How the Kremlin militarized and fascistized Russian society
For the past two decades Russian society has gone through accelerated militaristic and fascistic endocrine preparing them for a great conflict with the west
As Russia’s war on Ukraine and the west rages through it’s 6th week, the world is getting increasingly exposed and familiarized with what has now become modern Russian mindset. One only has to follow Russian state media coverage, Kremlin pundits and most importantly - Russian social media, to get a glimpse of how dissociative and distorted Russian lore and reception of reality has become*.
*Unfortunately I am not a Russian speaker and as such, I’m left to rely on Google translate to read Russian articles and social media, and English subtitles provided by externals sources in case of interviews and such.
It has now become Russian popular belief that Ukraine is controlled by Nazi groups whose reach has gone as far as to affect its government and regime, and that these Nazis have been perpetrating war crimes for the past 8 years against Russians living in eastern Ukraine (Donbas area) - which prompted Russia’s invasion in 2014 in the first place. Russian Propaganda has been hard at work ever Putin rose to power in 1999, militarizing the youth and deforming Russians very own perception of history and identity. Even the ability to discern moral boundaries has been dissolved and deformed by the Kremlin in grotesque and dangerous ways. This process has only gone through acceleration and extremization in the weeks that followed the Russian invasion.
Take this latest Op-Ed, titled “What should Russia do with Ukraine” which was published in Russian news RIA, on the 3rd of April, the same day reports were starting to surface about possible Russian war crimes in Bucha and elsewhere. The author begins by postulating that Ukraine is largely controlled by Nazis who make up the majority of the country’s population, and concludes with a call for an ethic cleansing of what he defines as the “Bandera Elite” (i.e Ukrainian Elite), as no re-education would be possible. This kind of fascist outlook and statements are getting more and more apparent on Russian outlets, and is only expected to increase as the war drags on without a clear Russian victory.
Manipulating language as a mean to diffuse the reception of reality and ability to discern good from evil
Take the word “Nazi”. It’s no coincidence that Putin is calling his “special operation” a “De-Nazification of Ukraine”. The word Nazi has a profound psychological effect on hundreds of millions of people around the world, let alone Russians who lost approximately 20 million people in WW2 to the Nazi occupation in what has since been coined in Russian ethos as “The great patriotic war”.
When talking about the De-Nazification of Ukraine, Putin actually appeals to the nostalgic reception of the great patriotic war against the Nazis in WW2, Russia’s last true victorious war against a formidable foe, bought at a horrendous price, achieved at the enormous sacrifice and fighting spirit of the Russian people. The victory on the Nazis in WW2 is celebrated each year in May 9th parade in Moscow and is a fundamental part of Russian ethos, preceding even Putin. Putin has simply built upon this ethos and distorted it to his political agenda.
By applying the word “Nazi” to Ukrainians, Putin justifies the means to an end; A complete victory and eradication of any Nazism in Ukraine, regardless of the cost to their fellow Slavs, and any innocent Ukrainians that might live there. As we saw earlier, Kremlin Propaganda is increasingly asserting that no Ukrainians are really innocent, as they’re all accomplices to Nazism, or are Nazis themselves. In that regard we can see a clear trend in Russian propaganda in the past 72 hours and especially after the uncover of potential Russian war crimes in Bucha and elsewhere.
Where at the start of the conflict Ukraine had to be saved from whatever Nazi groups it was harboring, according to Russia, now that narrative is quickly changing to ‘Ukraine is beyond saving’. Ukrainians themselves portrayed war crimes against their own people after Russian troops withdrew, in an attempt to frame innocent Russia and destroy it, according to the Kremlin and Russian state media.
This is classic case where Putin miscalculations leads to a reality in which Russian propaganda is caught with its pants down, forcing it to improvise a new narrative. Russian leadership was convinced that Ukrainian citizens will welcome the invading Russian columns with flowers, not Javelins. Their abrupt realization in face of the cold harsh reality in which they are not welcome in Ukraine - can mean only one thing as far they’re concerned: that ALL Ukrainians are considered hostile Nazis and should therefore be conquered and purged.
Meanwhile Russian Orwellian approach of “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”, accompanied by the dilution of moral lines and identity becomes much worse when one realizes just how much cynical it is. One example for this is the infamous Wagner group, which serves as Putin’s elite mercenary group. The group was formed by Dmitry Utkin, and its name is based on Utkin’s call sign, which he is said to have chosen due to his obsession with the third Reich (as Wagner was Hitler’s favorite German composer). Many of its members are Neo-Nazi sympathizers or hard core fans. Today the group is believed to be run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, one of Putin closest confidants. When Russians use the word Nazi against their foes, it immediately applies that they themselves cannot be Nazis.
Another great example for language manipulation is the relabeling of the war in Russian Society. Russia not only forbade it’s subjects and media from calling the Ukraine invasion a “war” (a penalty which can get you 15 years in prison), its propaganda is also adapting and reacting to the worlds reception of the war, and of Russia itself.
