"War is a world." How to propaganda and whether it is possible to cure poisoned

A year ago, the Russian army began an aggressive invasion of Ukraine with several directions: in the north - from the territory of Belarus, in the east - from the so -called "LPR" and "DPR" and in the south - from the annexed Crimea. Vladimir Putin called this a "special military operation", the main tasks of which are "demilitarization" and "denazification" of Ukraine. The Office of the Supreme Commissioner of the UN Human Rights from the beginning of the war registered 18,657 victims among peaceful Ukrainians: 7110 killed and 11,547 wounded. These are only confirmed figures, real losses are probably much higher.

Propaganda was one of the main guns of the Putin regime in the war with Ukraine - it turned out to be incredibly effective both within the country and beyond. Propaganda has several favorite theses that have already become memes (but for someone-by capital truths). North. Reali is dealing with what is wrong with them.

Thesis No. 1. "Where have you been eight years?"

For the first time, the phrase about “eight years” was in circulation of Vladimir Putin, which he made early in the morning on the day of the full -scale invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine - February 24, 2022: “I decided to conduct a special military operation. Its goal is to protect people who have been mocked for eight years, genocide from the Kiev regime.”

In the early days of the invasion, shocked Russians began to speak massively against the war, including in social networks. In response to this, the same type of comments began to appear with the key phrase: "Where were you 8 years ago, when you began to bomb the Donbass?"

Maria Zakharova : "For eight years of the West, the countries of the West were indifferently observed by the murder and mockery of thousands of peaceful people of the southeast of Ukraine. In fact, they became accomplices of many years of genocide of the inhabitants of the LPR and the DPR."

This thesis is still actively used by supporters of war during the next shelling of Ukrainian cities: "Donetsk has been living in this regime for more than eight years."

Fact: eight years ago, Russia also began the war in the Donbass

Yes, propaganda of law - the war has been going on for the ninth year. This is evidenced by Putin’s opponents, calling on February 24, 2022 "the beginning of a full -scale invasion."

Who and how heated pro -Russian sentiments in the Donbass is a question for a separate study. But it is obvious that in Ukraine, the Donbass was a rich, industrial and urbanized region. In 2012, a number of matches of the European Football Championship were held in Donetsk. And now the Donbass has turned into a black hole with unrecognized status, permanent war and invalid laws.

“But I still pressed the trigger of the war. If our detachment had not crossed the border, as a result, everything would end, as in Kharkov, like in Odessa. There would be several dozens of killed, burned, arrested. And that would end. But almost a flywheel of the war that still goes, launched our detachment,”- purely, ”purely An employee of the Russian special services Igor Strelkov (Girkin) admitted , who in 2014 as a field commander headed armed resistance in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Today, his connections with the FSB are well studied. It is also known that the weapons, including heavy equipment and the same Buk , which shot down the Malaysian Boeing, received Strelkov from Russia. In response to the armed separatism, Ukraine began an anti -terrorist operation - the same shelling of the Donbass, about which propaganda speaks.

The intensity of the ATO and the number of her victims on both sides decreased for all eight years. In 2021, according to the press service of the apparatus of the Commissioner for Human Rights, the DPR, 70 military personnel and 7 civilians died in the region. As of January 30, 2023, the identities of 9998 were confirmed by the personalities of the victims in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions - 4144 killed and 5854 wounded. The exact number of the dead is unknown.

Thesis No. 2. "Bandera, neo -Nazis, drug addicts"

At the beginning of the war, Putin addressed, among other things, to Ukrainian soldiers and urged them to "take power in their own hands," since "the Kiev gang of neo -Nazis and drug addicts took the entire Ukrainian people hostage."

Putin did not call specific names, but the propagandists deliberately beat two goals: neo -Nazis are the Ukrainian Azov Regiment, and the drug addict is the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky.

The image of Zelensky, the "drug addict" was also promoted with the help of "narcologists", which easily diagnosed photographs of the Ukrainian leader. " Addiction to narcotic drugs is characterized by an artistic environment, - For example, a certain military psychologist Alexei Zakharov said . - As for the psychological aspects of Zelensky’s behavior - here it is necessary not to understand a psychologist, but to a psychiatrist, because he has a dependence. As a patient, only a doctor can help him. A person is in drug addiction, and this is a serious psychiatric disease that needs to be treated. ”

Propagandist Vladimir Soloviev regularly He calls Zelensky the leader of the "gang of drug addicts and neo -Nazis." "In Kyiv, armed gangs of looters, robbers and nationalists" - these words of the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Konashenkov a year ago massively They were replicated in Runet. Since then, the Russian army is supposedly Fighting with the "nationalists" instead of the regular armed forces of Ukraine.

