Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a hybrid war against Ukraine after declaring two eastern-Ukrainian territories—Luhansk and Donetsk—as independent republics and deploying troops to “maintain peace.” The ensuing conflict has resulted in massive destruction, killed hundreds of civilians and troops, displaced millions, and forced hundreds of thousands to flee the country.
To retaliate against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, several international actors—including the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Australia, and the European Union (EU)—have announced a barrage of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Among these punitive measures is the West’s war against Russian propaganda and disinformation, wherein they have begun restricting and regulating content from Russian-owned media channels, such as Russia Today and Sputnik. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the moves are designed to stop Russia from “spreading lies” to “justify Putin’s war and to sow division in our Union” through “toxic and harmful disinformation.”
Russian state propaganda machines have also been targeted by tech giants and social media companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram, which have restricted access to RT, Sputnik, RIA Novosti, Zvezda TV, Lenta.ru, and Gazeta.ru, among others.
Facebook and YouTube announced that they will restrict Russian-owned media channels from generating ad revenue on their platforms. Twitter, meanwhile, said it would label and reduce the visibility of tweets linked to Russian-owned media channels, Likewise, Microsoft removed RT apps from its app store and content related to Russian media from its news feed, and de-ranked the sites in Bing search results.
This string of punitive measures came after Russia sent its disinformation campaigns into overdrive, with both government authorities and state media filtering the invasion of Ukraine by portraying Kyiv as the aggressor and minimising the severity of the conflict. For instance, Russia 1 TV host Yevgeny Popov claimed, “The invasion has begun. But it wasn’t Putin who invaded Ukraine—instead, Ukraine went to war with Russia and Donbas.” Likewise, Putin said last week that Ukraine is governed by neo-Nazis, drug addicts, and antisemites, and justified his assault by saying he only wants to demilitarise the country.
Russia’s Education Ministry is rolling out a special campaign to ensure that the nation, especially its schoolchildren, understand that the war in Ukraine isn’t a “war.” More details here: https://t.co/UKpOmtlg3G pic.twitter.com/v6vmbbxxjI
— Meduza in English (@meduza_en) March 2, 2022
Similarly, on Friday, amid a barrage of attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Russian state media alleged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had fled the country. Russian propagandists circulated a message on Telegram stating: “Russian troops surrounded Kyiv. Zelensky may have fled. Russia is fighting not against the Ukrainian people and army but against Nazi battalions and foreign mercenaries.”
But this was quickly debunked by the President himself, who posted a video filmed by the Bankova with other officials. In a tweet, Zelensky said, “We’re all here. We are in Kyiv. We defend Ukraine. Our military is here, our citizens and society are here. We are all here defending our independence, our state, and this is how it’s going to be.” On the same day, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned people of Russia’s false flag operation to blame Ukraine for human rights abuses.
Не вірте фейкам. pic.twitter.com/wiLqmCuz1p
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 26, 2022
Apart from portraying a rosy picture of Putin’s military actions and waging a disinformation war against Ukraine, the Russian President has also sought to keep Russians in the dark about the war in Ukraine. To this effect, Russian officials have restricted access to various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok) and independent news media outlets such as Novaya Gazeta and Dozhd TV channel, and asked media outlets to only refer to official government documents for reports and avoid the use of certain words such “invasion,” “attack,” and “war.” Authorities have also restricted access to Facebook and Twitter in an effort to further limit Russian citizens’ access to the truth, particularly after several of its mouthpieces were silenced or censored by the companies.
Russia is resorting to these tactics to keep ordinary citizens from the uncomfortable truth that their soldiers are the aggressors and that they are not in Ukraine on a “peacekeeping” mission. Moreover, authorities are also seeking to limit the reputational damage to the military as a whole, which is waning in popularity. According to an independent poll agency Levada, only 45% of Russians backed the recognition of the Russian-controlled territories in southeast Ukraine. Additionally, it is believed that far fewer people are in favour of a full-scale invasion.
That being said, while the motives for this misinformation campaign may be clear, what is less certain is why Russia is persisting with this strategy when it is having the exact opposite effect of what was intended, causing Russian citizens to doubt, question, and ultimately uncover their government’s lies. Ukrainian President Zelensky touched on these doubts last week, when, speaking in Russian, he appealed to the Russian people by saying: “You are being told this is a plan to free the people of Ukraine. But the Ukrainian people are free.”
