Why is the death of 300,000 Russians in a war of aggression not a reason for the people to demand from their government to stop the "special operation"? What does need to happen for this to change? What is in their minds? The author, who is looking for answers to these questions, knows the Russian hinterland from his own experience, and is currently monitoring interviews with Russian prisoners and their communication with relatives.Читати українською

Period: 30 October-5 November 2023. Last week, Russian media showed considerably less interest in the military operations in Ukraine than usual which may be due to the lack of Russian victories in Ukraine or the kick-off of Putin's election campaign.

Last week’s Ukrainian ATACMS strike on airfields in the occupied territories caught Russian propagandists by surprise. Russian media tried to avoid any mention of damaged military equipment and focused their reports on Ukrainian air force losses instead. The disinformation media also stood up for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) which is in fact part of Russian Orthodox Church and accused the evil Kyiv regime of dismantling orthodoxy in Ukraine. They also claimed that Armenia was turning into another Ukraine and touted Viktor Orbán as Russia's friend.

Last week's publications on Russian media were focused on the Middle East: Russian media claimed that Israel had no regard for conventions of war. The propagandists praised pro-Russian Romanian politician Diana Șoșoacă who had managed to have Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to the members of the Parliament of Romania canceled.Russian media also provided their own explanation of Germany is reluctantance to provide cruise missiles to Ukraine: according to the propagandists, the Germans are extremely concerned about the missiles falling into Russian hands.

Last week, Russian media brimmed with excitement over the successful launch of a Burevestnik (Thunderbird) missile. The propagandists described it with such words as “game-changer” and “unparalleled capabilities” and claimed it to be able to destroy cities anywhere in the world.

As the war is well into its second year, some Ukrainian websites have resumed spreading news which align with the key narratives of Russian propaganda and disinformation. This is a monthly digest of the news items published by the online media in the occupied territories and the Ukrainian websites which tend to manipulate public opinion.Our analysis is limited to the news items from online media which operate in the occupied territories (further referred to as “occupation news websites”) as well as from news websites operated from Ukraine.

Last week, Russian propagandists took advantage of the scandal in the Canadian parliament to promote their own narratives.Russian media appealed to the background of the former fighters of the Ukrainian “Halychyna” division which had fought in World War II as part of the German Waffen to blame Western countries of supporting the Nazi and fascists. Finally, the propagandists used the findings of the Polish prosecutor's office in the case involving the death of two Poles from a missile allegedly launched by Ukraine to claim that it is Ukraine that fires missiles at its neighbors to blame everything on Russia.

Last week, the Russian propagandist media tried hard to tone down the success of the Ukrainian assault on a Russian ship repair base in Sevastopol. According to Russian media, the missile strikes were attributed to minor imperfections in the operation of the air defense systems.

Last week, Russian media continued spreading stories about an alleged rift between the military and political leadership of Ukraine. The propagandists once again claimed that the CinC AF General Valerii Zaluzhnyi had been incapacitated and was no longer able to discharge his duties. Russia’s foreign ministry also said that the United States had financed Hitler and accused it of aiding the Holocaust.Finally, even a slightest hint at the possibility of Japan's NATO membership was enough to make the disinformation media lose their nerve.This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

The study offered a comprehensive insight into the people and organizations that support Russia and its policy in various forms in 19 countries of Europe.