Ridicule is a propaganda tactic designed to undermine and discredit the enemy. Propagandists rely on a psychological technique: if someone is funny, this should not be feared or taken seriously.

Russian propaganda uses this tactic to discredit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Propagandists distribute fake covers of French cartoon magazine Charlie Hebdo, Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves and German satirical magazine Titanik. They also spread fake messages about offensive graffiti allegedly painted in Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Warsaw. They depict Zelenskyi as cowardly, helpless or nasty. Thus, propaganda is trying to create the illusion that the Ukrainian president is despised and ridiculed abroad. Propagandists are trying to make Ukrainians feel ashamed of their leader and divide people because of their likes and dislikes towards Zelenskyi.

In anonymous telegram channels, a message was spread that supposedly Ukraine plans to protect the nuclear power plant from itself. Like, planning the construction of new NPP units, taking into account military threats, is ridiculous. Allegedly, only Ukrainians around the world dared to deliberately shell nuclear power plants. Like, there are no other “suicidal people” anywhere. In this case, the tactics of ridicule were combined with the tactics of substitution of concepts, claiming that Ukraine was deliberately shelling its own nuclear plants.

In Russian methodologies with instructions for journalists on how to cover the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war, propagandists advise using ironic names for Russians who left the country because they did not want to participate in the war. In particular, they are advised to call them “patriots who fled”, “perezhdun” (those who wait), “fugitives”, etc. Because of ridicule, the propagandists are trying to form a dismissive attitude towards the behavior of those who have left and spread the message: “if the Russians do not support Russia's war against Ukraine, they are not patriots, they do not deserve respect, they are not worthy”, and so on.