Russian media spread false claims about Ukrainian Nazis
Created: 07/03/2022 17:22
By: Helena Gries
In the Ukraine war, the Kremlin relies on propaganda.
Russian media spread false claims about Ukrainian Nazis.
(Iconic image) © Jens Kalaene/dpa
Putin's statements that Ukraine is populated by dangerous Nazis and that the war is a "denazification mission" have become central themes of Kremlin propaganda.
Moscow/Kyiv – Russia attacked Ukraine about four months ago.
The Ukraine war began.
Vladimir Putin cited the fight against Nazis in Ukraine as an argument for the Russian war of aggression.
Because the government and culture of Ukraine is populated by dangerous Nazis, the Ukraine conflict represents a "denazification mission," according to Putin.
As the
New York Times
now reports, a defense analytics company has analyzed datasets of nearly eight million Russian articles about Ukraine collected from more than 8,000 Russian websites since 2014.
The results are clear.
Ukraine conflict: Nazi references in Russian media have increased since the beginning of the war
For eight years, the references to National Socialism in Ukraine in the Russian media were relatively unspectacular.
However, Nazi reprimands reached an unprecedented peak on February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Since then they have stayed high.
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The Semantic Visions company's data
includes thousands of smaller Russian websites and blogs as well as major Russian state-run media outlets, according to The
New York Times .
They give an overview of how Russia uses propaganda to justify the war in Ukraine.
By falsely portraying Ukraine as being overrun by right-wing extremists, Russia wants to maintain support for its own people.
False claims about Ukraine started in the state media, according to research, but smaller news sites have further amplified the messages and changed the way many Russians view Ukraine.
This is also evident on social media.
As The
New York Times
reports, social media data provided by Zignal Labs shows a rise in references to Nazism in Russian-language tweets, matching the rise in Russian news media.
Ukraine War: Russian media spread false claims about Nazis in Ukraine
Russian media have also falsely claimed that Ukrainian Nazis are using non-combatants as human shields, killing Ukrainian civilians and plotting genocide against Russians.
Experts believe that with this strategy the Kremlin is hoping for a quick overthrow of the Ukrainian government.
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According to Jeffrey Veidlinger, the Russian understanding of Nazism hinges on the notion of Nazi Germany as the antithesis of the Soviet Union, and not on the persecution of Jews.
"That's why they can call a state that has a Jewish president a Nazi state, and that doesn't seem so contradictory to them," the University of Michigan professor of history and Jewish studies said, according to reports in the
New York Times
.
(hg)