Kremlin propagandists have declared Bakhmut ‘liberated’ even though it has been reduced to rubble. Plumes of smoke rising across a homeland left undefended may yet turn their premature joy into mourning. As the Russian illegal invasion of Ukraine persists, Russian disinformation outlets have been manipulatively lauding the ‘liberation‘ of Bakhmut, despite its resemblance to a post-apocalyptic film set. Their jubilation based on selective use of information from the field may be short-lived, given Ukrainian forces continue to operate nearby. In the meantime, Russia’s decision to throw resources into the Bakhmut meat grinder might just come back to haunt them. […]
Last week, Poland and Germany stood out as one of the main targets of the pro-Kremlin information manipulation ecosystem. The pro-Kremlin informa-tion manipulation ecosystem was all over the place last week, hammering several worn-out narratives and introducing a few novel nuances. Out of all the targets – save for Ukraine, that receives most of Russia’s attention most of the time – Poland stood out due to the number of pieces trying to discredit it from different angles. A host of pro-Kremlin outlets claimed that Poland, one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine, is forming an international corps to occupy Western Ukraine. […]
Victory Day, celebrated in Russia on 9 May, is a special day for the Kremlin’s machine of information manipulation and disinformation. Sure, on paper, for Russia this date marks the end of World War II. But for information manipulators and disinformation peddlers, including the liar-in-chief himself, 9 May is a yearly occasion to fan the flames of deceit, reinforce the Kremlin’s line, and re-calibrate disinformation narratives, if needed. Same as last time, this year was no exception. The pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem was quick to pick up the cues from Putin’s lacklustre Red Square speech to push the same disinformation narratives freshly endorsed by their master. […]
Since 2008, Victory Day celebrations of the defeat over Nazi Germany have become yearly and has turned into what some Russian opposition observers call ‘Victory Madness’ (победобесие). The scale and intensity of World War II’s glorification and of the Kremlin as an eternal defender against ‘Nazism’ have become unprecedented. But that was not always the case. in the Soviet Union, the public commemoration of Victory Day was limited, especially before 1965. On 9 May 1945, a large fireworks display in Moscow commemorated the defeat of Nazi Germany, while a historical Victory Parade on Red Square took place on 24 June 1945. In 1945, 9 May was declared a public holiday in the USSR, a status that it kept only until 1947. 9 May was a regular working day until 1965. […]
La situation sur le front d’Ukraine semble figée, malgré les combats qui se poursuivent, dans l’attente d’une contre-offensive ukrainienne présentée comme inéluctable. Le franchissement de la frontière russe dans la région de Belgorod au nord de Kharkiv, suivie par l’intrusion sur le territoire de la fédération, apparemment sans grande difficulté, de 2 bataillons fortement armés de miliciens russes, a constitué une réelle surprise … « L’Ukraine ne peut se satisfaire de la limitation géographique de son domaine d’action » comme l’écrit l’amiral Christian Girard, qui la conduit «à accepter une totale dissymétrie du rapport de force, incompatible avec l’atteinte de l’objectif de libération de son territoire dès lors que le soutien des forces russes s’effectue à partir de celui de la fédération » […]
One and half years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and constant attacks against Ukrainian civilians, the Kremlin has the nerve to claim that ‘a war is being waged against it’. History is full of despots who, having provoked and antagonised all neighbours, claim with increasing paranoia, ‘the world is against me’. Russia as of summer 2023 has become another example. The Kremlin ecosystem tries to form the perception in global media that, after 15 months of full-scale war, Russian attacks are regarded as the ‘new normal’ and kind of ‘just the way the war goes nowadays’, while small Ukrainian counter-strikes are seen as the direct way to Armageddon, highly dangerous, crossing a ‘red line’ or ‘provoking’ Russia. […]
For over a year, Russian state-controlled outlets and pro-Kremlin pundits have been trying to convince themselves and the world that the forcible transfer and unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia or territories temporarily occupied by Russia were ‘humanitarian’, ‘voluntary’ and served the needs of the children. Russian state-controlled media spat out feel-good stories about hundreds of Russian families lining up to adopt orphans of Donbas and Ukraine, while some of the Ukrainian children from Mariupol were used as a prop by the Kremlin’s propagandists and had to thank and hug their ‘liberators’ in a choreographed appearance at a pro-war rally in Moscow. […]
Le général de Gaulle ne s’est jamais bercé d’illusion sur l’avenir de la Russie. Après l’effondrement du bloc communiste, François Mitterrand a su montrer de l’intérêt pour la Pologne et la Tchécoslovaquie. On dirait qu’Emmanuel Macron s’engage à son tour dans cette voie. Son discours de Bratislava a marqué les esprits, rompant avec des propos maladroits qui avaient entaché son engagement européen pourtant sincère. Un sentiment amplement partagé d’Helsinki à Sofia par des pays « en première ligne » face à une Russie au ban des nations. Les grands pays ont généralement tendance à négliger ces petits États qui cachent parfois de grandes nations… […]
Comment comprendre la catastrophe qui ronge la société russe depuis plus de deux siècles sans lire ou relire le livre visionnaire d’Astolphe Louis Léonor, marquis de Custine ? De retour en France, le marquis publie « La Russie en 1839 » un témoignage qui avait « fortement énervé le tsar » nous dit Françoise Thom, au moins autant qu’il avait déçu le gouvernement français qui l’avait missionné en Russie pour « s’inspirer du modèle russe ». De Custine, édifié par ses découvertes, en avait tiré une conclusion sans appel : « Cet empire malgré toute son immensité n’est rien qu’une prison dont la clé est entre les mains de l’empereur; un tel État ne vit que de victoires et de conquêtes, et en temps de paix rien ne peut se comparer au malheur de ses sujets » … « Une passion forte et débridée pour la conquête bouillonne dans le cœur du peuple russe.» […]
Kremlin propagandists have declared Bakhmut ‘liberated’ even though it has been reduced to rubble. Plumes of smoke rising across a homeland left undefended may yet turn their premature joy into mourning. As the Russian illegal invasion of Ukraine persists, Russian disinformation outlets have been manipulatively lauding the ‘liberation‘ of Bakhmut, despite its resemblance to a post-apocalyptic film set. Their jubilation based on selective use of information from the field may be short-lived, given Ukrainian forces continue to operate nearby. In the meantime, Russia’s decision to throw resources into the Bakhmut meat grinder might just come back to haunt them. […]
Copyright© European-Security 2023
