Music and songs have long served as a propaganda tool for many states, political regimes, parties and rulers. Russian propaganda uses musical works of various genres to achieve its goals, to increase the level of “patriotism” among the people and the army. Nostalgia for the Soviet past is one of the key themes in Russian music, which is used for propaganda during the full-scale war against Ukraine.

So, the singer Oleh Hazmanov at a concert in support of the so-called special military operation on March 18, 2022 performed the song “Born in the USSR”. And the song of the group “We are from the 90s” “I want to go back to the USSR” at the beginning of a full-scale war became a hit in the Russian segment of social networks and went viral. Also, in the music used by Russian propaganda, war is often romanticized and promoted. For example, the songs of the same Oleh Hazmanov are often used, such as “Officers” and “Soldiers of Russia”, or the “creativie works” of the Liube group, which is called Putin’s favorite group, are popular.

More than half of their songs belong to this genre, and they, like Hazmanov, are regular participants in propaganda concerts. At such events, the song of the Kino group “Kukushka” (Сuckoo) performed by Polina Haharina is often heard. The song became the official soundtrack of the propaganda film “Battle for Sevastopol” - a joint Ukrainian-Russian project.

In the Ukrainian box office, the tape was released under the name “Indestructible”. After the start of a full-scale war, new works appeared, imbued with hatred for Ukrainians, in particular, with calls for murder. Examples are the work of Wagner group called “SvynoriZ” and the song, which is called the obscene form of the word “Strike”. Russian propaganda “does not forget” about the youth either.

So, even before the full-scale aggression of 2022, hip-hop tracks were released, like “My best friend is President Putin” performed by Timati, and Volodymyr Putin from Slava CPSU, who has been banned from entering our country since 2017 through anti-Ukrainian statements. The most recent example of propaganda among young people is the “work” of the singer Shaman, whose image is specially tailored to this age group. His songs “Let's get up”, “I am Russian”, “Confession” and “My Russia” are gaining millions of views on YouTube among the audience infected with the criminal ideology of “rashism”. The singer combines in his work the image of a “young and modern rock star” with dreadlocks on his head with “patriotic” rhetoric and song themes, more typical for such singers with an audience “over 50 years old”, like Oleh Hazmanov and Hryhorii Leps.