“Brilliant generalizations” is a manipulative tactic that consists in attributing positive characteristics to the phenomena or events that propagandists talk about. At the same time, the details of phenomena or events that contradict the vision of the propagandists are declared “not peculiar” to what is being discussed, “insignificant” or “invented by enemies”.

Tactics is based on the exploitation of people's positive attitude towards such concepts as freedom, democracy, patriotism, peace, happiness, love, truth, order, etc. Propagandists adapt these concepts to justify decisions, points of view and actions that are beneficial to them.

For example, four weeks after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a concert and flash mobs were held in Russia in honor of the 8th anniversary of the illegal annexation of Crimea. The concert was held under the slogan “For (Za) a world without Nazism”, and the flash mob was “For (Za) the world, for (Za) Russia, for (Za) the President”. With slogans about peace, unity in the fight against the “Nazis” and support for the authorities, the organizers of the event tried to divert attention from the fact that “the special operation, which was supposed to end in three days”, dragged on for weeks.

The Putin regime equated the concept of “patriotism” with the support of the authorities. Only people who support Putin and the aggressive war he unleashed in Ukraine can now be considered real patriots of Russia. So, many Russian athletes who publicly support the dictator justify this with “patriotism”.

Also, the soldiers of the occupying army who commit war crimes in Ukraine are called by the Russian propaganda media “new heroes of Russia” who are “ready to give their lives for the sake of victory over Nazism and for the sake of world peace”.

We have already talked about the opposite of “brilliant generalizations” propaganda tactics. It is called “labeling” and is used to highlight the negative aspects of what propagandists are talking about.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. In the Dutch city of The Hague, someone drew graffiti depicting Zelenskyi hanging from a gallows, reports say. Like, the whole world wants to get rid of him. The authors add that this was done, they say, by Polish male and female artists. It is not true.

The German fact-checkers of the Correctiv project worked through the case and found out  that such graffiti does not exist. First, they analyzed the area of The Hague and found that the street depicted in the graffiti does not exist in this city. This was determined by using the location of paving stones, trees and other markers. Subsequently, they found out that the photo shows a Swiss city, not far from Zurich.

So the fact-checkers approached the local building authority to see if such graffiti existed in the Swiss city. There, the fact-checkers were told that such graffiti did not exist. Most likely, the photo was created using Photoshop.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Ukrainian air defense is not yet effective enough, because it is led by “incompetent” military. The authors add that the Ukrainian Defense Forces do not know how to manage air defense and themselves end up in Ukrainian high-rise buildings. According to their conclusions, all hits in civilian infrastructure (homes, shops, hospitals, kindergartens) occur, they say, because of the unprofessional Ukrainian army. At the same time, as an example of this thesis, the authors add to the publications a video of “Ukrainian air defense hitting” one of the Kyiv high-rise buildings on July 13, 2023.

Fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation explained that on the night of July 13, the Russians attacked Kyiv and the region with strike drones. The video shows the consequences of the fall of the wreckage of the Russian Shahed-136/131 UAV on a residential building in Kyiv. The propagandists simply reflected the situation and began to claim that the building had suffered at the hands of the Ukrainian army. But it is not like this.

Rhetoric about the incompetent military is often used by Russian propaganda to cover up its crimes against Ukrainian civilians. That is, all rocket attacks or drones are attributed by the Russians to the Ukrainian army, which is “inept”. Such propagandists whitewash themselves and demonize the Ukrainian military, who allegedly target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

The information was disseminated in the Georgian segment of Facebook. Reports say that during the NATO summit, Zelenskyi met with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg. As a result of the meeting, Zelenskyi extended his hand, while Jens Stoltenberg allegedly refused to shake hands. The authors add that hundreds of cameras recorded this moment, and as evidence they cite a photo of one of the photojournalists. This is manipulation.

Georgian fact-checkers of the Myth Detector project investigated this case and found out that the photo was taken not at the NATO summit, but on April 20 in Kyiv. It was also a meeting of officials. In the video meeting, you can see when Zelenskyi extends his hand to Stoltenberg, he looks at the cameras, and as soon as he notices the outstretched hand, he crushes Zelensky's hand. That is, the propagandists used the old video of the meeting and took a screenshot of the moment that was beneficial to them. However, as a result, Jens Stoltenberg did not refuse Zelenskyi to shake hands.

By spreading this manipulation, the authors seek to show that allegedly Zelenskyi is not respected in political circles and that he is generally ignored. Thus, they seek to undermine the authority of the President.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that during a visit to the Czech Republic, Zelenskyi “adjusted Ukrainian symbols with his shoe”. As proof, the authors add a freeze frame from the Czech media video. It's a lie.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project investigated the case and found out that Volodymyr Zelenskyi did not fix Ukrainian symbols with his foot. And the freeze frame does not reflect what actually happened. On July 7, Zelenskyi, together with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, laid flowers at the Velvet Revolution Memorial in Prague. The event was filmed by many Czech media. The authors stopped the video at the moment when Zelenskyi approached the Memorial and his toe was raised. Subsequently, from that moment they took a screenshot and passed it off as Zelensky's “careless attitude” to Ukrainian symbols.

However, the President simply came close to the monument and laid flowers. Then he immediately got up and walked away from the monument. He did not make any additional movements with his foot.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Zelenskyi allegedly deliberately ignores Ukrainian refugees during foreign visits and does not try to solve their problems. Like, Volodymyr Zelenskyi visits foreign countries only for self-promotion, forgetting about the Ukrainians and the war.

StopFake's fact-checkers analyzed this case and explained that Zelenskyi often addresses Ukrainians abroad, thanks other governments for asylum, and also repeatedly talks about the need for a strategy to return refugees home. The President himself makes trips abroad for tete-a-tete talks with allies, with whom he discusses the challenges of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Experts cited as an example the visit of Volodymyr Zelenskyi to Poland, where during a meeting with the President and First Lady of Poland, Zelenskyi thanked the Poles for providing asylum. Fact-checkers explain that this is not an isolated case.

This message is beneficial to propagandists in order to discredit Zelenskyi and show as if he does not care about Ukrainians, but thinks only of himself. Thus, the authors seek to show the “indifference” of Volodymyr Zelenskyi to the Ukrainians.