Dieser Post ist auf deutsch verfügbar: Russische Staatsmedien und die Hilfsgüter
It will surprise no one that the population in Russia does not get to see the pictures we see. Pictures of destroyed apartment blocks in Ukrainian cities.
Or those of an attack on one of the largest nuclear power plants on the European continent (the fire is out, occupied by the Russians, all 6 reactors are intact and no radiation has leaked is reported).
Instead, they get to see on state programs that Russian soldiers are supposedly delivering aid to Ukraine, as CNN’s Nick Robertson just reported.
The Russian leadership is very committed to spreading its own narrative of a “special operation” and “imposed” war. Putin is so intent on ensuring that no “wrong” images reach the Russians that he does not shy away from banning news outlets and imprisoning journalists. Just recently, independent outlets Ekho Moskvy and Dozhd were shut down for not following the Russian narrative. A new law under preparation threatens prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading what the regime calls “fake news.” That’s because Fake News is something only Putin is allowed to do in Russia. And the images his state media show follow his line.
The Putin line is: they don’t show such pictures of war, but of forklifts moving pallets of goods around, supposedly in Ukraine. Perfectly normal for Russian state media. After the Great Firewall of China, we now have a digital Iron Curtain.
Russian fakes not only in Russia
But that is not enough for Putin. Twitter accounts @__investigate__ and @nilmonro1 found out that Putin’s fake news machine is not satisfied with publishing these fake news in Russia alone.
The Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Spain published a tweet yesterday about the alleged aid deliveries.
The tweet text says:
Russian military delivers 30 tons of humanitarian aid to Ukrainian civilians.
No, not true. At least not with these trucks, because at least the picture with the trucks is not related to Ukrainie. It’s from 2020, and it was found here:
A deception … completely normal for Putin’s Russia. Because no one in Russia is supposed to know that Russia is firing live rounds, not creating escape corridors for the civilian population, and not delivering aid. What Putin calls a “special operation to disarm and denazify Ukraine” is a brutal war of aggression with civilian casualties and a great deal of suffering.
Unfortunately, recognizing Fake News really takes effort. And it’s hard work. It’s not enough to fire up Google once to discover the truths of the world. That may be enough for a “self-thinking” lateral thinker, but it’s not the truth. One can find a lot of lies and misdirection on the Internet.
But the people of Russia currently have no way to verify images and news, because platforms like Twitter are currently restricted in Russia. And so Russians are helpless to the lies of the totalitarian regime.
This is exactly why it is so important that we all break through this digital Iron Curtain together. All of us, not just us Anons. Worldwide.