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What I'm going to read you now is the conversation a Russian mother had with her son who is at
the front, minutes before he died "Son, where are you?
Dad wants to send you a parcel".
The soldier replies "But how can you send me a parcel?
Mom, I'm in Ukraine!
We are at war!"
That’s right!
At this very moment, most Russians don't even know that there is a war going on in Ukraine.
To make this video, we talked to many Russians living in the European Union.
Almost all of them are having totally surreal conversations with their family living in
Russia.
It's not that they have a different view of the war.
It's that, plain and simple, their families in Russia don't even know that there is shelling
happening in Kyiv.
Have you seen the satellite images showing that 60-kilometer-long Russian convoy waiting
north of Kyiv?
Well...
The Russians haven't seen it!
They literally live in a parallel universe.
Even more so after this law was passed on 4 March of this year.
Check it out.
N1(Russia's parliament approves jail for 'fake' war reports.
Aljazeera)
That’s right!
This is not Ukrainian propaganda.
It is Russia's own law.
As of 4 March 2022, saying that Russia is at war with Ukraine is considered fake news.
And the penalties for saying there is a war can be up to 15 years in prison.
Some of you will think, that’s not exactly new!
Since when has there been freedom of speech in Russia?
Yes, you have a point.
The difference is that before, if a journalist said something the regime was uncomfortable
with, he or she only risked paying a fine.
Now you can end up in jail for 15 years.
And if they can't talk about the war...
what are they talking about?
Well, pay attention because this is what Russians are watching these days on TV.
Exactly as you hear it!
According to the Kremlin narrative, Russia is not at war with anyone.
They are simply sending a "special operation" to fight neo-Nazi terrorists in a neighbouring
country.
But what about the 200,000 Russian troops?
What about the tanks?
And the planes?
By any definition, that's open warfare.
However, Putin wants his citizens to think that this is something much lighter.
And the question is why?
I mean, doesn't that seem like a contradiction?
On the one hand, Putin has been stirring up patriotic fervor for years: the glory of the
army, of the Great Patriotic War, of Great Mother Russia?
Shouldn't they be showing pictures of the glorious Russian tanks taking Kharkiv?
Messages like "We are the best, we are winning this war, Ukrainians will fall soon!
Death to the enemy!
Long live Russia!".
Well, the reality is the opposite: Putin wants to hide the war from his citizens.
The question is why?
What is the Russians' view of what is happening right now?
Today we are going to answer these questions but first, let's look at a bit of history.
1(THE STORY TOLD BY AND FOR THE RUSSIANS)
I know what many of you are thinking – at VisualPolitik you are totally biased!
This video is Ukrainian propaganda!
Well, nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, to make this video we have not used any western sources.
What you are going to see now is literally what ordinary Russians are watching on TV.
What's more, so that no one can accuse us of making biased translations, we are going
to show the clips in their original subtitled versions.
Side note:
Many thanks to SVETLANA KITSYUK and ARTEM from the GEEKONOMY channel for helping us
find and translate the videos.
For example, what you are going to see right now is what they are showing to children in
Russian schools to explain what is going on.
In case it is not clear to anyone: Vanya in this story
is a metaphor for Russia and the evil Kolia would be Ukraine.
And all Russia wants is to "take the stick" away from Ukraine.
In other words, no invasion and no bomber attacks.
Well: this is what Russian children are watching.
Is it indoctrination?
We can discuss that later in the comments.
But what is important at this point is that we look at the narrative that is reaching
these Russian children.
The question now is: What about the Russian adults...what are they watching on television?
Well, right now we're going to take a look.
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2(INFORMATION WARFARE)
For years, Russia has been moving to an increasingly authoritarian position.
Now: they have never quite reached the level of a North Korea.
For example: this is North Korean television.
As you can see, it looks like something out of another era.
However, this is Russian television.As you can see, Russian television is the same as
television in any other democratic country.
At least in appearance.
They have their news programs, their political talk shows and even late night shows.
In fact, until March of this year, the Kremlin allowed some Western media outlets to broadcast
in Russia.
