Новомова How Russia blurs reality with the help of a newspeak: “propaganda”
Russian propaganda claims that the information field of Ukrainians is “permeated with propaganda”, too much “Nazism propaganda”. Allegedly, the Ukrainian leadership is forming a nation of Nazis, because it promotes such values in society.
The term “propaganda” is closely intertwined with Russian narratives, in particular, about the formation of the Nazis or individual nationalist groups in Ukraine. According to propaganda, the leadership of Ukraine condones people in their desire to “destroy other peoples or minorities”, especially Russian-speaking people. For example, the “protection of the Russian-speaking population” became the reason for the “special military operation”.
Since 2014, Russia has devoted a lot of time to building confidence that there are Nazis among Ukrainians. To do this, they exaggerated the weight in Ukrainian society of carriers of nationalist views, and also promoted the perception of Ukrainian nationalists as sharing views with representatives of Nazi Germany and mocking supporters of Russia.
However, these are Moscow's inventions to justify the war in Ukraine, which Russia unleashed. Using the term “propaganda” the authors are trying to hint that Ukraine is using hostile propaganda against another state, propagating “Nazi views”, etc. Once again, Russian propaganda is positioning Ukraine as an aggressor, while hiding its actions. At the same time, propagandists reflect their actions in this way and say that it is Ukrainians who kill civilians, profess hatred for many peoples, and despise other cultures and religions.