Propagandists try to explain current events using conspiracy theories, even when it comes to air attacks by the Russian military on civilian infrastructure. They are trying to justify them by what in the West is called the “crisis actor” theory.

According to it, most of the crisis situations (shootings or terrorist attacks) occurring in the world are supposedly staged. They say that those in power scare the population with such things for political purposes. For example, conspiracy theorists tried to devalue the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 or school shootings in this way. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the founder of the InfoWars portal, called the Sandy Hook school shooting a “staged act” and the relatives of the victims “hired actors” (hence it is called the “crisis actor” theory). He called for death threats against them, which resulted in victims’ relatives receiving numerous calls and messages from users of the site. They teamed up and filed a lawsuit against Jones, as a result of which InfoWars was closed, and Jones was forced to pay huge monetary compensation to the families of the victims, which is why he declared bankruptcy.

Propagandists use this theory to justify Russian terrorist attacks on civilian infrastructure. They call almost every high-profile terrorist attack a staging, for example, the attack on the cathedral in Odesa. Moreover, Russian officials also call the events in Bucha and other (de)occupied territories “staged”. To support this, they take elements of videos or photographs out of context or resort to Photoshop. It is interesting that Russia has used this theory before, in particular to explain the events of the Yugoslav War. For example, Russia still claims that the difference in the Albanian village of Racak was allegedly staged, which it appeals to during statements on the topic of its aggression against Ukraine. Even despite the fact that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia admitted that something really happened and convicted the then head of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic, as well as his henchmen, for it.

Using this theory, Russia wants to avoid responsibility for its crimes. They say that everyone only wants to denigrate Russia, that’s why they come up with the idea that it kills people. However, a number of projects that help document these crimes disprove this theory and provide important evidence for holding Russia accountable in the future.