Propagandists have been trying to destabilize the situation in the world for years by supporting various conspiracy movements. An example of this is the situation with “pastel QAnon”.

QAnon, as we have previously written, is an active American conspiracy and political movement centered around the baseless claims of an anonymous person or persons known as Q. In their statements, they claim that there is a certain secret organization of satanic cannibals involved in sexual abuse of children. Allegedly, it is in charge of the global process of child trafficking and coordinated the conspiracy against former US President Donald Trump.

“Pastel QAnon” is a set of tactics and strategies that use “soft” aesthetic elements, particularly pastel colors, to attract additional audiences to the QAnon conspiracy theory. This phenomenon often unfolds on major social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Telegram and YouTube.

Social media influencers associated with “pastel QAnon” focus on aspects of QAnon theory that appeal to maternal instincts, particularly issues about preventing child sexual abuse and human trafficking. They use an emotional and engaged presentation, which is popular among influencers in the field of health, yoga and new age. The term was coined by Marc-André Argentino, a researcher at Concordia University in Canada.

QAnon fans have moved from encrypted pages and anonymous forums to major platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. “Pastel QAnon” uses them to spread messages about child “protection”, child trafficking, health and other topics. They exemplify what the movement is about. The presentation is deliberately done using an informal style. Posts do not always indicate their views on QAnon, and their authors often deny any ties to the movement but promote the same conspiracy theories as QAnon. Often this is done by using already existing popular hashtags, distorting the meaning of the original intentions of their creation and the efforts of organizations involved in combating human trafficking. This is the situation with the #SaveTheChildren hashtag, which was used by QAnon activists.

Pastel QAnon uses soft aesthetic elements such as pastel colors, glitter effects, washed out colors, strokes, illustrations of nature, fashion, makeup, and the language of spiritual and motivational quotes. This visual aesthetic includes elements that are familiar to target groups due to their popularity in product and service advertising, which contributes to its appeal among the audience.

Russia not only supports the development of this movement in a foreign context, but also uses it or similar tactics in its propaganda. This approach was used to create visual materials for last year's protests against the President of Ukraine in Odesa. Then Russians created an information campaign to protest rolling blackouts.

In addition, propagandists often use spiritual quotes in their materials on Russian aggression against Ukraine and soft visual aesthetics. This is done in order to spread your messages among those who find the usual presentation style too aggressive. This is also used by Russian propagandists working abroad.

Propagandists have been trying for years to influence the situation in states that can actively support Ukraine’s further European integration path and oppose Russia’s plans in Europe. In particular, through the support of conspiracy theories in different countries of the world. An example of this is the 2022 German coup plot situation.

In December 2023, charges were brought against members of the Patriotic Union group, arrested a year ago. According to the investigation of the German police, the purpose of the group was to restore the German Empire through a coup d'etat in conditions of civil war. It has been planning an armed attack on the Bundestag since at least November 2021, in addition to the public detention of politicians for civil unrest. The Patriotic Union believed that parts of the German security forces would show solidarity with their efforts. German prosecutors have declared the group a terrorist group.

In a confiscated policy document, the group describes its goals in detail: in addition to patrolling the streets, its members, if they gained power, would also be responsible for the “neutralization of counter-revolutionary forces”. These conspirators included supporters of left-wing political views and Muslims. In addition, during the recruitment of candidates for the inner circle of “Prince Royce” (the head of the group), consultations with experts on paranormal phenomena and astrologers were recorded.

The group had a far-right ideology, regularly promoted anti-Semitic theories and shared the views of the American QAnon community, whose representatives believe that the United States is led by “satanists, cannibals and pedophiles”. The Patriotic Union's planned coup included an assault on the Reichstag, similar to the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Russia is directly involved in the activities of the group, even though the press secretary of the Russian President Dmytro Pieskov at one time denied any connection with the conspiracy group. In particular, it was financed by citizens of the Russian Federation through contact with Royce’s partner “Vitalii B.”, as the investigation found.

Recently, Russian propagandists have been trying to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, in particular, by fueling the idea of a coup. The example of the Patriotic Union shows well what such a conspiracy can look like, on what ideological basis it can exist, and also how conspiracy theories can become a destructive force for society.

Propagandists are spreading information on social networks and media about blogger Gonzalo Lira, who is allegedly illegally detained in a Ukrainian pre-trial detention center. They say that Lira was detained because of “criticism of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi”. However, this is fake.

The specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that this information was first published on his X page by American presenter Tucker Carlson, who is a supporter of Donald Trump and criticizes any assistance to Ukraine. Detector Media has already written about dangerous narratives in his author’s program. After Carlson’s statements, American billionaire and head of X (Twitter) Elon Musk demanded an explanation from the Ukrainian side in connection with the arrest of an “American citizen” on Ukrainian territory. Musk also accused Ukraine of torturing Gonzalo Lira.

