ANATOMY OF PROPAGANDA: TOP 3 EVENTS OF THE WEEK

The perimeter of state propaganda vectors was defined by objective challenges that emerged for Kremlin. The rapid decline in the ruble exchange rate relative to global reserve currencies, and Russia's disregard at the Jeddah summit, forced Kremlin media technologists to intensify the "victory rhetoric" in covering the "special military operation."

The top events in the Russian information field throughout the week were the reports of the gradual decline in the national currency - the ruble. The ruble hits new negative marks almost every day now. Propaganda still tries to convince that this is a temporary and fixable situation, but senior officials are already trying to prepare Russian society for the inevitable food inflation.

Disheartened by the Jeddah summit, the Kremlin attempts to demonstrate support for China. Russian media have circulated the statement made by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the phone conversation between Sergey Lavrov and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi. The propaganda claimed that "the contact between the heads of the foreign policy departments of Russia and China once again confirmed the unity and broad consonance of Moscow and Beijing's approaches to global affairs." The grotesqueness of the wording is due to the participation of China's special representative for Eurasian affairs, Li Hua, in peace consultations in Jeddah, to which the Russian delegation was not invited.

Negative domestic and foreign policy trends are being countered by propaganda through an escalation of military discourse. The abundance of news about the "successes" of the Russian Armed Forces in the war with Ukraine has been supplemented by reports of the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu's, inspection visit to the troop grouping in the Arctic, and his extravagant statements about Poland's intention to "occupy Western Ukraine."