Fact: the entire Ukrainian people rose to defend their homeland

It is pointless to comment on the accusations against Zelensky of drug addiction - there are no facts confirming - and even a little awkward, if you remember The story of 400 kg of cocaine at the Russian embassy in Argentina.

Nazism is a completely concrete historical phenomenon: the ideology of Hitler Germany in the period 1933–45. Neo -Nazis, as a rule - Hitler fans, are found around the world to this day (Russia is no exception), but today it is a marginal phenomenon. Russian propaganda usually called supporters of the “Right Sector” movement “Ukronacists” - an ultra -rationalist group, which then took shape as a political party. In the Verkhovna Rada elections in 2014 (immediately after the Maidan, that is, the Triumph of Ukronacism, according to propaganda), the Right Sector received 2.4% of the vote . That's all the support of radical nationalism in Ukraine.

In relation to Ukraine, it is more correct to talk about the national upsurge: when the nation, which delays its statehood, emphasizes its cultural and linguistic differences.

Ukraine, having gained complete independence with the collapse of the USSR, entered during the construction of the national state. Ukrainians are proud that they are Ukrainians. The Ukrainian language as state, Ukrainian literature in schools, heroes who fought for the freedom of Ukraine in history - all these are elements of national policy. There was nothing specifically anti -Russian in it - before the start of the war, although in the eastern regions of the country there were often discussions about the status of the Russian language that dominated there and some laws regarding this issue adopted by the Ukrainian authorities were criticized.

The Azov battalion (another “stronghold of neo -Nazism”, according to propaganda), was formed in 2014 as a volunteer connection, but by the time of the defense of Mariupol was already part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. You can read more about the history of this compound, for example, here . The army of Russia is fighting with the army of Ukraine. On both sides there are professional military and mobilized. At the same time, in Ukraine there were no such problems with mobilization as in Russia. Which is understandable: Ukrainians go to protect their homeland, and not conquer other people's lands.

Thesis No. 3: "We free them"

“Ukrainians are waiting for Russia to free them from the Kyiv regime,” they say everything along the chain, from the leading Channel One to the wire -packed commentators in social networks. Allegedly eight years ago, a coup d'etat occurred in Ukraine, the neo -Nazis, who suppressed the Russian -speaking population, seized power. Russia came to free people from the "Bandera" and give them the opportunity to live calmly and not be afraid to speak Russian.

Patriarch Kirill : "Russia never attacked anyone. It is amazing when the great and powerful country did not attack anyone, it only defended its borders."

On February 24, announcing the “special operation”, Putin said that "our plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything by force." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated : "No one is talking about the occupation. This word is not applicable here." Senator Slutsky echoed them: "We are not going to capture Ukraine, as we are accused of this in Ukraine itself and not only."

Margarita Simonyan: “Nobody is fighting with the Ukrainians, Ukraine is now being released ... Shoigu also said that he called for politely to handle the Ukrainian military because they swore and they fulfill orders. And the representative of the Konashenkov Ministry of Defense said that Russia was not going to bomb peaceful cities, unlike these Herodes. Russia would not even bomb, because we are also there, because we are also there, because we are also people. We bomb only military airfields, air defense and everything else. "

But shortly before the so -called referenda about the accession of the LDNR to Russia, the Kharkov and Zaporizhzhya regions, Putin has already stated that Ukraine is not a real state: "I can’t help but recall how the Soviet Union was formed when Russia created modern Ukraine. It was Russia who created modern Ukraine, transferring there significant territories, the historical territories of Russia itself, together with the population."

Fact: invasion of someone else's territory is called "occupation", and not "liberation"

The 2014 Maidan is a starting point for Russian propaganda, which still considers the “legitimate” president of Ukraine that escaped Viktor Yanukovych. The fact that since then the presidential elections have been held in Ukraine and twice won different candidates and both times were recognized as the world community, including Russia, propaganda is omitted.

Before the beginning of a full -scale invasion, Putin did not deny the legality of the powers of Zelensky.

