There has been some hard-to-believe propaganda shared by Russian state media such as RIA Novosti. In the latest piece condemning the resistance against the war in Ukraine by the Russian intelligentsia, Natalia Osipova lays out the main points that the state has against its people that do not support the war. The original of the article is here.
Osipova starts with the topic of nazism, accusing the Russian intelligentsia of being short-sighted as they do not see how “Nazified” Ukraine is. Keeping calling the mass murders of civilians in Bucha “fakes”, she argues that those that are against the war just would not open their eyes to the “truth”, even if they are shown what is going on in Ukraine. This is a difficult argument to disprove as one can keep coming up with “truths” which prove the point but that others cannot see due to their perceived partisan views. Osipova goes as far as calling not believing in Russia’s sacred right to invade other countries “hatred and desire for Russia to lose” which shows the grotesque level of reasoning that Russian propaganda has reached.
The general approach to creating propaganda seems to be one of the melting pots of various facts and emotions. Osipova brings together the war in Donbas, people’s desire to use Airbnb and booking.com, and Jewish history of the 1930s-40s. Seemingly unrelated, these events are presented in a way to make the reader feel bad for questioning the Kremlin’s official line of the situation in Ukraine, at the same time making the reader guilty for wanting “liberties” and welfare of the West, even if in the way of working bank cards and booking accommodation easily on the internet. Unfortunately, such bombardment with facts and guilt is difficult to withstand unless one is specifically trained, as it takes time and effort to dispel such accusations that Russian state media are capable of creating very fast.