"Divide and demoralize" - British expert explains how Russian propaganda manipulates patriotism of Ukrainians
That’s according to Dr Jade McGlynn, Research Fellow, Department of War Studies at King’s College London, who gave an exclusive comment to Ukrinform.
“Russian propaganda is most successful where it recognizes Ukrainian patriotism and seeks to manipulate it. Or at least where it has to make accommodations for Ukrainian experiences and find a language Ukrainian audiences will understand and accept us plausible,” the expert noted.
She explains that Russian-backed propaganda in Ukraine identifies the issues that are emotive for Ukrainians and inflames these emotions to turn them against their government, their allies, and the Ukrainian war effort itself.
"If the time-tested military strategy is ‘divide and conquer’ then Russia's propaganda strategy can be described as ‘divide and demoralize,’” said the expert.
Russia divides by pitting regions against each other, “playing on fears Kyiv is centralizing all power, and trying to inflame ethnic division, for example, against Hungarians or Rusins”.
The expert noted that key focus points of demoralization include “exploiting tensions around mobilization, concerns about training and post-battle care for soldiers, the idea that the children of the elite aren't fighting, that western allies are unreliable, and of course, corruption”.
As the Ukrainian Army enjoys a very high trust rating, Russian Telegram channels avoid criticizing the military directly, she noted, adding that, instead, they present themselves as being on the side of the ordinary soldier.
“But in reality, they are always seeking to undermine the scale of Russia's horror and to blame Ukraine for resisting Russia's brutality,” Dr McGlynn stressed.
While many of the issues Russian propaganda identifies are emotive and legitimate issues of discussion, what is not legitimate is the way Russian propaganda uses them, the expert underlined, “namely to make a case for surrender or to blame Ukrainians for the invasion and loss of heroes’ lives”.
Russia does it in ways that are not always explicit, for example by presenting criticism of President Volodymyr Zelensky as a defense of Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi or even of Ukraine itself.
She believes Russia's disinformation will continue to grow and feed off the opportunities provided by the misery and destruction it itself is inflicting.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that among major challenges in countering Russian aggression are the fight against disinformation spread by Russia and preventing Russia from circumventing sanctions.
"Today, unfortunately, Russia controls a large percentage of the information space. And I'm not talking about Ukraine here, but about social media everywhere in the civilized world: Europe, the United States, the UK, the African continent and Latin America. Russia invests a lot of money in various media in other countries, as well as in social networks," Zelensky said.
