Throughout this week, Russian propagandists have been trying to convince the world that Ukraine will use a dirty bomb against Russia, and people in the West will freeze without Russian gas and cut down all the forests.
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Since February 24, Detector Media has been monitoring Ukrainian social media and documenting the chronicle of Russian disinformation surrounding its military offensive in Ukraine. During the week of October 17-24, 2022, Detector Media analysts documented about fifty cases of Russian propagandists spreading fake news to achieve Russia's political goals. This week, there were many fakes and narratives about Russia's use of nuclear weapons; the alleged deterioration of the situation on the battlefield; the international attitude toward Zelenskyy and Putin, and the so-called dirty bomb.
You can find our overviews of Russian disinformation for the previous weeks here: September 26 - October 2; October 3 - 9, October 10 - 17.
The nuclear bomb and other horror stories
Many Russian fakes and manipulations this week concerned the use of nuclear weapons, as well as the so-called dirty bomb, which, according to propagandists, Ukraine has been planning to use almost since February. For example, there was a narrative that Russia was permitted to use nuclear weapons. Allegedly, NATO and many EU countries have made it clear that in case of a nuclear attack on Ukraine, they will not retaliate against Russia. In their posts, the propagandists referred to the quotes of the EU High Representative Josep Borrell, who in his statements allegedly confirmed that in the event of a nuclear attack on Ukraine, the EU countries would not retaliate. The Russian propaganda machine latched to these words, interpreting them as permission for Russia to use nuclear weapons. However, Josep Borrell said that in case of a nuclear strike, the response of Ukraine's partners will annihilate the Russian army.
There has been no shortage of nuclear blackmail by Russia in the past. With news about the Ukrainian army's successful counter-offensive, the narrative about nuclear weapons gained a lot of traction. By doing so, Russia hopes to persuade Ukraine to negotiate on its terms. By spreading false narratives that Russia was allowed to launch a nuclear attack on Ukraine, propaganda seeks to discredit the countries and coalitions that support Ukraine's fight against Russia. Narratives like this serve another purpose: intimidation. If Russia's demands are not met, they claim, it will do whatever it pleases to Ukraine.
Another narrative propagandists are using to intimidate Ukrainians and not just this week, is that Russia is not using its force to the fullest in the conflict. They speculate that in the near future Ukraine's position on the battlefield will worsen as Russia regroups its troops in the areas where the Armed Forces of Ukraine are counterattacking. The propagandists call it a defeat for Ukraine in advance, describing it as "a turning point in the war in 2022", even though nothing has happened yet. Propagandists draw such conclusions in the wake of the news that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on its citizens to evacuate Ukraine immediately, as "a serious security situation has developed in Ukraine". According to the propagandists, this "definitely means something" since Russia, with its good relations with China, would certainly alert Beijing to its intentions.
It doesn't end there. Another propaganda narrative was that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on NATO countries to launch a preventive strike against Russia. This notion was spread by pro-Russian bloggers and Telegram channels. The reports claim that Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on NATO countries to launch a preemptive strike against Russia before it uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine. However, the truth is that Zelenskyy did not call on NATO to use nuclear weapons. According to analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project, this statement arose due to a misinterpretation of a translated interview. In fact, neither the US nor the EU is interested in a nuclear scenario unfolding in Ukraine. Any nuclear explosion could have unpredictable consequences for the entire world. Instead, Russia constantly hints at the possibility of using nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine.
At the end of the week, propagandists once again began to spread the narrative that Ukraine will use a dirty bomb against Russia, having manufactured it under the guidance of Western supervisors. Allegedly, the bomb was developed jointly by scientists of the Ukrainian Eastern Mining and Processing Plant and the Kyiv Institute for Nuclear Research. Propagandists stated that if a provocation of this sort is carried out by Ukraine, Russia will be blamed for everything. And all this is supposedly aimed at launching a massive worldwide anti-Russian campaign. Russia spread narratives about the production of the dirty bomb in Ukraine on the eve of the full-scale war. You can find more about this in the article by Hala Skliarevska.
"Russian-speaking (non)Ukrainians and bad volunteers"
Ukrainians are Russians because... they speak Russian. This isn’t a new Russian narrative at all, but it was dragged into the media space once again anyway. This time, administrators of pro-Russian Telegram channels claimed that the main defining feature of Ukrainians should be the Ukrainian language, but, in their opinion, "no one actually speaks it". Therefore, Ukrainians are not Ukrainians, but Russians. The Russians confirm their conviction that no one speaks Ukrainian with a video shot during the Russian attack on Kyiv by kamikaze drones, showing people reacting to the threat by speaking, and cursing, in Russian. Russian propagandists have already claimed recently that Ukrainians are Russians, albeit not "normal", but "sick" and "insane" ones.
Also, this week, Russian propagandists again called on Ukrainians to stop donating to volunteers. According to propagandists, donations to volunteers will not save the country, whose economy is on the brink of collapse, because foreign partners are not rushing to support it, and the volunteers themselves are corrupt. Instead, according to the Russians, Ukrainians should spend all their money on buying stoves, firewood, and generators, because soon "Ukraine will return to the Middle Ages", and Ukrainians will need all these things to survive.
However, according to the Russians, it’s not just Ukraine that will return to the Middle Ages, but EU countries as well, where people are allegedly already at the point of felling forests en masse as they have no other means of keeping warm. These reports claim that Europeans have already cut down Berlin's Tiergarten park for firewood. But the propagandists did not stop at stories about cutting down trees: they claim that the energy crisis makes Germans consider the possibility of heating their homes with horse manure. This is, of course, just another work of fiction. Even so, propagandists stand to gain from spreading misinformation and manipulation about energy security in the West. They claim that Europe is going to freeze soon as a result of Russia's refusal to provide gas.
Continuing the topic was the so-called cold winter for Europeans. These narratives are designed to frighten Europeans, because "this year's winter will be fierce, prices are rising, and there is no gas". Thus, Russia gives the impression that without Russia and its energy capabilities, other countries will not be able to function adequately. Media outlets in Russia spread reports that "Gazprom" is forecasting a cold winter, citing its head Alexey Miller. However, Gazprom has no meteorological service of its own to make such forecasts. In addition, scientists believe that long-term weather forecasts are not reliable, since it is impossible to accurately predict what the weather will be like in a few weeks. The Russian energy blackmail campaign began in spring, more than half a year before winter. Europe is now being subjected to more messages and manipulations claiming that it is about to freeze.
"Zelenskyy is ridiculed in the West, but Putin's ideas are supported"
Also this week, propagandists spread the narrative that the West no longer supports Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but rather laughs at him. In support of their claim, they provide screenshots of a mocking cover of the El Jueves magazine, which was later revealed to be false. Earlier, Russian propaganda used fake covers of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo to disparage Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
At the same time, Russian media outlets began publishing headlines suggesting that Putin's ideas are gaining popularity in the West. As has been explained by Detector Media as part of its Disinformation Chronicles project, this is, of course, a manipulation.
