Propagandists use various conspiracy theories to justify the crimes of Russians, as well as to discredit the Ukrainian government and its foreign partners. In this case we are talking about the theory of “currency wars”.

The theory comes from a book by Chinese author Song Hongbin called Currency Wars, first published in 2007 and re-released in 2009. Literary critics call it the first known book in the genre of economic nationalism. According to the book, Western countries are allegedly controlled by a group of private banks manipulated by the countries' central banks. In 2009, more than 200 thousand copies were sold, plus about 400 thousand unofficial copies in free circulation. The book became a bestseller in China; it has been read by many government officials and business leaders across the country. However, it has been criticized in Western media as spreading false information and being based on conspiracy theories. The New York Times criticized the book at the time for promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.

According to Hongbin and supporters of his theory, these large private banks that allegedly control countries use currency manipulation to enrich themselves by first lending money in US dollars to developing countries and then selling their currencies. They say that this is why a number of financial crises occurred, including the “Japanese lost decade”, the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Latin American financial crisis, etc. It is also claimed that the Rothschild family has a fortune of 5 trillion dollars, while Bill Gates has only 40 billion. Like, it is this family that controls the world and creates a new world order. Conspiracy theorists also believe that the US Federal Reserve System is allegedly not a government agency, but several private banks controlled by the interests of the Rothschild family.

Russian propagandists began to spread this theory in the context of providing military and financial assistance to Ukraine, as well as the sanctions policies of its allies. This theory has acquired particular proportions in TikTok, where users are being intimidated with its help by the collapse of the global financial system. They say that with sanctions against Russia, the West is only making the ruble stronger due to the influence of the state, while the American economy is declining. In addition, there are supporters of this theory who claim that the war is exclusively economic in nature, and Ukraine is only an attempt to externally redistribute the world. However, just like the assertion that the US Federal Reserve is not a government institution, the versions of conspiracy theorists about the reasons for the Russian full-scale invasion are not true.