Thread by @DietmarPichler1

300 days of Russian war of aggression against Ukraine🇺🇦 - what are the main disinformation narratives and how has the discourse changed? -overview🧵

Russian "justifications" for the war.

At the beginning: "denazification", "NATO threat", "genocide in Donbas", "history"

Later added: "desatanization", "fight against homosexuality", "potential defeat in Ukraine threatens Russia's existence", "defending new territories"

Public discourse 1:

February/early March
"poor Ukrainians"

Same people after Ukrainians have liberated a lot of territory:

"Ukrainians should not escalate" "both sides must negotiate and seek peace." "we suffer from high energy prices"

Public discourse 2☑️

February/early March

"poor Ukrainians"

Same people after Ukrainians have liberated a lot of territory:

"Ukraine needs humanitarian and military aid to defend its right to exist and liberate all occupied territories."

Public discourse 3

February/early March

"poor Ukrainians, but what about Donbass, what about NATO, what about language laws", "Russia's army is superior"

Same people after Ukrainians have liberated a lot of territory:

"Zelenskyy is a warmonger, we should give up on Ukraine"

Public discourse 4

February/early March

"war is sad"

now:

"well, there are a lot of wars, I am tired of it, let's watch football (soccer)"

How politicians & commentators speak about the war:

Is the aggressor (Russia) mentioned or just "war" as if it were a natural disaster?

Is the suffering in the occupied areas mentioned or is the criticism limited to the fighting?

#Bothsidesism and #Falsebalance are on the rise

Unchanged since February 24: Russia denies war crimes, threatens the West with nuclear weapons and demonizes Ukraine. New (invented) "justifications" for war do not replace the old ones, but complement them.

The spreaders of Russian propaganda have become more organized, but so has democratic civil society against disinformation. Governments in Europe do far too little against Russian disinformation, especially in German-speaking countries.