On February 24, Russian troops crossed the state border and invaded the territory of a neighboring country. This is called "occupation." An attempt to attach the captured territories to Russia through the so -called "Referendums" confirms Putin's selfish and aggressive intentions. Propaganda replaces the word "occupation" by the word "liberation" according to Goebbels’s covenants: the more monstrous lies, the sooner they will believe in it (in reality, this is a paraphrased quote from the Nazi "Mine Campa": "Wide masses [...] are more likely victims of great lies than a small one").

If there is nothing from Russian troops and now liberate Ukrainians, it is from houses, property, friends and often from life itself.

Well, the statement that "Russia has never attacked anyone" is simply not true .

Thesis No. 4: "We are fighting with all NATO"

After the start of mobilization, propaganda began to promote the thesis that the Russian army was fighting not with Ukraine, but with the entire NATO Union. This began to justify the mobilization and preceding failures at the front. “The time has already come when we are really fighting with the collective West, with NATO, on the contrary - NATO, with the collective West,” said defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. “Yes, we see how all NATO fights against us, and there are some conversations and spells that“ we are not fighting, but we only arm it, ”-confirmed the Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Margarita Simonyan : “Is it pleasing to me that mobilization is announced, even a partial one? It’s not pleasing. But the left heel of the hind leg could be fighted with Ukraine. Because there is Ukrainian as such military power, weapons? But it is impossible to fight the left back of the rear leg with the whole West, with NATO (and not only NATO) in any way. Therefore, it is obvious that you can’t do without it.”

Viktor Litovkin, military observer TASS: “We must understand that we are not at war with Ukraine, but with NATO, the United States. Only the lives of the Ukrainian people. And since it is opposed by NATO and the United States is not a simple walk, not Nevsky of the avenue, you need more personnel, military equipment, more efforts to take victory and protect the health and life of the inhabitants of the Lugansk Donetsk People's Republics. "

Fact: Russia's aggression condemned almost the whole world

Confrontation with the West is the essence of all Putin’s policy. From the very beginning, the invasion of Ukraine was sold under the slogan "We will not let NATO let go to its borders," but it turned out exactly the opposite: Finland and Sweden are now joining NATO. However, Finland is not the first country of the alliance bordering Russia. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia entered it back in 2004, and Norway has been there since the very birth of the organization, since 1949.

By the way, in February 2023, Norwegian intelligence reported that the number of Russian Armed Forces on the border with NATO countries decreased "to one fifth of its number." That is, in reality, the military leadership of Russia does not see any threat of aggression by NATO. Which is understandable: Russia never had armed conflicts with the North Atlantic Union. Joint exercises - there were no war. There was a period when politicians even discussed the issue of whether Russia and Russia and NATO, but they found neither much sense nor technical opportunity.

Since Ukraine is a victim of aggression, dozens of countries provide military assistance to it today. Before the beginning of the full -scale invasion, this did not happen.

Thesis No. 5: "Putin is not to blame, he was forced to start a war"

Both Putin himself and the propagandists constantly say that Russia did not attack Ukraine. The "special operation" supposedly is a peacekeeping measure. The Kiev regime, which under the tune of Western puppeteers, turned Ukraine into "anti -Russian".

“We suffered for a long time, tried to agree. But as it turned out, we were just driving around our nose, we were deceived. We did everything to resolve the situation with peaceful means. But the enemy was preparing to transfer the conflict into a hot phase. We had nothing left. The primary source of stateweight in Ukraine is a state -owned,” Putin said in one of his performances .

The version is also announced that if it were not for Putin’s wise decision on the beginning of the “special operation”, NATO would attack the Donbass, and then to Russia.

Vyacheslav Volodin : “Just three hours later, if only we had not done this, the gangs of nationalists, Bandera, nourished NATO would have unleashed the war, from the territory of Ukraine there would be a catastrophe - humanitarian, military. Because civilians of the DPR and LPR are 4 million people, and then our border nearby.”

Fact: responsibility for the beginning of the war lies with who gave the order

It would be quite stupid from the part of the "Nationalist Bands" to cross the border of the Russian Federation just when almost all Russian capable armed forces concentrated there. The "second army of the world" would throw them back in a matter of hours. But the whole world would have sympathized with Russia - since it was attacked. There would be no sanctions, no isolation, no massive supply of Western weapons to Ukraine.