There is no evidence that Gonzalo Lira was subjected to torture. In addition, in Ukraine there is no criminal liability for criticizing the president. The American blogger was arrested on May 1, 2023 in Kharkiv for violating Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine). In a commentary for the Ukrainian publication NV.ua, representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) stated that the actions of Ukrainian law enforcement officers to arrest the pro-Russian blogger Gonzalo Lira occurred exclusively in accordance with the law. In particular, Gonzalo Lira argued that Ukraine seems to be shelling its own territory, and that the country is led by a neo-Nazi regime.

The SBU documented Lira's activities and handed the blogger a suspicion. In May 2023, the court chose a measure of restraint for him in the form of detention with the possibility of bail. He was initially released under house arrest after posting bail, but in July Lira was arrested again while trying to cross the border into Hungary on a motorcycle. Lira is in a pre-trial detention center in Kharkiv. Court hearings in his case are scheduled for December 12 and 21, 2023.

It should also be noted that Gonzalo Lira denied the facts of the massacre of civilians in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities, disclosed the location of Western journalists and Ukrainian military personnel, and also disseminated their personal information. In addition, Lira defended Putin's motives, arguing that the Russians allegedly take special care to avoid destroying civilian infrastructure or harming civilians. On his social media accounts, the blogger spread a number of previously debunked conspiracy theories, including Russia's claim that there are American laboratories in Ukraine for the production of biological weapons. The Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications, in its article “What’s wrong with the pro-Russian blogger Gonzalo Lira, for whom Carlson and Musk stood up”, spoke in detail about Gonzalo Lira’s months-long anti-Ukrainian activities. Detector Media previously wrote about other ways Russia uses the opinion of foreigners in the media field.

Propagandists have been trying to explain current events through conspiracy theories for years, trying to justify the crimes of the Russians. The theory of the Dulles Plan is also used for this purpose.

This “plan” is the US strategy towards the USSR adopted during the Cold War. According to the theory, it provided for a hidden moral breakdown of the population of the USSR. The idea is credited to Allen Dulles, head of the CIA from 1953-1961. According to supporters of the theory, the goal of the “plan” was supposedly the destruction of the USSR due to propaganda aimed at separating nationalities and social groups, destroying the traditions and moral values of the population. In particular, due to political jokes and quarrels between generations. In their opinion, the plan operates against Russia even after the collapse of the USSR.

However, the authenticity of the Dulles Plan is questionable. The text, which appears to be a “plan”, first appeared in a Russian publication in the early 1990s and is an edited excerpt from A. S. Ivanov’s novel “Eternal Call”. In the summer of 2015, this text was recognized as extremist material in Russia. Propagandists also use the term Dulles Plan to describe extracts from the US National Security Council Memorandum 20/1 of 1948. However, this memorandum has nothing to do with Dulles and the CIA, and also does not imply the moral decay of society. In particular, the “peaceful goals” of the memorandum provide for “Reducing the power and influence of Moscow to such extent that they no longer pose a threat to the peace and stability of the international community” and “to achieve fundamental changes in the theory and practice of international relations observed by the government in power in Russia”. 

Although the text of the Dulles Plan is not real and contradicts American policy towards the USSR at that time, its influence on Russian consciousness is significant. This is evidenced by the fact that the theory was used by the majority of Russian politicians, and now propagandists have also adopted it in the context of a full-scale Russian invasion.

They use it to not only justify the war against Ukraine, but also to provide an image of victimhood. They say that Russia had no other choice but to attack Ukraine, since the West wanted to destroy it. In addition, in this way they want to rewrite history and devalue the independence of the former republics of the Soviet Union. Allegedly, the collapse of the USSR was artificially inspired, and accordingly, it should not happen. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union is a natural process, primarily due to economic problems caused by the failed policies of the party leadership and the neglect of the specifics of each of the union republics for the whims of Moscow.

Propagandists have been trying to explain current events using conspiracy theories for years, trying to justify the crimes of the Russians. Sometimes they use the most absurd theories for this, such as the “Alaskan payment conspiracy” or “Orkney conspiracy” theory.

According to it, the Russian Empire allegedly never received payment for the purchase of Alaska from the United States, and instead the ship Orkney, allegedly carrying payment in the form of gold, was deliberately blown up with insurance money by Oleksandr ‘Sandy’ Keith, a conman and expert on explosions. They say Orkney sank in the Baltic Sea while transporting payment to St. Petersburg from London. Oleksandr Keith, who went by several aliases including William Thompson, had previously blown up ships to claim insurance money in Europe. Russian politician Volodymyr Zhyrynovskyi of Russia's Liberal Democratic Party has repeatedly made these allegations, as well as allegations of bribery related to the purchase agreement.

