fall. What is happening in Ukraine, what the balance of forces is on the “line of combat contact” is no longer important. The main thing is that Russia’s prestige in Indochina, Africa and Latin America is growing.

Commenting on the interim results of the war on New Year's Eve, Putin formulated a new main goal to “unite the Russian people.” Actually, I’ve already somewhat lost count of which is our main goal after February 24th. It is difficult to regard this as the fifth change of “ideological packaging,” since the term “Russians” appeared in assignments back in the summer, but in passing. He wasn't in charge. The authors of the training manuals then suddenly began to emphasize that these are not Russian, but “Russian fighters” who are fighting for “their own” , that they are liberating “the Russian land - Ukraine from Bandera’s followers.” The participation of Chechens, Buryats or Tatars in the Northern Military District was not mentioned in such manuals.

What did the propaganda say?

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“The indestructible strength of Russia lies in our hardworking people, whose advantage lies, among other things, in their different views on life, in their multinationality and multi-religion. It is important to understand that we have a unique and original culture, that Russia is not Europe, not Asia, and certainly not “anti-West.” This, by the way, is our fundamental difference. For a Russian person, hatred, by definition, cannot be a unifying principle .”

Nikolay Patrushev, “ Arguments and Facts ”, January 10, 2023

“A fair, original, strong national structure - on which Russia will stand. Not closed in on itself, not offended by the West (because it got rid of the pro-Western elite, which instilled in everyone its own complex of inferiority and inferiority), but actively participating in the construction of a new, post-Western world order, playing all possible games on all fields. The passing year, which has exposed our weakness and strength, gives us every reason to believe in our capabilities.”

Peter Akopov. “The year of the great turning point that changed everything.” RIA Novosti , 12/31/2022

Cover: Ekaterina Deriglazova

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