Putin began the war because he was preparing for it since 2014. He wanted this war. Otherwise, it would not be difficult to find a diplomatic solution to all those problems that are called the justification of the invasion. The political strategist, Presidential Assistant Vladislav Surkov, the other day, honestly admitted that the Minsk agreements (to resolve the situation in the Donbass, signed in 2015) were originally conceived as impossible.

Thesis No. 6: "Eternal memory to the hero"

On September 21, Putin announced a "partial mobilization", calling it "an adequate measure against the backdrop of the threats that we are faced with." He immediately outlined: Russia allegedly does not wage a aggressive war, but only defends.

"To protect our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the safety of our people and people in the liberated territories," Putin said.

Later, the Minister of Defense Shoigu said that 300 thousand people are mobilizing. A wide information campaign immediately unfolded. Propagandists, famous people who support the war, and regional officials vied with the vocepage that "the duty of every patriot is to go protect their homeland." A video with "brave men" began to appear, who were not afraid to go to the front. And those who refused to go to die and kill, on the contrary, cowards and traitors.

Vladimir Solovyov : "These are people crushed by fear, who have panic attacks through the time, even difficult to call them men, these are cowards and traitors of their country, let them run, they will not have any use at the front, this is a weak link, they will kneel down and surrender to the first opportunity."

The line for heroization continues in necrologists. All the murdered military personnel of Russia, including prisoners from the "PMC of Wagner", calls propaganda the heroes who died for the peaceful sky and the security of Russia. Any message about the death or funeral of the next military is accompanied by a huge number of the same type Comments like “Eternal memory to the hero!”, “A low bow to parents for the hero!”, “He went there to defend his homeland.” The propagandists are trying to give their audience as "domestic" in Ukraine.

Fact: the homeland is protected on its land, and not abroad

Once again: Russian troops crossed the border of a neighboring state. This is an attack. And the defense is something opposite: when you were attacked, and you give change. What, in fact, do the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Russian Criminal Code has article 353: "Planning, preparation, unleashing or conducting an aggressive war." From seven to twenty years in prison. There is also article 359: "Mercenary". This is for everyone who is recruited by the so -called "PMC Wagner". There is no such thing as a “private military company” in Russian legislation, therefore, the “Wagner PMC”, in fact, is illegal armed formation. This is Article 208 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: from 8 to 15 years for participation and from 10 to 20 - for creating, financing and leadership.

Ordinary soldiers, as a rule, are not judged for participating in the hostilities that their state leads. But they are not exempted from responsibility for war crimes: looting, murder of civilian, torture of prisoners - all this is punishable.

So the "hero" in any necrogue is nothing more than the figure of speech. There is nothing heroic to die in the role of an occupier and aggressor on a foreign land.

Thesis No. 7: "Ukrainians are bombing themselves, buch is a fake, and Russian missiles are high -precision"

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From the very beginning of the war, the Russian side denied attacks on civil infrastructure. It is alleged that the troops of the Russian Federation beat only in military facilities - and always with a high -precision weapon.

Sergey Lavrov : "Our military personnel who participate in a special operation have a tough order-use only a high-precision weapon to suppress military infrastructure. Even the barracks where the Ukrainian military are located are not subject to any attack, any shots."

The official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation Igor Konashenkov : "The high -precision weapons of the Russian Armed Forces are disabled only military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

The Russian side denies that it makes blows to residential buildings. Propaganda plays the thesis "Bombing themselves", saying that missiles of Ukrainian air defense are falling on residential quarters.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation : “Information about the Russian missile strike on the residential building on Lobanovsky Avenue in Kiev is not true. The nature of the damage to the house indicates an anti-aircraft missile. It is obvious that during the reflection of the night shelling of military infrastructure of the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Ukraine, a missile of Ukrainian medium-range missiles“ Buk-M1 'and missiles of the Buk-M1 ”missile and MARD” The rocket touched the corner of the residential building. "

Russian troops began to openly destroy the civil infrastructure of Ukraine after the explosion on the Crimean bridge. The massive shelling of Ukrainian territories called the propagandists "retaliator’s response." In total, on the first day after the explosion, Ukraine was covered by four waves of missile shelling. Many cities were left without light and water supply.

