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Tactics and tools How Russian propaganda uses repetition tactics

Multiple repetition is one of the key tactics of Russian propaganda. The idea (thesis, slogan) is repeated many times in different sources of information until it is perceived as true. Television, radio, cinema, show business, literature, education, etc. are used to spread the idea.

For example, in 2014, after the occupation of the Crimean peninsula, Russians began to use the slogan “Crimea is ours!”. It sounded everywhere: in the official statements of Russian officials, in the media, in the statements of famous Russians, in humorous programs, etc. To reinforce the idea, Russian propagandist Andrii Kondrashov shot a documentary film for several hours - a reconstruction of the events of “Crimea. Way to the motherland” (meaning “return” to Russia). Due to the multiple repetition of the slogan in the form of a hashtag for social networks, a new version of its spelling appeared - “Krymnash” (Crimea is ours). In the Russian-language version of Wikipedia, such a transformation is called the “neologism of the Russian language”, which was allegedly recognized as the “word of the year”. The idea was endlessly repeated to the Russians that the temporarily occupied Crimea supposedly belongs to Russia. That is why they perceive it as true, despite the fact that not a single democratic state in the world has recognized the accession of the peninsula to Russia.

Another example of multiple repetition is the spread of the Russian narrative “Nazis/fascists came to power in Ukraine – Ukrainians need to be saved”. Since 2013, since the beginning of the Revolution of Dignity, Russian propaganda began to call the democratic processes in Ukraine a “coup d'état”, a “seizure of power”, power - a “junta”, a “Kyiv regime”. Also, messages about Ukrainian “nationalists”, “Nazis”, “Banderas” began to be promoted in the information space. That is, the propagandists combined the tactics of substitution of concepts with multiple repetition and fixed far-fetched messages as truthful. Finally, the narrative about the need to “liberate” Ukrainians from “Nazis/fascists” was used to justify the start of the so-called “special military operation”.

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