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.