State propaganda is learned from the Russians

There are at least 3 reasons to take this lesson from the Russians: the reason why Russian propaganda techniques are effective is that they have a rich history and are constantly updated.

Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the Russian propaganda machine has been mobilized to the maximum extent, and the information war between the actors directly or indirectly involved in this conflict has reached dimensions that ordinary people could not even imagine. It is also possible to see the activation of the discourse of Russian propaganda media during election periods in other countries. As the date of the presidential election in the US approaches, we observe that media discourse is intensifying in both American and Russian media.

To understand how Russian propaganda works at both the national and international levels, we need to go back a bit in history. For example, if we talk about Bolshevik propaganda, it can be summarized in two basic sentences: political explanation and slogan. Political explanation is the process of harshly criticizing and exposing the "flaws" of capitalist society, and producing a more negative image characterized by the selfish interests of capitalist society. The slogan was the fundamental tool of socialist society with an indisputable impact. In other words, the slogan reduces the idea of political explanations to a single message. The slogan had to be as short, concise, and clear as possible, meaningful to the masses, and as easy to memorize as possible. For those like my mother and father who caught the Soviet times: "Workers of all countries, unite!", "All power to the Soviets. Peace to the people. Land to the peasants.", "All workers choose the Soviets!", "Long live the socialist revolution!", "Forward for the victory of communism!", "Death to capital, or death under the heel of capitalism!", "Forward. Victory is near" were very famous and common slogans in Soviet times.

Based on Leninist principles and ideology, the Soviet Union developed a propaganda tool called "active measures" (activnyye meropriyatya), which involved the use of various propaganda techniques against its then-rival, the US.

In addition to "Spetspropaganda", or in other words, special propaganda, there is also disinformation (dezinformatsiya) as a method of information warfare. Deliberately false and incorrect information is one of the main practices of the Russian KGB (Russian State Security Committee), an espionage institution that came after other Russian intelligence services such as the CHEKA, NKGB, and MGB in 1954.

The goal of many countries is to create a positive image in the minds of people. This image becomes even more important if this country is an important political actor in the international arena. The best and easiest way to improve a country's image is to use various media sources. If we talk about Russia, we can give the example of Russia Today, a television channel established to help the Russian Federation create a more positive state image. Before the RT channel was established, many Russian officials argued that the emergence of such a channel was absolutely necessary, and the then-Russian Minister of Press and Mass Communications, Mikhail Lesin, commented on this decision: "We must promote ourselves, otherwise we will still look like bears".

When the Russian television channel *Russia Today *was established in 2005, its mission was defined in military terms. The station's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, emphasized the importance of RT like a Russian ministry of defense. She also stated that RT could wage an "information war against the entire West" using an "information weapon". Another well-known name in Russia, Dmitri Kiselyov, the head of "Rossiya Segodnya" (a state-controlled Russian media group), informed his employees that "the era of impartial journalism is over" and that "objectivity is a myth". Olga Skabeeva, another name very well known for her daily broadcasts in Russia, states that "there is no such concept as 'objective information', there is only information that someone pays for". Regarding propaganda: "We don't need to be afraid of the term 'propaganda'. There is nothing wrong with this term. The information itself is not important, what is important is only the interpretation of this information".

In a digitized world where people have turned into "digital tribes", Russian propaganda has become extremely powerful in the online environment. For example, the late Evgenii Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner group, founded the Internet Research Agency, a factory of trolls or "cyber soldiers" whose goal was to protect the Russian information space from the effects of Western propaganda. He admitted that his trolls interfered in the 2016 US elections, which were won by Donald Trump. Although Putin recently announced his support for Kamala Harris for the US presidency, we all sense that Putin is joking cunningly as he often does, and that the candidate he hopes will win is actually Donald Trump.

For years, Russian media and trolls have developed disinformation and propaganda strategies. One of the main schemes the Russian propaganda machine works with is the SWAMPED model.

S: Strawmen: - Attacking ideas or opinions that the target never expressed.

W: Whataboutism - Distracting the discussion from the topic.

A: Attack - Using ruthless language to discourage opponents.

M: Mockery - Using mockery to belittle the opposition.

P: Provocations - Who benefits from this?

E: Exhaust - Attacking the opponent with details.

D: Denial - Categorical rejection of any evidence.

I would like to state that today's article is informative and not biased, and for those who think otherwise, I suggest an exercise of imagination! Imagine that you are a journalist in Russia and that you must respect the universal principles of journalism such as accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and accountability to the public! Do you think this can be done?