Manic propaganda, silenced independent media
Russian patriotism has been on full display in Moscow.
Billboards spread throughout the city feature messages of support for the Russian troops. The letter ‘Z’, which is being used as a marker on Russian military vehicles operating in Ukraine, can be seen in local advertising spots, government buildings and outside theaters. Kremlin critics, on the other hand, are being publicly branded ‘traitors’ and seeing their houses graffitied with crude messaging.
And with Russian authorities moving to wipe out any source of criticism, Muscovites are also increasingly losing access to independent platforms. The majority of foreign media outlets have either been forced to leave the country or are now labeled by state regulators as ‘foreign agents’, severely limiting the scope of their activities.
Novaya Gazeta, the last independent investigative newspaper still operating in Russia, announced earlier this week that it would be suspending online and print activities for the time being. Editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov, who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his efforts to preserve press freedom in Russia, said the outlet had “no other choice” after facing mounting pressure from the Kremlin to change its reporting.
Media workers: The big mistake we made
Propaganda taking a hold of the mind of Russians has become a frequent complaint by many residents in Moscow. There’s a military war in Ukraine and a disinformation war at home.
Anna K., a video producer, believes that the war won’t benefit ordinary people, many don’t feel the same. “I feel lucky that those around me share my views and that I don’t have to argue with my friends and relatives. Others are not as lucky; parents, close friends and even partners have been lost to propaganda and many meaningful connections have been severed as a result”.
State-run media outlets have kept busy echoing the Kremlin’s official wartime narrative. A quick glance at the programing on TV ranges from heavy reporting on the heroic feats of the Russian military - portrayed as the liberators of Ukrainians held hostage by so-called ‘Nazi militias’ in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, while making little mention of the military assaults on Kyiv and other major cities - to talks shows where Russian foreign policy pundits take turns painting Moscow as a victim rather than an aggressor and blaming Nato and western countries for forcing the Kremlin into war. Print media offers an equal alternate version of events.
“Many in the Russian opposition, including editors and newsmakers, admit today that the biggest mistake they made was to target the younger audiences when they should have targeted the middle-aged and older generations. They are likely to be pro-war,“ says Anna. “I think it’s tightly connected to the collective trauma of the 1990s and the fall of the Soviet Union. All those people in power right now were raised in the Soviet system and watching it fall apart was painful for them.
It left them with a lot of grievances towards the collective West that didn’t support Russia enough and towards the post-Soviet states that had declared independence instead of sticking with Russia. They consider many post-Soviet states “their” territory. It’s not the same for younger generations, those who were born either at the end of the 1980s or in the 1990s, I’m among them. I was raised with history textbooks that clearly stated that all those countries (Ukraine, Latvia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, etc) are independent sovereign states. Unfortunately, I might also be among the last to learn it because the same history textbooks have been actively censored and re-reviewed since 2014 and annexation of Crimea “
Against this background, support for Vladimir Putin has soared to new heights. A recent survey by the independent pollster Levada Center reveals that 83% of Russians approve of Putin's actions against Ukraine.
More than half of the respondents, 69%, also said that the country is going in the right direction. Levada’s director Denis Volkov believes that initial feelings of “shock and confusion” after the invasion have been replaced with support for the Kremlin, explaining that Putin’s growing popularity can be put down to many Russians believing that “Putin defends us, otherwise we would be eaten alive.”
If Ukraine had not rejected peace proposals...
For Ivan T., a designer in Moscow, the conflict has brought mixed feelings.
“Putin is a strong and outwardly focused leader, but an old-fashioned internal politician who has not overcome the clan-based state of the country’s elites for the last two decades. However, there is no one else experienced in understanding Russia’s needs,” he says.
The 28-year-old sees himself as an informed citizen, relying on domestic and foreign press outlets, as well as dedicated defense online channels for the latest war news. Moreover, Ivan comes from a military family with a long history of serving in the armed forces. But despite agreeing that “no one would welcome a war in their own backyard”, the Muscovite has harsh words for the Ukrainian government.
“All of this may have not happened if Ukraine had not rejected diplomatic peace proposals for the last eight years”, he argues.
“I doubt that this is a specific paragraph from a history textbook that says that Ukraine is or should be a part of Russia. Because of the way the USSR collapsed, not along national borders but being divided rather along administrative lines, we saw a series of conflicts breaking out in former soviet countries. The public discourse in Russia has become such that nowadays many are trying to stretch these facts to include the historical right that Ukrainians have to their territories within current borders, ignoring generations that grew up there before (and aren’t Ukrainian but Russian).”
Stopping briefly to collect his thoughts, Ivan continues: “On the other side of the coin, there’s the idea of the indivisibility of the Ukrainian nation… that all land within the current borders is native Ukrainian, and therefore the population living within it - even if they disagree and do not identify themselves as Ukrainians - should leave.
“In my opinion, the Ukrainian state has long lost the capability of protecting the rights of citizens (in pro-Russian, separatist regions),”, he concludes.
Ivan said this was referring to Zelensky’s speech. However, I am not aware that Zelensky had made such speeches or expressed those ideas.
Meanwhile, the Russian leader is a near-daily presence on state-run TV, either conducting briefings with senior ministers and aides or addressing Russian citizens.
Putin’s talking points haven’t changed much since the launch of the military offensive against Ukraine. The Russian leader has continued selling Russia’s conflict at home as a “special military operation” aimed at liberating Russian-speaking residents of Donbas, a Russian-backed rebel-backed separatist region in eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin has long claimed that pro-Russia residents there faced repeated persecution and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime. The Ukrainian government has denied the accusations.
“I support this special operation. I believe that we were forced to have this war. Ukraine is a tool of the West to create problems and provocations on the border with Russia. We’ve seen the same with Georgia (in 2008). In fact, this is a global confrontation of the West, led by the US, against Russia,” suggests Vladislav P., a Muscovite who works in his family business selling Italian furniture in the Russian capital.
“Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians are as close to each other as possible, both in blood and mentality. (However) Ukrainian propaganda has worked very well over these last 8 years and citizens have been brainwashed, leading to a mental separation from us Russians. They lied about how Ukraine is a part of Europe culturally - and they have stoked (anti-Moscow) patriotism. Changing that thinking will be possible, it will just take time. Since the start of the conflict, I’ve only become more convinced of the necessity of this special operation.”
Questioned about the actions of the Russian leader, Vladislav is categoric. ”Putin is this country’s biggest patriot.”
*There are two articles in this series, the next one: How Do Ordinary Russians See The War: 15,000 people came out at the cost of 15 years in prison
*中文版請見：俄羅斯平民怎麼看戰爭（上）「如果烏克蘭有簽『和平協議』，今天這些事都不會發生。」
Editor: Sylvia Tien