Both the BBC and Radio Free Europe are media outlets funded by the British and US governments,
respectively, that broadcast pro-Western news in Russian.
In return, Europe allowed Russia Today and Sputnik News to be broadcast.
It was something like an unwritten pact: we accept your propaganda in our country if you
allow us to do the same in yours.
The war has changed all that.
Europe has cut Russia Today and Sputnik News broadcasts so Russia has countered by shutting
down Radio Free Europe and the BBC.
But we are not only talking about information warfare.
We can discuss to what extent it is good or bad to allow Russia to have propaganda media
in Europe.
But that's another debate for another video.
Because today we are focusing on Russian media inside Russia.
And the truth is that the Kremlin has not limited itself to shutting down Western media.
Total censorship is reaching everywhere.
For example, until March of this year, Russia even had a few TV stations critical of the
Kremlin.
Okay, there were not many of them and they were not free from prosecution and fines.
But admittedly, the Kremlin allowed some criticism in the media.
That is the case of EKHO MOSKVY, which translates to "Echo of Moscow".
This WAS a radio station owned by the GAZPROM group.
Yes, that’s right: within Russia, Gazprom is also a media group.
In any case, EKHO MOSKVY was one of the radio stations most critical of Putin.
They had managed to survive in an increasingly authoritarian regime.
But the new press law just passed by the Kremlin has changed the rules of the game.
N2(Russian Liberal Radio Mainstay Ekho Moskvy Closes After Pulled Off Air.
The Moscow Times)
You see, many times when we analyze the political systems of different countries, we make a
mistake.
We think there are two categories: democracy or dictatorship.
In reality, authoritarianism is a spectrum.
North Korea would be the extreme.
Russia is not there yet.
But it is clearly becoming more and more authoritarian.
And this law is a giant step towards outright dictatorship.
To give you an idea, from now on, any Russian journalist who goes slightly off the Kremlin's
script faces jail terms of up to 15 years.
That’s right: 15 years in prison.
I mean, we're not talking about a fine or getting kicked out of your company or "canceled"
on twitter – 15 years in jail!
This is not something the western press has talked much about.
It is literally a law that has just been passed by the Russian DUMA.
So, right now, all those Russian TV shows, which seem legitimate and pluralistic, are
spreading the same message.
Exactly: according to the Russian narrative, all Ukrainians are Nazis.
That includes Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who, by the way, is of Jewish descent.
But what if that were true, and there were Nazis in Ukraine?
The answer is yes, of course.
In a country of 44 million people where practically the entire population is armed, there are
groups of neo-Nazis and hooligans.
However, there is a big difference between saying that there are neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine
and saying that the entire Ukrainian territory is in the hands of Nazi battalions.
And that is why Russian propaganda has a double discourse.
One is what Russian propaganda is saying to those of us who live outside Russia.
That is, the messages broadcast by Russia Today or Sputnik.
N3("The mainstream media has similarly overlooked the fact that the Azov Battalion, which is
an official component of Kyiv's armed forces, has a pro-Nazi ideology": Sputniknews)
As you can see, this is relatively credible news for someone living in a country with
freedom of speech.
Are there neo-Nazi battalions in Ukraine?
Surely this means that the entire Ukrainian government is a Hitler-loving fascist cabal?
I don't think even the most ardently pro-Russian could believe such a thing...
at least not if he or she lives outside Russia.
Now, Russians can no longer see anything that is not controlled by the Kremlin.
They can't see Zelenskiy's interventions, or satellite images with a row of tanks north
of Kyiv.
So this is the rhetoric they are using right now in all the political talk shows.
Of course, you will not see the images of any destroyed Ukrainian cities on any Russian
television.
What’s more, the Russian media states, this is simply a "special operation" in the new
republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Hardly anything is said about the shelling of cities that we have all seen footage of
in the West.
And I know what many of you are wondering, why does Putin want to hide the war from the
Russians?
I mean...
Isn't this supposed to be a crusade against the Nazis?
Wouldn't it make more sense if he wanted to show the glorious Russian army showing those
Ukrainians who's in charge?