At the end of March, Russian troops retreated from the Ukrainian city of Buch. Subsequently, a large number of bodies of murdered civilians were found there. According to the UN, during the occupation of Buchi, the Russian military killed at least 73 civilians, another 105 more likely murders - they expect confirmation. As soon as the first photographs appeared, propaganda began to multiply versions, why the murder in Buch is a "fake".

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation : "All divisions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation completely left Buchi on March 30, and" evidence of crimes "in Buch appeared only on the 4th day after that, when the SBU journalists and employees arrived there."

Another thesis of the Ministry of Defense and many commentators are "fresh corpses." "All the bodies of people whose images are published by the Kyiv regime, after at least four days did not stiff, do not have characteristic cadaveric spots, and in the wounds on them, unusual blood."

Vladimir Putin also called the murders in Buch "fake" - the same, "as the Americans arranged in Syria and Afghanistan." " The same fake in Buch. Alexander Grigorievich [Lukashenko] today transferred documents for the FSB today, they have the corresponding interceptions - how, who and in what transport came to this settlement and created the conditions for organizing this provocation ," the president said.

Fact: war crimes are recorded in real time

"Deny everything" is the easiest way. Any criminal denies his involvement in the crime if he was suspected. To deny the very fact of a crime is the next level of skill.

The problem (for propaganda) is that we live in a digital era. Hundreds of cosmic satellites hang over the theater of military operations, who take lands constantly - and on their basis, by the way, the famous The New York Times investigation . Journalists clearly showed that the bodies of the murdered civilian on the streets of Buchi appeared strictly during the occupation of the city by Russian troops.

And below, on the ground, almost everyone has a smartphone with a photo-video-chamber. The facts of war crimes are recorded literally as they are committed, and evidence of eyewitnesses - they are immediately recorded and distributed through the Internet around the world. It is impossible to fake dozens and hundreds of independent sources. In addition, all the victims of this war have names. There are friends and relatives who tell their stories. To call them a "fake" means to show a cynical disrespect for someone else's pain.

Returning to the laws of logic: but a rather strange situation, is it not true - that the Ukrainians began to "bomb themselves" only after the Russian army entered the territory of Ukraine.

Thesis No. 8: "You cannot oppose your country, even if it is wrong"

This is the last blow of propaganda to doubt. The message is addressed to both those who left the country and those who do not sufficiently support the "special operation" within the country: "The authorities may be imperfect, but in difficult times you have to be with the country." And also "it is important to be Russian" during "total Russophobia."

Z-channels and bots in social networks actively spread an excerpt from an interview with actor Sergei Bodrov : "During the war, you can’t speak badly about their own. Never. Even if they are wrong. Even if your country is wrong during the war, you should not talk badly about it."

Vyacheslav Volodin : “The guys are fighting there, soldiers, officers. They are fighting for whom? For us with you, are fighting for the safety of our country. We understand that without this it is impossible to ensure it? I understand. And in this regard, any conversations about the unnecessary operation of this operation or to question - betrayal in relation to our soldiers and officers.”

“Nikolai Baskov : “ The Russophobia, which is now progressing in the world, is aimed at making us feel miserable, insignificant, uncertain people of the second grade. Here, we can say, the dollar and euro, they say, are, like you, the Russians, what can you say? Therefore, it seems to me that now the most important position of our country, our state is in unity, in pride for pride. That we are Russians. "

The network also began to spread the “memo for citizens of Russia during the information war”, one of the points in which it indicates: “During the war, it is fundamentally impossible to oppose their country and its leaders. To oppose their country during the war is a betrayal.”

Fact: war destroys not only Ukraine, but also Russia

When in the 1940s the troops of Nazi Germany successfully seized neighboring European countries and went by a blitzkrieg at the USSR, they executed the participants in anti-Hitler resistance inside Germany. After Hitler came to power, scientists, writers and philosophers left the country, and those ordinary citizens who did not support the Nazi ideology. Today, those Germans who fought with Nazism are called heroes, not traitors. And the "patriots" turned out to be accomplices of war criminals. Their descendants still have not parted with guilt.

To support their own, to be with everyone is an instinct characteristic of man as a "social animal." But in the human world, unlike the animal, there are moral categories - good and evil. The basis of human civilization is resistance to evil and faith in the victory of good. To make it easier to distinguish one from the other, there are a lot of life hacks, starting from the Criminal Code (we remind you of article 353) and ending with a naked sermon (ten commandments, including "not kill").