In at least one instance we can see Russian media shifts from “special operation of De-nazification of Ukraine” to the short and catchy “Biden’s War” (which is now turning into “Biden’s war crimes”) - an obvious rebuke and complete polarization of what has been referred to in the west as “Putin’s war”.
Grim hopes for the future
It is only likely that this trend will follow and expand on itself as the war proceeds. By expansion, one might imagine how NATO and the west quickly assume the role of Nazis in Russian propaganda, as currently they are only enablers or complicit to Nazi Ukrainians.
Putin’s greatest enemy - and therefor Russia’s - was always the evil and morally bankrupt, sexually confused, capitalist and corrupt western libaralism. It only follows then that Russian propaganda will soon be put to work in order to bind Ukrainian Nazification with that of the Evil west, further militarizing and fascistically indoctrinating Russian people - preparing them for another ‘Great patriotic war’.
It’s also interesting to look at recent Russian polls to understand how Russians perceive of the war. Take for example these surveys (see here, as well as below) published in Russia these past few days. While we can’t really assume credibility or reliability for any Russian source materials, there is an overall clear and unmistakable trend in these polls. While roughly three quarters of Russians supposedly support the war in Ukraine (exactly what Putin wants to show), and are even proud in it, there are clear socio-demographic differences in the perception of the war, with older Russians tending to be more supportive of it while young Russians are more likely to oppose it.
This generational gap actually make sense when you think about it. Older Russians will naturally tend to be more nostalgic towards the “old days” than millennials who grew up in a completely different world, under completely different conditions. This becomes even more logical when you consider that it’s the younger subjects of Russia who are being sent asked to serve as cannon fodder and getting blown to pieces by a Javelin in some Ukrainian backroad, while the elderly collect their meager pension and fantasize of days of past glory.
Dangerous terminology as a recipe for escalation
All of this is in part what makes the events in Ukraine even more perilous as far as escalation to a broader conflict, not excluding WW3. By betting all his stakes against the ultimate evil - Nazism itself - Putin has locked his fate with that of Ukraine. Putin can’t and won’t allow himself to be seen as a loser, especially not against Nazis. In fact, Russians themselves will see this as the end of Russia, and this is a reoccurring element of both Kremlin pundits (including the dangerous Aleksander Dugin) and common Russians alike.
All the while Russian propaganda receives zero rebukes in Russian society. Consider this article named “How to neutralize aggressive state propaganda” which was published on Russia’s last independent news outlet Novaya Gazeta on the 26th of March. 48 hours later, Novaya Gazeta announced that it was shutting down due to Kremlin pressure.
With what seems as a Russian withdrawal from northern Ukraine in recent days, Russia now appears to be shifting it’s efforts to the Donbas area in the east, and Mariupol and Kherson in the south, where Russians aim to secure a southern strip of land connecting to Crimea and to the sea of Azov.
The main issue with this sudden change of strategy is that Russia already annexed much of this territory, especially in eastern Ukraine (Luhansk and Donetsk) as well as Crimea itself, ever since its previous invasion to Ukraine in 2014. This implies that even the Russian propaganda might have a difficult time selling what was a tremendous Russian effort and sacrifice - only to hold what was already defacto theirs - plus taking the now devastated Mariupol, Kherson and a few more Kilometers of land in the Donbas and southern Ukraine.
Here’s another clip from a very popular talk show in Russia, hosted by Vladimir Solovyov, one of the most hawkish Kremlin pundits and fascist enthusiast (only briefly seen here while he allows his guest to rant on the possibility of nuking NATO):
With Moscow’s May 9th parade fast approaching, Putin is essentially left with 2 options: by then he either needs to paint a decisive victory to Russian elite and proletariat, or escalate the war. Putin cannot - under any circumstance - make it seem as if he left “pockets of Nazism” in Ukraine, but given Russian army embarrassing performances - this will be tricky to say the least. If the very leadership of Ukraine is depicted by Russian Propaganda as Nazis, and Putin has failed to uproot Ukrainian government, what does it say about Russia’s success in this “operation”?
Here’s another snippet from Solovyov talk show, see clip below:
“whatever treaty Russia may sign with current Ukrainian regime will mean the defeat of Russia”
Putin’s alternative option then is to escalate the war into a much broader and existential conflict, in fact most Kremlin pundits are already painting this war as existential for Russia, as can be seen above.
By choosing this course of action Putin will move the final piece in his 22 years plan of brainwashing and ‘Clockwork Oranging’ Russian society: A true fulfilment of the narrative of “The great patriotic war”, where Russian innocence and fighting spirit will be put to the test again, this time, as they face the Western-Nazi alliance. Putin has nothing to offer to Russians in terms of better future, so he’s left appealing to Russian past glory, and what can be more glorious to Russia, than another Great patriotic war?
*This article focuses on Russia, but many of its aspects are relevant for the Chinese regime as well, and there are many signs Beijing is militarizing its society by demonizing the west and painting it as the ultimate evil.