The midfield review of the Russian-Ukrainian propaganda war: What is the quality of "anti-aggression" and "anti-Nazi"?

Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, several propaganda campaigns have been impressive.

First of all, it is the theory of "Volodymyr Zelensky fleeing" initiated by the Russian side at the beginning of the war. The disseminators of this statement included Russian state media, politicians, and at one point it was widely spread on social media in various languages, creating an atmosphere of surrender that "Zelensky has fled Kyiv", intending to frustrate the will of the Ukrainian army to resist. However, as Zelensky continued to broadcast live on the streets of Kyiv, Western politicians also frequently went to Kyiv to meet with Zelensky. This narrative lost its credibility and eventually failed.

Coincidentally, Ukraine also promoted the exaggerated results of the "Ghost of Kyiv" during the war. The narrative was originally just a patchwork of social media reports that the Ukrainian pilot, nicknamed the "Ghost of Kyiv," shot down six Russian fighter jets within 30 hours of the war. However, the relevant video is actually edited from the game screen, and the photos of the pilots are often seen on the Internet. Therefore, after the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and politicians shared the relevant information, they faced widespread doubts. Subsequently, the Ukrainian Air Force admitted in April that the "Ghost of Kyiv" did not exist, and Ukrainian government advisers called in June that "the use of false information" should be avoided for propaganda.

In addition, there have been many propaganda games that have yet to be won or lost. For example, in the Butcha massacre that caused a global uproar in March, Ukraine accused the Russian army of massacred civilians, and the Russian side retorted that the massacre was made by Ukraine. The same is true for the red flag to greet the Russian army. The Russian side said that this symbolized that ordinary Ukrainian people still miss the Soviet Union and hope to be reunited with the "Russian brothers". The Ukrainian side said that the woman mistook the Ukrainian army for the Russian army and was worried that the village would be destroyed Therefore, it is hoped that the "red flag" can be used to appease the invaders.

Today, the war between Russia and Ukraine is still ongoing, and the propaganda front is largely finalized. After taking stock of the various tactics of the two sides after the war, the tactics of the two camps are clearly visible.

Ukraine and the West: Anti-aggression and global media at hand

On the Ukrainian side, although it is the invaded party on the physical battlefield, it enjoys the propaganda resources of NATO and almost all of the West. Construct an "anti-aggression" public opinion front.

However, under the moral aura of "anti-aggression", there is also a lot of popular false propaganda. The "Ghost of Kyiv" is an extreme case of praising the achievements of Ukraine. Coincidentally, in order to express the grief of the martyrs, the Ukrainian side also used false information to promote it. The extreme actions of "Snake Island 13 Martyrs" and "Ukrainian Father Farewell to Daughter" are examples.

Among them, the "13 Martyrs of Snake Island" occurred on the first day of the war on February 24. The Ukrainian official said that the 13 border guards stationed on Snake Island refused to surrender and died heroically, which was reported by the global media. However, on February 26, Russian media such as "Russia Today" (RT) released the interview video, and the outside world knew that there were as many as 82 soldiers stationed on Snake Island, and they did not die in battle, but were attacked by the Russian army. captured and shocked to learn that he was "killed". In view of the clear and undeniable identities of the soldiers in the video, Ukrainian officials had to admit on February 27 that there were no so-called "13 martyrs" in the Battle of Snake Island.

"Ukrainian father bids farewell to daughter" shows the reality of Western media's failure to check its obligations. The propaganda started with a video circulating on Twitter of "a Ukrainian soldier rushes to the front line to say goodbye to his daughter," and the New York Times, Daily Mail reported Mail) and Newsweek's follow-up reports made video a hot topic on the global Internet. But then "Russia Today" came forward to refute the rumor. It turned out that this video had been filmed and released before the war, and the protagonist was not the Ukrainian army, but the Donetsk pro-Russian armed militia.

In dismantling the Russian narrative, Ukraine and the West have tried to "attack the shield with the spear of the child" and question the reliability of the external "pro-Russian evidence".

For example, in Russia's propaganda campaign accusing Ukraine of the existence of "Neo-Nazis", Ukraine and the West both introduced historical contexts, saying that "Nazis" are the ultimate manifestation of "anti-Semitism", and Zelensky is both a Jew, a native speaker, and a native speaker. How could Russian be the leader of the "Neo-Nazis"? Of course, such an argument did not directly confront the Russian accusations, but its real strategy was not to defend extremist organizations such as "Azov Camp", but to play a postmodern word game, so that the public opinion field was shrouded in the fog of "mutual deconstruction" . In addition, when Russia accused Ukraine's "Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act" of depriving Russian speakers of their basic rights, Ukraine was not to be outdone, criticizing the two "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk for also suppressing the Ukrainian language, exposing Russia's duality standard.

As for the documentary "Donbass" shot by French journalist Anne-Laure Bonnel in 2016, it was frozen and blocked by the West for a long time because the content presented unfavorable images and testimony against Ukraine. After the war began, the film sparked discussions, and Russia strongly promoted it. The French media raised doubts about Bonaire, believing that the content of "Donbass" was too one-sided, which seemed to violate journalists' professionalism and ethics in journalism. He also thanked relevant figures on the Donetsk side, showing that Bonaire "had a close relationship with the leaders of the Donetsk militia".

