Propaganda на русском

Lies and Lying Liars. Episode 3.

Updated I: 3/4/2022, 10:30am. Updated II: 12:45pm. See Notes.

Who believes what and why? Let’s address our “simple” question from the Russian side.

Last week, I started with the facts—but facts are not required for beliefs. Beliefs are most intense when they are linked to stories that people have accepted as true. Shorter: beliefs are subjective.

Russia’s official narrative is like an information umbrella over the nation. The ribs are the various state-run media like Tass (wire service), RT (Russian Television), and Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the government’s newspaper of record.

The panels are the contents that are woven into a stretchable fabric of selected facts, half-truths, distortions, and lies.

The outer canopy acts as a barrier to information coming from the outside: from international reports, foreign news, and any source that contradicts the official narrative.

The inner canopy is the protective shield, components of the official story that people want to believe because it confirms a long-standing belief, amplifies a grievance or reinforces an identity.

And the shaft is . . . self-explanatory.

Let’s use this analogy to examine a key element of the official story of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: It’s a “special military operation”—not a war!

Russia launches ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine

MOSCOW, February 24. /TASS/ On the morning of February 24, Russia officially launched a “special military operation” against Ukraine, designed, as Russian President Vladimir Putin explained, to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the neighboring state. The goal of the operation is to protect the people of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), he said. The Ukrainian authorities subsequently severed diplomatic ties with Russia, urging its partners to create an “anti-Putin” coalition against the Russian troops entering Donbass and shelling military infrastructure facilities throughout the country. The United States, members of NATO and the European Union, as well as many other countries, strongly condemned Moscow's actions, while few countries supported Russia unambiguously. Unprecedentedly tough sanctions will be imposed on Russia.

Vladimir Putin: “Don’t say war.”

Ron DeSantis: “Don’t say gay.” But I digress.

The anchoring idea of the official narrative, “special military operation,” spreads through the ribs of the umbrella. Other conceptual threads are woven through the umbrella’s connecting panels: for example, assertions that Russia’s goal is to de-Nazify the Ukrainian government and that Ukrainian and West are involved in an “anti-Putin” coalition. These elaborations help to form a cover story that becomes more complicated and more detached from reality.

Masha Gessen:

Russian authorities have banned words like “war” or “invasion” to describe what they want to call a “special operation” in Ukraine. On Saturday, the communications-oversight authority demanded that ten media outlets . . . remove reports that described the war as a war, or else providers would block their Web sites and impose fines.

Why not just admit Russia’s in a war? Ah, because war drags on, it expands the circle of harm. Mothers lose sons, wives lose husbands, children lose fathers.* Even more: a War in Europe—for Russians—means sacrifice across the board. But a special operation suggests something professional, precise, targeted, and quick. It is a matter for the military—not for the whole society.

So the “special military operation” designation has to be maintained and protected. This is the prime directive. Non-compliance will be met with threats, coercion, and repression.

Cleanup in the information space has begun. Moscow’s liberal Echo radio station was taken down on March 1. One of the last independent television stations, Rain TV was told to cease broadcasting. They did so in dramatic fashion on Thursday, March 3. The entire staff resigned during a live stream with “No War” emblazoned on the screen. Then the station abruptly shifted to a performance of the Swan Lake ballet. This was a symbolic message that Russians would understand. When the USSR collapsed in 1991, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake was the only program on every TV station.

The editor of one of the last independent newspapers, Novaya Gazeta, also sees the writing on the wall.

“We continue to call war war,” Dmitry Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta, said. “We are waiting for the consequences.”

What kind of consequences are we talking about? American journalist Megan Stack, based in Moscow for a couple of years, says that Putin’s threats should be taken seriously. Stack’s reporting on the alleged murderer Andrei Lugovoi, a Russian intelligence officer who allegedly poisoned defector Alexander Litvinenko in London, came to the attention of the state authorities. Stack assumed that her status as a member of the foreign press protected her from political retaliation. And then she received a summons.

I was questioned at a sprawling maze of a police station. The policewoman inquired about my editors and interview method. Again, she demanded my notes. Again, I refused.

I asked if we were finished.

The Man spoke up: “We haven’t started yet.”

And still. The USSR is no more and the Russian Federation faces international isolation. L’ancien régime russe had the gulag and KGB—but no hard currency. The Federation has ATM machines, mobile phones, and social media. The situations are different. On the one hand . . . on the other hand . . . take Russian threats seriously.

What if you’re not living under the analogous Russian information umbrella? In that case, here’s a metaphor: The Russian vampire squid of misinformation is stretching its tentacles, reaching out for you.

From Steven Brill and the researchers at NewsGuard:

Russia employs a multilayered strategy to introduce, amplify, and spread false and distorted narratives across the world – relying on a mix of official state media sources, anonymous websites and accounts, and other methods to distribute propaganda that advances the Kremlin’s interests and undermines its adversaries. . . . Its government-funded and operated websites use digital platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok to launch and promote false narratives.

Keep an eye out. It’s easy to get caught.

If you missed Episode 1, it’s here.

If you missed Episode 2, it’s here.

Keep scrolling down (below Notes) to reach the comments, share, and like buttons.

Notes:

Update: 3/4/22 10:30am CST

Updated 12:45pm CST:

The latest on the TV RAIN shutdown: Sophie Mellor, Putin’s media crackdown finds a martyr as Russian TV staff sign off final live stream to tune of Swan Lake

*I’m not being sexist here. The Russian state discourages women from joining the military and does not allow them in combat roles.

Masha Gessen, How Putin wants Russians to see the war in Ukraine.

Moscow Times. Russian liberal mainstay Ekho Moskvy taken off the air.

NewsGuard. Russian Misinformation Tracking Center.

David Remnick, How Russia’s Nobel-winning newspaper is covering Ukraine.

Megan K. Stack, In Russia, I learned, threats are always real.

Tass Russian News Agency. Russia Launches special military operation in Ukraine