“Substitution of concepts” is one of the most common tactics of Russian propaganda. Propagandists artificially substitute commonly used terms (concepts) that evoke mostly negative emotions with new ones that are perceived neutrally or positively.

Propagandists use this tactic primarily to form a modern new language. Since 2014, Russian propaganda has been talking about the “civil war” in Ukraine. Behind this term, Russia's participation in the hostilities in the East of Ukraine was hidden. Like, citizens of one country are fighting. The term “war” has stable negative associations. To avoid the sharp dissatisfaction of Russians with the fact that Russia is starting a full-scale war against Ukraine, they came up with a new, more neutral term - “special military operation”. Thus, the substitution of concepts was used to calm down the Russians.

Using the tactics of substitution of concepts, Russian propaganda called the retreat from the Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, the liberation of Zmiyinyi island a “gesture of good will”. That is, the Russian media covered the defeat on the battlefield as a voluntary withdrawal of troops, moreover, as a favor done to the enemy (that is, Ukraine). Thus, the emotions of strong disappointment were replaced by more neutral ones.

Russian propaganda widely uses the substitution of concepts to highlight the participation of foreigners in the war on the side of Ukraine. They call all foreigners fighting in Ukraine mercenaries. In fact, foreign citizens who receive financial rewards for participating in hostilities are required to enter the service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and they are subordinated to its command. Otherwise, they fight as volunteers. Now Russian propaganda says that supposedly the fighters of the Wagner group are “courageous selfless volunteers”. Actually, the Wagner militants are mercenaries. The private company is not part of the Russian army, but receives financial rewards from Russia for participating in the war against Ukraine and coordinates its operations with the Russian military command. That is, Russian propaganda deliberately replaces one concept with another in order to confuse and change the attitude towards Ukrainian foreign military personnel and Russian mercenaries.

This text is the first in the “Tactics and tools” section, which Detector Media is launching as part of the Disinformation Chronicles project. In it, we will explain how the most common tactics, technologies, and tools that Russian propaganda uses to spread disinformation work.

This is the message propagandists use in their telegram channels and in the pro-Kremlin media. The report says that the propaganda TV company “Russia Today” is massively shut down in European countries. In particular, the enemies cited the example of France and said that there is no “freedom, equality and fraternity” there, hinting that the countries of the European Union do not profess the foundations of freedom of speech and the EU states comprehensively regulate their own media. It seems that one will not find out any truth from local media.

In fact, Russia Today is the center of Russian propaganda that spoke to a multinational audience by spreading Russian propaganda narratives against Europeans. The TV company was repeatedly accused of spreading lies, including about the war in Ukraine.

At the same time, on December 7, 2022, the European Commission made a proposal for the ninth package of sanctions against Russia, which provides for a restriction of almost 200 individuals and legal entities. In addition, the EU sanctions provided for the blocking of propaganda of the Russian Federation in Europe. As suggested by the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the ninth package provided for the impossibility of broadcasting four Russian channels. That is, the broadcasting of channels in Europe is stopped in order to prevent the spread of propaganda by Russia, which is waging a bloody war in Ukraine, and not because of the lack of freedom of speech.

This is the message propagandists use on social networks and on enemy telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. It says that Ukraine “provoked an ecological catastrophe” by allegedly lowering the water level in the Dnipro river lower and lower so that the river would freeze faster. As “evidence”, the authors of the messages publish various photographs and videos in which you can really see the shallow Dnipro and dead fish.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project investigated the case and found that the drop in the water level in the Dnipro was not at all connected with the work of the Ukrainian army, but with Russian shelling, as a result of which the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant was damaged. On January 19, the Zaporizhzhia regional prosecutor's office opened criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Art. 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “On violation of the laws and customs of war”. Currently, priority investigative actions are underway to establish the amount of damage caused to the environment.

“Due to the hostilities and terrorist activities of the occupying troops, it is impossible to plan and carry out any repair and restoration work at the Kakhovka HPP. But everything needs to be fixed and the losses must be counted. According to preliminary data, the amount is already about 105 million hryvnia. The revealed facts have all the signs of a crime against the environment. The aggressor country must answer for them in full”, said Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional administration.

Such a message is being shared by propagandists in their telegram channels and in the Kremlin media. The report says that during his speech in Davos, Zelenskyi allegedly “revealed Ukraine's weakest point” and assured that it was the air defense system. However, this is manipulation.

In fact, StopFake's fact-checkers examined the case and found that propaganda resources omitted the context in which it was said and reduced Zelenskyi's response to just this phrase.

