How fake news is created. Why did the Kremlin "kill" Ihor Tansyura and Valery Zaluzhny?

In May 2023, together with increased air attacks on Ukraine, Russian propaganda intensified. Fake news about the alleged destruction of the Patriot air defense system or the serious wounding of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny appears daily on the Internet. Focus found out why this happens and what role propaganda plays in war
More and more falsifications from Russian propaganda began to appear in the information field. Until recently, these were, as a rule, the achievements of the spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Igor Konashenkov. The Russian representative bravely reported on taking control of populated areas (about five or six times) and destroying Western weapons. For example, in his reports, Konashenkov announced the destruction of 55 installations of M142 HIMARS rocket artillery systems. At the same time, Ukraine was to receive only 20 of these weapons. According to him, two installations of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile complex, decision-making centers, and army headquarters and command centers were destroyed in Ukraine.

Enemy propaganda already at the beginning of May 2023 shifted the emphasis from equipment and weapons to manpower. Russian propaganda media and the public on social networks began to spread information about the death of the commander of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Major General Ihor Tansyura. When the information was not confirmed and immediately denied, they turned their attention to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny. It was reported that the commander was seriously injured and that his condition is critical. However, this did not prevent him from being found guilty of a drone attack on Moscow and Moscow Region.
In addition to the frankly ridiculous fake news produced by Russian propaganda, well-planned information campaigns also appear in the information field. As a rule, their sources are public media on social networks, profiles of supposedly military people in Tik-Tok. These are already well-made posts with the posting of old photos and videos of the destruction of forces and equipment of Ukrainian troops, sometimes even from the period of 2014.
Cases of creating "clone profiles" of brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or the National Guard are not rare. Here, according to experts, the manuscript of Yevgeny Prigozhin's "troll factory" is traced. By the way, he was the first to report that during the days of Zaluzhni's stay at the Ukrainian positions, "Wagner" artillery massively shelled that part of the front.
According to Ihor Popov, a political expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, propaganda and the information component have always been part of war. That is why the forces and potential of the belligerent country are maximally involved in the war.
"In every war, even in ancient times, the informational component is very important. The warring parties try to announce victories, even if there are none, to raise the fighting spirit of the army and civilians. That's how it was always and everywhere. Modern Russia with its propaganda did not exception - there comes the news about the destruction of the Ukrainian command, tens and hundreds of samples of weapons and equipment. At the same time, they are silent until the last about their own losses. Remember how they kept silent until the last about the loss of the missile cruiser "Moscow" and did not talk about the loss of its crew, and they don't speak even today," says Popov for Focus.

How Russian propaganda works

According to the results of research by the international non-governmental organization Debunk, Russia spent 1.9 billion dollars on propaganda and its promotion in 2022. According to analysts, this is $400 million more than previously planned. The main recipients of the funds were the international newsroom of RT, VGTRK and the media group "Russia Today" (RIA Novosti, Prime, InoSMY, Sputnik and others). At the same time, social networks and bot farms are not included in the assessment.
Denis Boguš, an expert in the field of strategic communications, assures that despite the complete absurdity and complete fallacy of Russian propaganda, it has its audience for which it works. These are those who call themselves "I am not interested in politics", i.e. citizens who are not capable of critical thinking and checking information.
"I once did a study of Russian propaganda on the example of four major Internet resources. So, on RIA Novosti alone, out of a daily flow of 700 news, 200 were about Ukraine — of which 150 were completely false. About "boys in underpants", neo-Nazis, fascists, some wild crimes. Propaganda feeds Russians with delusions not only about Ukraine, they talk about hunger and cold in Great Britain, EU and USA. Whole analytical centers, public organizations, mass media and bloggers are working on that," he explains to Focus.
According to him, in Russian society there are people who read books and those who don't, and according to research, 60 to 80 percent of the latter are the latter. These are precisely the consumers of information on whom propaganda works.

Google and Facebook will be blocked in Russia

Meanwhile, the Russian leadership began to discuss the possibility of introducing a state firewall. By analogy with what is in force in China. In an interview, Putin's Internet adviser Herman Klimenko talked about the possibility of blocking a number of resources, including Google and Facebook. In this way, they want to isolate Russian users from the influence of Western media. On the way to strengthening authoritarianism, the authorities are trying to repeat the experience of China or North Korea, where the population is kept in informational isolation. In 2014, North Korean television broadcast the news about the victory in the World Cup in football. The football players of North Korea did not even qualify for the World Cup, but they talked on television about the victory in the final with a score of 8:1 against the Brazilian national team.
Political scientist Serhij Gaidai explains to Focus that in the absence of real victories and gains, state propaganda promotes the most ridiculous fictions for the population. In the case of Russia, where the information field is completely controlled and monopolized, this does not cause any difficulties.

"All this happens when propaganda works in conditions of conflict with reality. Look - Kiev was not captured in three days, the war is already lost in certain aspects, their army is not a "friend of the world" in any way, in fact there is nothing to brag about. That's why they have to fake, invent and confuse the population. Although it looks wild and funny on the outside, it functions in a completely monopolized and controlled information space," Gaidai tells Focus.
Boguš notes that Russian expansion is built on a combination of military and propaganda, which prepares ideological bridgeheads for it. For example, during the Russian occupation of Kherson, 15 Russian FM stations, several TV channels and newspapers started working at once. Against two to three probationers who worked from Ukraine.

Russian propaganda produced a very high quality, powerful information product and manipulated the population.
"I always say that Crimea is lost, especially because of the lack of Ukrainian information policy on the peninsula. It simply wasn't there, but that's why there was Russian propaganda. Russian propaganda is very powerful and operates all over the world — 40 Russian centers operate in France alone." Russkij mir" operates in more than 30 countries around the world. "Every hotel in the world has access to Russian TV channels, and the Sputnik radio station is available on all continents in different languages," says Boguš for Focus.
The expert is sure that if a certain number of Russian TV channels and information sources had not been banned in Ukraine in 2014, the pro-Russian population would have been many times larger in 2022.

Counter-propaganda of Ukraine

In an interview with Focus, experts note that Ukraine also uses propaganda for its own purposes. But this is caused by the necessity of war conditions and influence on the side of the enemy. For example, a few days after the "severe wounding" of Valery Zaluzhny was reported, numerous anonymous Telegram channels began to spread the news about the murder of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. His car was said to have been attacked by a drone when he arrived for inspection at the skirmish line. Even photos of the damaged car were shown.
"Given that in today's world almost any information can be verified, a lie is a road to nowhere. In critical cases, information can be withheld, in the last resort, covered with a military secret, but not lying. Here it is important to maintain a certain balance between what "You can't say what needs to be said honestly. Talking honestly with people is more strategically useful from the point of view of trust than lies and silence," says Gaidai.
According to Ihor Popov, the activation of false information could have started against the background of systematic air attacks on Kyiv. This is how the Kremlin tries to increase psychological pressure and force negotiations on its own terms.
   It is interesting that it was at that time that the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Galuzin, stated that the "conflict" would be resolved if Ukraine refused to join the EU and recognized Russian as the state language. And the Russian ambassador to Great Britain, Andriy Kelin, said in an interview with the BBC that the Kremlin is ready for peace with Ukraine, but on its own terms.