Top 5 topics in Russian media for the week (December 5-11, 2022)

The special military operation is the main topic of news reports in the Russian media. Moreover, compared with the previous week, the intensity of discussion of this topic has increased by almost one and a half times. At the same time, the Russian media continue to cover the hostilities against Ukraine as part of a “special military operation”, and not a full-fledged war - in the context of a war, they are discussed thirty times less often.

The second most important topic in the Russian media was the release of Viktor Bout. She took second place in the top 5 topics of the week, despite appearing in the information field only on Thursday. Correlating with the great importance for Russian propaganda of the Bout exchange is the fact that his name also entered the top 5 most frequently mentioned in the Russian Federation. It is possible to predict a further attempt to incorporate Viktor Bout into the political regime, and Bout himself has already taken the first steps by joining the LDPR party.

The third, most discussed topic is still closely related to the meta-theme of "SVO" - mobilization. Also, the top 5 topics again included anti-Russian sanctions in the form of a ceiling on oil prices, which correlates with the entry of the corresponding term into the number of the most mentioned over the past seven days. Situational topics, despite being in the top 5, include the fire in Khimki, which received a lot of news reports.