To sum up, the propaganda war between Ukraine and the West can be summed up as follows: For the materials that help to set off the "anti-aggression" narrative, the reality that the Western media monopolizes the global public opinion field has given Ukraine a great propaganda energy. The image of refugee displacement has inspired global sympathy and sympathy. Even if some fictional narratives are exposed in the future, Ukraine and the West will at best die and cover them with new narratives; The taint that is difficult to refute directly, Ukraine and the West resort to word games, material injustice, Russian double standards and other arguments to weaken the lethality of the accusation.

Overall, the construction of the "anti-aggression" narrative between Ukraine and the West has achieved certain results.

Russia: Anti-Nazi and Anti-Western Public Opinion Support

Russia, on the other hand, has fallen into a moral slump when it comes to war, so its propaganda campaign chooses to focus on the "anti-Nazi" narrative, emphasizing that Ukraine has been controlled by "neo-Nazis" and that genocide has occurred in the Donbas region.

In practice, it can be seen that the Russian propaganda campaign focused on terrifying issues such as the "Azov Battalion", "Odessa Massacre", and "Ukrainian Bombing of Donbas civilians", and its war correspondent took more real shots of " After the withdrawal of the Azov Camp, the cells that were used to imprison and torture civilians in the Donbass were exposed, with the intention of using the visual impact of the scene to arouse the audience's emotions and highlight the rampant atrocities of the "Neo-Nazis" in Ukraine. Other discoveries such as "the United States builds a biological and chemical weapons laboratory in Ukraine" have also become side materials to support the "anti-Nazi" narrative.

In all fairness, the tone of Russia's "anti-Nazi" narrative is similar to Ukraine's deconstruction of "neo-Nazi" accusations with anti-Semitism. They both return to the historical context of World War II to draw resources in order to defend their own actions, but Ukraine The intention is to obscure the fact that extremist organizations such as "Azov Camp" exist, and the Russian side regards it as justifying its own war, and at the same time unites the support of public opinion within Russia. This May 9th Victory Day military parade, Vladimir Putin shouted to the frontline soldiers in his speech: "You are fighting for the motherland and the future of the country, and the lessons of World War II will no longer be forgotten. There are no executioners and executions in this world. troop and the Nazis", apparently intending to elevate the conflict to the level of the "New Patriotic War".

However, Russia is facing not only Ukraine, but also the Western media that dominate the global public opinion field, so this propaganda war is extremely difficult.

First of all, Russian official media such as "Russia Today" were banned shortly after the war, although Russia successfully broke through in the future by means of variant domain names, mirror websites, drainage websites, copied articles, social media sharing, etc., and in Spain A considerable number of supporters have gathered on the Internet in Arabic, Arabic, and Chinese, but mainstream public opinion in Europe and the United States is still unable to convince the "anti-Nazi" narrative.

Second, the Russian side not only refutes the fake news of Ukraine and the West, but also conducts false propaganda in the propaganda war. However, given the huge power of the Western media, Russia is somewhat passive in its "fake crackdown" and lacks an overall layout. Often, Ukraine and the West respond passively after making moves. For example, a week after the war started, those who refuted false news about Russia. The website "War On Fake" was officially launched. After the Butcha tragedy, Russia's Channel 1 launched its "Fake News" column; The language-based media system can instantly refute Russia's false propaganda, and is better at playing a game of public opinion, generating a new narrative that is different from Russia's while refuting rumors.

However, even if Russia faces a formidable enemy in the "anti-counterfeiting" campaign, the results of the propaganda war may not entirely depend on propaganda skills and tools. In a state of war, it is extremely difficult to confirm and falsify events. Therefore, when the audience is faced with two sets of diametrically opposed narratives, in the absence of key evidence and statements, their final basis for judgment is often to return to their own political position. Applied to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, it is the game between "pro-Ukraine" and "pro-Russian", and the formation of these two positions generally comes from the confrontation between "pro-Western" and "anti-Western". Today, when the Cold War ended for many years and the discourse of "liberal democracy" is no longer popular, "anti-Western" public opinion has its own market, and in this propaganda war, it has flocked to the Russian camp.

Therefore, although Russia's propaganda tools and resources are inferior to those of the West, the "anti-Nazi" narrative can still enjoy a certain international voice; even most countries that are relatively neutral and do not support Ukraine will avoid publicly supporting Russia in the official media. Narrative, some of its pro-Russian Internet users are not bound by this "political correctness", and even within its stratosphere, it is "politically correct" to support an "anti-Nazi" narrative.

In the final analysis, the Russian-Ukrainian propaganda war is not only a battle over the interpretation of "anti-aggression" and "anti-Nazi", but also a general battle of public opinion between "pro-Western" and "anti-Western".

Original published URL:

2022.8.17

The midfield review of the Russian-Ukrainian propaganda war: What is the quality of "anti-aggression" and "anti-Nazi"? | Hong Kong 01 https://www.hk01.com/sns/article/804581