Russia's war against Ukraine is taking place in social media too.
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) February 26, 2022
Don’t fall for major trends of Russian disinformation!
Use official sources: @MFA_Ukraine, @APUkraine @GeneralStaffUA
P.S. sorry the team is exhausted without sleep, we make mistakes in tweets & tweet them again pic.twitter.com/OknbqLoetU
These misgivings have manifested themselves in the form of petitions, acts of rebellion by local media, and widespread protests.
An online petition to stop Russia’s attack was launched shortly after the invasion of Ukraine and garnered 780,000 signatures in around 72 hours. Several other petitions and letters have been signed by thousands of doctors, teachers, and journalists. Likewise, multiple independent news outlets have refused to self-censor; Dmitry Muratov, the editor of Novaya Gazeta, said he would rely on his newsroom and correspondent for information. Furthermore, thousands have taken to the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg to protest against Russia’s military actions.
Huge anti-war protest happening in Moscow, the capital of Russia:
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 24, 2022
Russian citizens rejecting the Ukraine invasion pic.twitter.com/Cx6GADwlPy
One of Russia’s most renowned media personalities, Yuri Dudt, said he didn’t vote for this regime and “its need for an empire.” In a similar vein, a protester said, “It’s mixed feelings of anger, fury, shame, you don’t know what to feel,” adding, “And.. you can’t even share these feelings because for the whole world you’re a pariah and true evil. And your passport is the passport of the aggressor. You don’t even know where to start.”
A former editor and publisher, Ilya Krasilshchik, said he didn’t listen to Putin’s announcement of “special operation” in eastern Ukraine, saying he found it too revolting. He said, “I listened to [Volodymyr] Zelensky instead. As someone said: ‘It’s been a long time since anyone spoke to the Russian people with that kind of love’.”
Anti-war protest tonight in St Petersburg, Russia...
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) March 2, 2022
Photo Credit: Reuters pic.twitter.com/L6usYHrXhr
Furthermore, a prominent contemporary art museum in Moscow, Garage, also postponed work on exhibitions until war until the crisis in Ukraine has ceased. A statement by the museum read: “We cannot support the illusion of normality when such events are taking place. We see ourselves as part of a wider world that is not divided by war.”
Even Russian elites and parliamentarians have spoken out against the war and described it as an act of “fratricide.” Communist party lawmakers Oleg Smolin and Mikhail Matveyev, for example, broke rank and expressed displeasure with the Kremlin’s actions and called for an immediate halt to the war.
We will also be asking the CRTC to begin the process of reviewing Russia Today’s presence on Canadian airwaves – because we cannot allow falsehoods, propaganda, and disinformation about Russia’s war to continue spreading in Canada.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 28, 2022
In truth, the Kremlin is likely well aware that the information put out by its state media is merely generating more questions and inspiring more dissent and protesters. However, despite the evident counterproductivity of its misinformation campaign, Russia has no choice but to double down because to do otherwise would be an admission of guilt and an acknowledgement that it has been seeking to conceal the truth.
That being said, perhaps the Kremlin’s intent was never to make its citizens believe in an alternate reality, given that it most probably knows that such a campaign cannot be successful forever. Rather, it could be argued that its intent is simply to make people question their sense of reality and then hope that the issue in question blows over and attention is diverted elsewhere by the time Putin has achieved his objectives. After all, this is more or less what happened with his invasion of Crimea in 2014.
In this respect, Valentina Shapovalova, an expert in Russian media and propaganda at the University of Copenhagen said, “The goal is to create so many different—and sometimes even contradictory—versions of what is happening at the border that no one can really distinguish the true from the false anymore.” Putin thus seeks to take advantage of this confusion and haze of contradictory information by steering people towards him. As evidenced by large-scale protests in Russia, both now and in recent times, the hypnotizing effect of this form of psychological warfare is now wearing thin. Moreover, with the world’s eyes now firmly trained on Russia, the citizenry is unlikely to get lost in the Kremlin’s fog of obfuscation this time around. However, the Kremlin has no choice but to dig its heels in and fight this clearly losing propaganda war.