During this week, fakes and manipulations of Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine concerned the lives of people in the occupied territories, the nuclear threat from Russia, and the attack on the Crimean bridge.
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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 3-9, 2022, Detector Media analysts recorded 40 cases of disinformation spread by Russian propagandists to achieve Russia's political goals. In particular, this week, many Russian propaganda fakes and narratives concerned what was happening in the Russia-occupied territories, where Russia held illegal referendums, and the attack on the Crimean bridge. In these seven days, propagandists questioned the success of the Ukrainian army on the battlefield, accused Ukraine of terrorism, and searched for a "Western trace" in everything.
Manipulations on the situation in the temporarily occupied territories
This week, Russian propagandists wrote a lot about the situation in the regions of Ukraine where Russia held illegal referendums. For example, propagandists disseminated a fabricated draft state budget, which allegedly deprived the temporarily occupied territories of additional funding for 2023.
There were also messages that Ukraine recognized all those who stayed in the temporarily occupied territories as "traitors". The fake said that all of them will eventually be punished for collaborationism. This is false. In particular, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to this message in his daily address. "If a person did not serve the occupational authorities and did not betray Ukraine, then there is no reason to consider such a person a collaborator," the President said. That is, the Ukrainian authorities do not intend to punish all civilians who are under occupation. However, propagandists benefit from spreading such messages, as they aim to discredit Ukraine and the Ukrainian authorities as well as to intimidate the residents of the temporarily occupied territories and persuade them to cooperate.
There were also reports that Ukraine unreasonably blocked entry to the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhia region. In the reports, the authors cited the words of collaborator Volodymyr Rohov, who claimed that people weren’t able to leave the government-controlled territory, claiming that people were not allowed to leave for various far-fetched reasons and subjected to threats. Although, the truth is that passage was blocked from both sides. The head of the Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Starukh explained that entering the temporarily occupied part of the region was closed after Russian forces shelled a humanitarian convoy in Zaporizhia, so a safer algorithm for transport to the occupied territories is being developed.
Several Russian propaganda narratives and manipulations this week also concerned the Ukrainian counteroffensive. In particular, propagandists spread manipulations regarding the liberation of Ukrainian territories from Russian invaders. For example, one was about the city of Lyman. Pro-Kremlin media claimed that CNN journalists refuted Kyiv's statement about the encirclement of the Russian army in Lyman by Ukrainian troops. Allegedly, it was not the Ukrainian army that pushed the Russian military out, but it was the Russians’ own decision to withdraw to much more "advantageous positions". Propagandists use this explanation because admitting defeat would have a negative effect.
Strike on the Crimean Bridge and the "window of opportunity for a full-scale invasion"
One of the main topics for propagandists this week was the situation with explosions on the Crimean bridge. After the attack on the bridge, which occurred on October 8, a variety of narratives appeared in anonymous propaganda channels. In particular, the propagandists promoted the notion that after the fire and partial collapse of the bridge, Russia will have a large window of opportunity to start a big war against Ukraine. They argue that this will be a suitable opportunity for a full-scale war, as the United States allegedly started a war in Afghanistan in response to the terrorist attack in September 2001. Hence, propagandists claim that Ukraine is a terrorist state that is targeting Russia and Russian infrastructure facilities. However, there has been no official confirmation that Ukraine was involved in the bridge incident.
Also, Kremlin propagandists once again twist the concept of war to their advantage. Propagandists say everything going on in Ukraine is not a war, but that Ukraine, by defending itself and its territories, provokes Russia to begin a "real and serious war". The purpose of such messages is also to intimidate. Allegedly, in response to these acts of terrorism, Russia will now launch strikes against Ukraine's military and infrastructure facilities more often. Therefore, it will have an excuse to act with even more brutality than before.
However, Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has already begun on February 24 this year: Russian troops illegally occupied four Ukrainian regions, destroyed dozens of both infrastructure and civilian objects, deliberately targeted convoys with civilians, destroyed residential buildings, hospitals, schools, etc. And it was Russia that started the war in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions eight years ago.
Propagandists not only called the fire on the bridge a terrorist attack but also blamed Ukraine for it. This case was also compared with the murder of Russian Daria Dugina in Moscow, for which Ukraine was also accused earlier. However, the fact that Ukraine was involved in Dugina's murder has not been proven, and Russia has no serious evidence, other than the unsubstantiated claims of propagandists. The Russian propaganda machine benefits from portraying Ukraine as a terrorist country. In this way, propagandists are shifting responsibility for their crimes and atrocities committed on Ukrainian soil. Their goal is to present the war as a forced measure.
As part of Russian propaganda regarding the bridge incident, Ukraine was said to have been ordered to blow up the bridge by "Western curators". In this way, Russia once again wants to reinforce the narrative that besides Ukraine, it is at war with other countries and organizations that "actually govern Ukraine". They claim that a number of third countries, more developed ones, encouraged Ukraine to "commit a terrorist attack" because they hoped Russia would become more radical in the war, which has not yet occurred. You can read more about what was written on Telegram channels after the Crimean bridge incident in the review by Detector Media.
This week's narrative of "Western management" was further amplified by the message that the West is using the war in Ukraine as a tool to pursue its geopolitical ambitions, as stated by the Russian Foreign Ministry. It claimed that the West was deliberately supplying weapons to Ukraine to keep the country in its sphere of influence.
The propaganda machine this week also justified Russia's aggression by claiming that the destruction of energy infrastructure was necessary to "save" civilians and Russian soldiers. In this case, the Russian Duma deputy Sergey Mironov was quoted as calling to "smash" all infrastructure in Ukraine, including power plants, substations, roads, and bridges. According to the deputy, this will allegedly save the lives of civilians. Russian propaganda attempts to intimidate Ukrainians in this way - it tries to force them into submission, sowing distrust in government actions. In the face of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Russia is blackmailing the Ukrainian people by denying them light, heat, and basic necessities. This is not "caring" for civilian lives, but genocide.
Also, there were threats that Russia would attack Ukraine with nuclear weapons. They even claimed that NATO intelligence reported that a nuclear strike was certain to occur.
