ANATOMY OF PROPAGANDA: TOP 3 EVENTS OF THE WEEK

State propaganda is chaotically searching for a way to explain to its own population the shift of the war to Russian territory. In addition to the usual statements about the "destruction" of UAVs over Moscow and "Ukronazis" in the Belgorod region, propagandists have come up with nothing better than to put Valery Zaluzhny and American Senator Lindsey Graham on the wanted list. Meanwhile, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is cut off from the national media, has made several more moves against the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The beginning of the week for Kremlin propagandists was marked by another crisis: UAVs attacked facilities in Moscow. Social networks were instantly filled with videos of drones flying over the Moscow region. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that all unmanned aerial vehicles were allegedly destroyed. But the problems did not end there – the military operations intensified in the Belgorod’s region territory. The usual policy of silence and reporting on "successfully repelled attempts to violate the border by saboteurs" was swept away by waves of anger on social media. As a result, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced a search for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny.

The Kremlin used a similar tactic in its international politics – the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has put American Senator Lindsey Graham on the wanted list. The reason for that was allegedly a phrase he uttered during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky about the "death of Russians." This fabricated story became one of the main lines of information manipulation within society. Russian security agencies are well aware of the senator's actual words but deliberately played along with propagandists to fuel Russian hatred towards the "collective West".

The Kremlin is trying to isolate the increasingly popular Yevgeny Prigozhin from the media. In response, the owner of the private military company Wagner attempts to break through this blockade by continuously generating resonant statements, exposures, and actions. One such manoeuvre happened to be the public disclosure of the names of officials involved in censoring the media space.