Russia, having attacked Ukraine, committed a monstrous crime. Supporting in this situation “your country” and “our boys” means justifying the crime. Moreover, the war is destructive not only for Ukraine, but also for Russia itself. Tens of thousands of people die in the color of years, their families suffer from grief. Hundreds of thousands left the country. International isolation makes the state poorer, which means that all unresolved problems (medicines, housing orphans, roads, housing and communal services) will remain unresolved. We add here the post -traumatic stress disorder of participants in hostilities, their injuries and disability, as well as the crippled souls of the victims of propaganda. The consequences of the war for Russia will be no less serious than for Ukraine. But only now no one will help the Russians to cope with them.

"This space is dead." How to resist lies

However, arguing with the theses of propaganda - this means already being on the agenda of propaganda and lose the initiative, explains the critical thinking coach, the former teacher of the RANEPA Denis Greeks . It is more effective not to argue, but to ask specific questions, he believes. For example: What is the plan of special operation? Win - what? How is the victory in the war converted into the best future of Russia? And how do we understand that we are achieving the result?

“Propaganda itself is irrational, it does not work as an argument based on logical arguments,” says Grekov. - If you assume that now you will break the propaganda arguments and a person will change his mind, then most likely it will not happen. This set of judgments is not a dispute with someone, but a demonstration of its belonging to the community. And you do not lead a dispute, but mark yourself as a person who is alien to the bearer of these propaganda ideologies.

Propaganda always relies on the form of thinking in a person in order to construct his own. This is not like in the Star Wars: "Luke, go to the dark side!" This is a design that explains to a person that he is on the side of the kindest good of all the possible, that this is a sacred task that must be fulfilled, and all the victims are in the name of the good. They never call anyone openly to evil, and the name is always to the side of the good.

- Therefore, we "save, liberate, we came in peace."

-Yes, and the task of propaganda is to distort this causal chain. But first of all, to give a person to understand that, firstly, everyone thinks so. Secondly, cause a sense of ownership. And thirdly, propaganda creates a discourse that marks a person as belonging to a certain group. If you ask to explain what the "Russian world" is, then you will not hear a single positive statement. No one knows what it is. Everything will be built either on the contrast or on abstract structures like what Dugin writes: this is salvation, this is the future of Russia, this is a megaborba that has been held for millennia. This is the "conflict of Hartland and the island of the Empire."

Propaganda works at different levels, and the level of argumentation is very superficial. A much large role is played by the mass component of the psyche of the individual - the special language that the individual has learned, consuming the same propaganda for decades. Or those social forms of totalitarian thinking that dominate in society, for example, the idea that collective survival is always more important than any number of individual lives. The most important thing is that these statements are marked as “their own” as “ours”. And a person lives sensually, he does not accept them as a rational position. Therefore, it is rational to refute them - a business leading to success only in a minimum percentage of cases, where the subject is quite reflective, is ready to listen and draw conclusions instead of sensual residence. And where this is not, and especially when there is no request, you simply market yourself as a person who does not belong to the "our" crowd. Your argument will only strengthen the feeling that you are a stranger and that there is nothing to talk about with you. " Plus, this will be aggressively perceived as an attempt to attack your own identity.

- You are now talking about those who sincerely share the point of view of propaganda. But there are in Russia those who are inside the majority constructed by propaganda and are forced to join, for security reasons. And at the same time they feel that something is wrong that they were deceived-you can’t kill people and say that this is good. Maybe they are useful and important to hear a reasonable refutation of propaganda theses?

- In this sense, probably yes, this is a useful practice. However, here you must understand another thing. Ask any person who is subject to propaganda, whether he believes that state news is lying to him. What answer will you hear?

- Surely he will say that, of course, they lie.

- Certainly. But the realization that the news is lying does not change the situation in itself, within which a person shows his identity through joining these statements. A person so lives his unity with this mass, with this imaginary identity. And the fact that the news is lying does not mean that he will cease to experience it. These people do not have any intelligible theory in their heads, but there is an affection for “ours” and understanding that, since there is a war, we must hold on their own. The main task of propaganda is not to convince people that this is all the truth, but to show that there is such a community, and that this is our community, and that all ours say and feel like that, and even feel more than they say.

- And what is this identity?