The propagandists distorted the president's quote. In fact, it was an answer to the question of how Ukraine defends itself from the destruction of civilian infrastructure by Russia. This is what the actual quote looks like:

“Defend our weak points. Defend places with partners where the enemy hits. Air defense system. This is our weak point. Maybe this is not a weak point in Ukraine compared to other states,”. That is, we are talking about the fact that, in general, our air defense is quite powerful, however, unfortunately, there is a hit on civilian infrastructure. Therefore, it does not cope with all enemy missiles or drones.

In addition, earlier Volodymyr Zelenskyi repeatedly said that the air defense in Ukraine is strong enough, and in 2023 it will become even more powerful.

By spreading this manipulation, the enemy is trying to prove that the means of Ukrainian defense or, for example, weapons are meaningless and can be quickly destroyed. Allegedly, not a single Western technique can be compared with the domestic Russian one.

This is the message propagandists use on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. It says that Denmark deeply regretted the transfer of its howitzers to Ukraine. Like, Denmark was left with nothing now, because it was waiting for a very long time for howitzers, which in the future would form the defense basis of the country. The authors of the message refer to the words of a military analyst who allegedly said it. This is manipulation.

The StopFake project specialists explained what the comment to the Danish publication Berlingske actually says: military analyst Christian Christensen expressed concern that replacements for the 19 Caesar howitzers would not be easy to find due to the realities of the modern arms market. However, the expert did not say that the decision of the Danish government to transfer weapons to Ukraine was a mistake and that Denmark “regretted” this step. That is, there was no such official position of the country, although the expert noted that howitzers are an important element in the country's defense capability.

Propagandists are spreading this manipulation to nourish the narrative that by handing weapons to Ukraine, other countries are left light and weak. Thus, propagandists want to encourage Western states not to send weapons to Ukraine.

Such a message is being shared by propagandists on social networks and in telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It says that Ukrainians allegedly started calling Russian schoolchildren on behalf of representatives of the gas service and asking them to turn on the gas and go and get some rest. Allegedly, peaceful Ukrainians are arranging sabotage and want to blow up multi-storey buildings. The authors of the messages add to the publication the so-called “audio recording of the call”, during which the woman asks the child to turn on the gas burners, “and go to rest in another room for two hours”. The woman herself claims that she is calling from the gas service, and so they conduct “remote checks”.

As the StopFake fact checkers explain, in fact, such an audio recording was previously distributed among users in the Kazakh segment, and has nothing to do with Ukraine. Back in 2018, this case was discussed on the national TV channels of Kazakhstan. It was discovered that the recording itself was made somewhere in their country, as local names were used.

Propagandists spread this message in order to destabilize the situation and once again nourish the narrative that Ukrainians are Nazis who do not even feel sorry for children.

Such a message is being shared by propagandists in their telegram channels and in the Kremlin media. It says that Moldova is preparing for war, and the West and World Health Organization are helping it in this. They say that the Western leadership, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, arranges training in medical care. That is why, according to propagandists, Moldova is preparing for an offensive. However, this is not true.

The specialists of the StopFake project explained that the Western countries are not preparing Moldova for a war with Russia - this is a stuffing and a conspiracy theory of the pro-Kremlin media. The WHO training for doctors from Moldova was aimed at training doctors to provide assistance to the wounded who arrived from Ukraine.

In addition, the representative office of the World Health Organization in Moldova emphasized that the need for such training is closely related to Russian aggression against Ukraine. The WHO noted that the acquired skills will help Moldovan doctors provide the necessary assistance to refugees from Ukraine who suffered from Russian aggression. There was no mention of “training Moldovan doctors for military operations against Russia” at the training.

This is the message propagandists share on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. It says that the draft notices allegedly began to be handed over even to teenagers, because all the reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have already been exhausted. Like, they are “still children” who Ukraine transfers to the front. The authors of the message add to the publication a likely draft notice, supposedly issued by one of the territorial recruitment and social support centers. However, this is not true.

As the StopFake fact checkers explain, the draft notice spread by the propagandists is actually fake. First of all, the “document” does not correspond to the official model: it has the wrong column names, and some information is completely missing from it. Also, the name of the “military commissariat” is constantly used in the fake draft notice, however, starting from 2021, military registration and enlistment offices in Ukraine are called “territorial recruitment and social support centers”. Fact checkers are sure that the so-called document was created using special editors.

By spreading such messages, propagandists are once again trying to promote the narrative that there is no one left to fight in Ukraine, so even children allegedly have to be mobilized.