- [Reporter] This is what Russian President Vladimir Putin
unleashed on Ukraine.
(booming sound)
- [Narrator] This is how some news organizations
in the US have been covering Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- [Reporter] Russia's full-scale invasion.
- Russian invasion.
- [Reporter] Russia attacking Ukraine's fuel deposits.
- [Narrator] And this is how it's described
on Russian state television.
(reporters in foreign language)
- The two sides,
they really have wildly different descriptions
of what's going on
because the Kremlin is really conscious of public opinion.
- [Narrator] State broadcasters have been reinforcing
Russian President Vladimir Putin's narrative
that Ukraine and its Western allies pose threats
to his country.
(reporter speaking in foreign language)
(booming sound)
- [Narrator] With ongoing global coverage of the war
and a deluge of information on social media,
Russian state media outlets
are using maps and dismissing Western media reports
to send its own message
about the invasion of its nextdoor neighbor.
To understand why Putin decided to attack,
you first need to know
how he sees Ukraine's relationship to Russia.
(Vladimir speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] So the state media
has been giving its viewers a geography lesson.
This is a map of Ukraine today,
which was a Soviet state
before it gained its independence in 1991.
Here parts of the country are broken up into sections.
The reporter says that these areas
aren't really Ukraine's but were gifts
from past Russian and Soviet leaders.
And this yellow part in the middle
is the only section that's labeled as Ukrainian territory.
- Maps like these,
the idea is to really shape public opinion
and give this kind of historical backing
for their current operation in Ukraine.
- [Narrator] And this historical context
was reiterated in Putin's nearly hour-long speech,
days before the invasion.
(Vladimir speaking in foreign language)
- Putin seems to have been focused on history
when it comes to Ukraine,
and he has always mentioned Ukraine
where it has been part of Russia,
and it should continue to be part of Russia.
- [Narrator] Back in 1991,
Ukrainians held a referendum
that overwhelmingly supported independence
from the Soviet Union.
And this decision was backed by Russia.
And as a sovereign state,
several years later, Ukraine asked to join NATO.
But Putin objected
because this would bring the military alliance closer
to Russia's doorstep,
a concern that his predecessors shared
after the break up of the Soviet Union.
So he demanded that the alliance guarantee Ukraine
would not get membership.
And when there were none.
(Vladimir speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] The state media has amplified this narrative
that the conflict with Ukraine isn't Russia's fault,
but the US and its Western allies are to blame.
(reporters speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] A few days after the invasion,
Putin raised the stakes again.
(Vladimir speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] He ordered the country's nuclear forces
to be put on alert
as the US and its allies stepped up pressure
with new sanctions.
(reporter speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] And Russian state media echoed his message.
(reporter speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] State media programs
are also running disinformation segments.
This newscast shows what it claims
to be a tweet from CNN about an American who died
during the invasion of Ukraine.
No American causalities have been reported during the war
and the Twitter account was suspended.
CNN said the tweet was fabricated
and the account not affiliated with the news organization
in any way.
The Russian state media channel, Russia-24,
didn't respond to a request for comment.
Russian state media
have also repeated the Kremlin's position
that there are no threats to civilians
and that it's only targeting military installations.
(reporter speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] In the first week of war,
Ukrainian officials said the invasion's civilian death toll
had reached 2,000.
- These outlets, they're propagating the Kremlin line
that this is a limited operation
and also saying that Russia needs to demilitarize Ukraine.
They're really saving the population
in eastern Ukraine.
The Kremlin wants that the domestic audience
sees Russia not as an aggressor.
- [Narrator] Before the invasion,
many Russians agreed with the Kremlin line on Ukraine.
About 60% of those surveyed in Russia
say tensions in Ukraine
are the fault of the US and NATO
according to a Russian independent pollster.
(crowd speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] But the Kremlin's narrative
isn't getting to everyone in Russia.
(crowd speaking in foreign language)
Across the country,
people have been protesting Putin's decision to invade.
So to continue shaping public opinion,
the country's communications regulator
ordered all media outlets, including independent ones,
to only use official government sources.
The government watchdog
and state media organizations didn't respond
to a request for comment.
And as the West has started to cut off Russia
from the global financial system,
ordinary citizens are starting to feel the pain,
lining up at ATMs
to pull out cash as the Russian currency has plummeted.
(Dennis speaking in foreign language)
- [Narrator] And this could provide
the Kremlin another opportunity
to cast the US and its allies
as Russia's aggressors as the war in Ukraine continues.
(dramatic music)