50 hours of lies: How Putin’s propaganda machine was brainwashing Russians

When it comes to Western observers, the Russian invasion of Ukraine took place as a series of brutal attacks that were interrupted by strategic mistakes. However, on Russian state television, the same events were presented as a positive development event, which is an interpretation that was supported by a quick change of facts and propaganda.

Much of Russia’s news media is under strict Kremlin control, and state television works as a government spokesman.

The intricate and sometimes contradictory narratives of the Russian invasion of war are not only aimed at convincing viewers that their version of events is true, say disinformation experts. The goal is often to confuse viewers and create mistrust so that the audience is not sure what to believe.

The New York Times reviewed more than 50 hours of television footage to show how the war is presented to Russians through the country’s media.

April 14 – Pride of the Russian fleet submerged

Russia faced a significant loss when its leading cruiser “Moscow” was sunk after being damaged by a missile strike. Ukrainian officials said the ship was hit by two Neptune rockets. The New York Times reported that the United States provided intelligence that helped Ukraine locate and shell the ship.

Independent Russian media abroad reported that about 40 men were killed and 100 injured. However, in the Russian-controlled media, news programs have downplayed Ukraine’s strategic attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry first said the ship was damaged after a fire detonated ammunition. The ship was returned to shore, and the crew was evacuated safely, the report said. Russian media later reported that the ship sank during the storm.

For the Kremlin, the loss contributes to growing challenges in conveying a positive impression of the war at home. Russian media have repeatedly rejected or belittled victims of Ukrainian civilians, as well as Russian victims and their families. Russia acknowledged the total number of deaths in March for the first time, letting Russian viewers know that the war would involve domestic losses.

April 2 – Corpses line the streets of Bucha

As Russian forces withdrew from the region around Kiev, photographs of dead bodies were circulating in the streets of Bucha. Killed civilians were found on the streets of this suburb of Kiev, whose hands were tied, and who also had gunshot wounds to the head. The images sparked renewed calls for war crimes charges against Russia.

On Russian television, this discovery was presented as a scam, and pictures and footage are shown as fake. In one video, Russian journalists noticed that the clothes on the dead civilians were too clean to be on the street for days, which implies that they were not killed during the Russian occupation. A statement from the Ministry of Defense states that there are no signs of decay on the bodies and that the blood on their wounds did not clot.

However, photos published by the Western media, which are not blurred, clearly show that there are signs of decay on the bodies.

Another newspaper report said footage from Bucha showed some bodies “moving”, citing evidence that the corpse had been edited. One shot showed a body in the rearview mirror that looked like it was moving after the car left. But several photographs taken in the field by Western photographers show that bodies in the area have signs of decay.

Then followed the narrative that those people were killed by Ukrainian troops on Bucha Street.

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March 9 – Maternity hospital in Mariupol is bombed

Russia has provoked international condemnation after the bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol. Pictures of injured pregnant women, which were carried over the charred hospital complex, clearly showed the Western public what the civilian cost of the war was.

In Russia, however, the attack was presented as a scam. Russian television dissected the footage and expressed numerous doubts about Western reports, often using the same images seen in the West to present very different depictions of what happened.

Images of the two women were particularly exposed in the Western media.

One of them is an influencer named Marijana Vishemirskaja, who survived the attack and later gave birth to a girl. Another woman, who has not been identified, was photographed on a stretcher, and the AP later reported that she had passed away. In one segment, Russian journalists claimed that in both cases it was the same woman. Vishemirskaja later denied that she was on a stretcher.

In another segment broadcast on Russian television, the victims who were transferred from the hospital were described as soldiers of the Ukrainian battalion Azov, a unit of the Ukrainian National Guard, which is connected to the neo-nationalist movement in the country. But photos taken by Western journalists show that the victims were women wearing colored clothing that vaguely resembled military uniforms.

Vishemirskaya gave an interview to Denis Seleznev, a Ukrainian blogger who supports the separatist movement in Donbas. Parts of the interviews that were broadcast on Russian television were not focused on her injuries, but on the Azov Battalion, claiming that the military group occupied the hospital before the strike

Russian media also focused on her description of Azov soldiers, presenting them as belligerent occupiers demanding food. The Kremlin and Russian media have often focused on the Ukrainian neo-Nazi movement as a justification for the invasion. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that one of his central goals was “the denazification of Ukraine”.

Although the Azov Battalion was founded in 2014 by Ukrainian ultranationalist and neo-Nazi groups, experts say the troop has stifled every part of its extremist side under pressure from the authorities.

March 4 – Zaporozhye nuclear power plant attacked

At the beginning of March, Russian forces advanced towards the largest European nuclear power plant. The clash with Ukrainian forces ended with a fire in the complex, which Ukrainian President Zelensky warned could lead to the “end of Europe”. The fire was later extinguished, but Ukrainian officials accused Russia of “nuclear terrorism”.

Another story was told to the Russian public: that Ukrainian soldiers attacked the building, setting the building on fire before fleeing. Russian forces have been described as troops defending the facility from “Ukrainian saboteurs”, according to a government statement repeated in state media.

A video released weeks later shows the plant operating normally, with drone footage showing workers arriving at a flawless facility and neatly passing through security checkpoints.

“While the special military operation is underway, the nuclear power plant did not stop working for even a second,” said Alexei Ivanov, a reporter for “Vreme”, in the evening news on the First Channel. He said that the Russian guard does not interfere in the work of the power plant.

One soldier interviewed at the facility said that “the employees in this factory show a certain amount of respect” and that the workers “maintain work and discipline in their work”.

The narrative that Ukraine functions better under Russian control is still a frequent claim on state television, supporting Putin’s dubious argument that Russian troops were sent to protect Ukrainian citizens.