The theory was disproved. Firstly, the fact that Russia did receive the money is evidenced by the fact that it was then spent on building railway junctions throughout the country. Secondly, according to the conspiracy theory, Orkney was blown up on the date when the money was supposed to be sent. It is stated that the ship sank in the middle of July 1868, when payment was supposed to be delivered on August 1, 1868. Additionally, there is no record of the disappearance of a ship named Orkney, only a similar ship called the Orkney Lass, which, according to post-event reports, was still in service and was probably bound for South America that year rather than St. Petersburg. Gold has never been found in the Baltic Sea either.

Russian propagandists use this theory as one of the first examples of how the West allegedly constantly wanted to deceive Russia. In addition, a number of Russian propagandists and high-ranking officials, appealing to this theory, have repeatedly threatened the United States with military intervention in Alaska, since within the framework of the theory this territory continues to remain Russian. They say that Russia has the right to this, since it did not receive money for it at the time. In addition, they also want to justify the “struggle against the West and Western values”. Russia is victimizing itself by reinforcing the myth that the West constantly wants to destroy it using such theories.

Propagandists have been trying to explain current events using conspiracy theories for years, trying to justify the crimes of the Russians. An example of this is the theory of “chemical emissions”.

According to it, various types of chemical weapons have been allegedly being cut over Ukraine for years from special helicopters without identification marks. They say that rich countries are testing harmful chemicals on residents of developing countries. That is why there is a headache, burning eyes, and sore legs. Before the full-scale invasion, some conspiracy theorists tried to explain the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. This theory combines conspiracy theories of the “new world order” and the “golden billion”. In both of them, people are mocked in order to entrench a world order that benefits only the elites, the richest and most privileged representatives of humanity.

Russian propagandists use this theory in the context of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory. In particular, they claim that NATO and Ukrainian troops allegedly use chemical weapons against civilians, although this has never been confirmed. To strengthen this theory, the Russians spread fakes they created about supposedly found chemicals with American labeling in different places of the country.

Thus, Russia wants to shift responsibility for its actions and their consequences to other parties and divert attention from possible provocations on its part. Like, it must be said that Ukraine is doing something so that they don’t think about it while it continues its aggression against Ukraine.

Propagandists have been trying to explain current events through conspiracy theories for years, masking their hostility towards Western states with conspiracies. An example of this is the theory of the “golden billion”.

The theory was invented in Russia. It first appeared in articles by the Soviet conspiracy theorist A. Kuzmich in the late 80s of the twentieth century. According to it, “Western elites” are trying in various ways to redistribute world wealth in favor of the one billion population of the Earth, mainly Western countries. Another version says that according to the plan of the elites, only one billion people should remain on the planet. They say that this is why in the West they “propagate” LGBT people, and force them to eat insects and refuse animal products, and also why wars occur. The theory of the “golden billion” is closely intertwined with the theory of the “new world order”, which we wrote about earlier. According to it, the world elites deliberately consistently make the world worse in various forms.

Russian propagandists use the theory of the “golden billion” to explain almost every decision of the governments of Western countries, which in one way or another contradicts established norms and traditions in Russia. Any progressive idea in their messages turns into a global threat, and Russia turns into the savior of the world from such bad ideas. It is obvious that the war in Ukraine for them is also the result of the actions of the West. In addition, they are trying to justify all Russia’s failures with the “golden billion” theory. They say it has a bad economy because the West wants to destroy all Russians. It is no coincidence that the theory arose against the backdrop of the economic crisis in Russia.

By using the “golden billion” theory, Russia wants to erase the sense of reality and reinforce the image of the victim in this situation. In addition, it tries to shift responsibility for its actions from the aggressor to the victim of aggression and its partners. All this helps Russia maintain the narrative of an ideological war with the West and justify aggression against Ukraine as a “fight for real values”.

Propagandists try to explain current events using conspiracy theories, distorting the original meaning of certain terms. An example of this is the “false flag operations” theory.

Its original definition is used to describe operations that the enemy is falsely accused of committing in order to initiate or revive hostilities. Such operations have indeed occurred throughout history, especially during World Wars I and II, and historians use the term “operations under false flag” in professional literature. Conspiracy theorists have distorted its meaning by using it to describe almost every event in the world. For example, conspiracy theorists argue that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States were allegedly carried out by the American government, and not by terrorists, in order to begin and justify their “War on Terror”, including the invasion of Iraq.

Russian propagandists used the “false flag operations” theory to launch their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A few days before February 24, 2022, Russian state media claimed that Ukraine was allegedly preparing an attack on Russian territories in order to start a war against Russia. After Russia attacked Ukraine, conspiracy theorists and propagandists claim that Russia was allegedly framed and the invasion was allegedly staged. Like, it was not Russia that attacked Ukraine, but the West that attacked Russia in Ukraine.

By using the theory of “false flag operations”, Russia wants to erase the sense of reality and make people doubt everything that is happening around them. In addition, in this way they are trying to shift responsibility for military aggression onto others in order to reinforce the image of “Victim Russia” cultivated by propagandists. This theory is an example of how Russian propaganda distorts the meaning of terms to obscure the information space.