Well... it certainly wouldn't.
We are going to see why right now.
3(PEACE IS WAR, WAR IS PEACE)
It may surprise you, but this is not the first time the Kremlin has covered up a war.
During the invasion of Afghanistan (the one in the 1980s, not the last one), the Soviet
Union went out of its way to avoid using the word "war" in the media.
In this case, it was called "international aid".
Think about it: wars are won and lost.
However, "special operations" or "international interventions" are much vaguer concepts.
To put it another way: unlike the Americans, the Soviets have never seen their army leave
Afghanistan in humiliation.
Because you can't lose a war if you have never declared war.
But this is not the only reason why the Kremlin wants to hide this war!
Think of it this way: for years, Putin has been stirring up patriotic fervor.
In previous VisualPolitik videos we have told you how Putin has built a kind of secular
cathedral dedicated to the military.
It even has stained glass windows dedicated to the Great Patriotic War, which is what
they call World War II in Russia.
Nationalism in this country is present even in popular music.
If you want to go a little deeper into Russian culture, I recommend you check out HARD BASS
music, that is Russian techno (in Russia they have the so-called "GOPNIK", who have their
own subculture).
If you listen to this kind of music you will find lyrics like "Party like Stalin" or "Russia
is my motherland".
Even in Russian discotheques there is praise for Mother Russia.
However, there is a difference between Russian and American nationalism.
You see, scholars of nationalism classify it into two types: civic and ethnic.
Civic nationalism is based on a shared ideology, values and lifestyle.
The United States or the former Soviet Union would be examples of civic nationalism: the
Soviets were not fighting for the glory of Russia but for the proletarian revolution.
However...
What is Russia's ideology today, what does Putin stand for, is it a particular political
system?
Of course it is not.
Russian nationalism is currently based on an ethnic concept: the great Slavic nation.
Under this narrative, Ukrainians and Russians are the same people.
This is how Putin himself explained it in a letter he wrote earlier this year.
And it makes a lot of sense that they think so!After all, Russians and Ukrainians have
lived together for centuries.
There are millions of Ukrainians living in Russia and thousands of mixed marriages.
The average Russian has vacationed in Crimea, has friends in Kyiv and even speaks a few
words of Ukrainian.
And that explains news headlines like this.
N4(Navalny urges Russians to protest daily against Ukraine invasion.
Aljazeera)
For those who don't know him, Alexei Navalny is Putin's biggest political opponent.
He is in jail right now.
And he is calling on all Russians to keep protesting in the streets.
Right now, there are thousands of Russians in jail for participating in anti-war demonstrations.
But make no mistake!
These protests are not pro-Western.
Navalny is the first who has always supported the Russian invasion of Crimea.
Think about it: Russian nationalism is based on the idea that Ukrainians are brothers of
Russians.
However, the Russian army is killing Ukrainians.
This is a totally different situation from the occupation of Crimea.
I mean, in 2014, when Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula, there were hardly any casualties.
Putin took a territory where he was more than welcome.
The situation now is completely different.
And what many Russians, nationalists to the core, are now asking themselves is why are
we slaughtering our own brothers?
For example, Life of Boris is a YouTube channel created by a Russian where they talk about
Russian culture.
As soon as the "NOT WAR" broke out in Ukraine, Boris decided to say goodbye with these words:
As you can see, Putin is interested in hiding that there is a war at all costs.
Russian propaganda is trying to avoid showing any pictures of Kyiv.
And all the time there is talk of "special operations" or even "anti-terrorist operations".
And so the Kremlin needs to control the message more than ever.
That explains this new press law that has put an end to what little pluralism was left
in Russia.
The question is how long can this masquerade last?
I mean: no matter how much Putin controls the media, it is almost impossible to hide
the war from Russians who have friends in Ukraine.
Is it really possible to hide a whole war with a neighboring country from public opinion?
Do you think this new censorship strategy is going to work for Putin?
You can leave me your answer in the comments.
And as always, don't forget that here on VisualPolitik, we release new videos every week, so subscribe
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All the best and see you soon.