-The fact of the matter is that a person joins at a sensual level. It is positively to formulate what it is, neither he nor anyone else can. It works like that. Read at least the same Dugin-will you find at least some positive meaning there? What is the Russian world, Russian civilization? There, except for negative ones - at the level of contrast - definitions, there is nothing. Who are these Russians? "Well, here we are against America, we are there for everything good, against everything bad." This is all described by absolutely abstract definitions that are devoid of any specific essence.

- Have you met examples of effective work with a "zombie" public?

- Honestly, I did not see. Propaganda formed a discourse, which is perceived as a discourse of "their". You can be your own to some extent within the framework of human communication, but in the framework of political communication you just have another dictionary. There are media that people who already understand something. But they are niche. Over the years, a targeted information policy was implemented to squeeze out independent media from the information field. The Putin regime always sought to either drown them in an information noise - so that a simple person, in principle, loses the criteria of the difference, or destroy confidence in these media, making them marginal. If you remember, any more or less successful publication that became readable was actually raised by the raider seizure. This happened with Lenta.Ru, and with RBC, and with many other places. And in the regions, independent media disappeared even earlier than in Moscow. Ensuring the information monopoly is also a sign of propaganda, because it is not interested in the competing position and interpretation to be widely covered. Propaganda always relies on the system of state violence.

- And if we talk about the cure of people from the influence of propaganda, in what form can it be?

- In the form of a collision with reality. Propaganda, in fact, is trying to replace the interpretation of reality. She creates a distorted picture of reality in the minds of people. Both the state and propaganda work as a certain unified psycho -economic system that tries to compensate for the discrepancies between the description of reality and, in fact, reality as it is. But this requires the further, the more resources, because the discrepancies accumulate. For example, you convince the population that our country is the most powerful, the richest and most cool in the world. But you have a poverty army, there are few modern weapons in it, and even then they themselves cannot produce without Western chips.

Plus, the army was used incompetently, all was divided to hell and you are facing a major military defeat. What are you doing to compensate for such a discrepancy with a drawn picture? You are mobilized and hundreds of thousands of lives are calculated for such a discrepancy. Now the question is: for what time such a practice is possible, despite the fact that the situation will only worsen further? Modern weapons will be even less. Human resources will need more and more. And the skill of military leaders in such conditions will generally cease to solve anything. What are the prospects for compensation for such a discrepancy with reality?

- That is, the question is who has more strength in this war, and we again return to the fact that everything will be decided on the battlefield, and not within the country.

- It so happened that we now live inside the fascist state - those who live in Russia, who could not or did not want to leave. That is, this state is virtually repressive, fascist and striving for totalitarian forms. The society in the mass is not ready to protest or oppose this regime. So far, in any case. Even if such a situation develops, then most often this happens as a result of military defeats. And the internal protest that will give-well, you will be imprisoned for five to ten years, as they want.

Dissatisfaction with the war will increase, one way or another, anyway. But even if Putin is taken forward from the column hall, it is not a fact that this will change the situation in the radically better direction. This is not only Putin, this is the established system of power relations, the form of thinking of people, destroyed by democratic institutions established by propaganda. If you want to imagine the situation that the forces of good defeated in Russia literally tomorrow, the Putin regime is dismantled, all rehabilitation programs have been adopted, then decades will pass before the relative normalization of society. Putin did something much worse than just started the war. He destroyed the future of Russia for decades ahead.

- What can we do right now?

- The first is the concern for your own thinking, about your own safety in every sense. The second is helping loved ones. If possible, of course, it is necessary to educate a circle of close people, but try to do it conflictly. The creation of informal mutual assistance networks, as far as possible in the current conditions. That is, the main program of those who are now in Russia is self -preservation in every sense. And mental, and psychological, and physical self -preservation. The task of those outside is to help them in this. We must try to help with information, still somehow. Save those who want to be saved. People are still trying to leave, we must try to help.

It is necessary to maintain, develop and treat as values to horizontal connections. The community, even in Russia, even abroad, is the main thing that we have. An informal unification of people with the aim of not only mutual assistance, but also communication, simply joint living of what is happening is very important. And to journalists you just need to try to give more information, more culture, they need to show more people that something is happening in the world, that they are isolated, that there is a big other life, from which, thanks to the Putin regime, they were thrown out. It is necessary that people within Russia continue to see this, so that they do not close inside this sore space. Journalists have the main task is to broadcast life there. Because this space is dead.