<<Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses cinema to spread anti-Ukrainian narratives

“Cinema is the most important art”, said Bolshevik Lenin, praising the Soviet school of cinema (according to Russian propaganda). Volodymyr Putin also vowed to keep an eye on Russian cinema when he recently commissioned films about the war against Ukraine to be shown in Russian cinemas.

More precisely, the films are called upon to “fight against the spread of neo-Nazi and neo-fascist ideology”.

Exposing Mihail Neamțu's Fallacies on X (Tweet #1)

The Effect of Fallacies on Reality

This message demonstrates how the use of fallacies and emotionally charged rhetoric can distort reality. By relying on sweeping generalizations, appeals to fear, and dramatic language, the message inflates the significance of Romania’s annulled elections, framing them as part of a global pattern of democratic failure.

<<Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses “It’s your own fault” tactics

“It’s your own fault” is one of the most common propaganda tactics both in the internal (Russian) and external information spaces. Propagandists transfer the responsibility for what has been done to the victim, causing them to feel ashamed or guilty, etc.

For example, the authorities are bad, but the officials who violate the laws are not to blame for this, but the voters who voted for them.

<< Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses repetition tactics

Multiple repetition is one of the key tactics of Russian propaganda.

The idea (thesis, slogan) is repeated many times in different sources of information until it is perceived as true. Television, radio, cinema, show business, literature, education, etc. are used to spread the idea.

For example, in 2014, after the occupation of the Crimean peninsula, Russians began to use the slogan “Crimea is ours!”.

<< Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses substitution tactics

“Substitution of concepts” is one of the most common tactics of Russian propaganda. Propagandists artificially substitute commonly used terms (concepts) that evoke mostly negative emotions with new ones that are perceived neutrally or positively.

Propagandists use this tactic primarily to form a modern new language.

In a surprising turn of events, Russia-1, the state-owned television channel, aired nude photographs of Melania Trump on November 8th, just a day after President Vladimir Putin officially congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory.

nafoforum.org/education/awar… This juxtaposition raises a critical question: why would Russia extend diplomatic goodwill while simultaneously broadcasting content that could strain relations?

Applying Occam's Razor: the principle that the simplest explanation is usually correct, the most straightforward reasoning is that the

#CorrosivePropaganda and #disinformation are a weapon of war.

“I studied at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. We had a military department."

nafoforum.org/magazine/i-stu… "In an atmosphere of secrecy, we were taught special combat propaganda - the art of sowing discord in the ranks of the enemy with the help of disinformation and manipulation of consciousness.

Let me tell you, it’s a scary business. I'm not kidding.

<< Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses labeling tactics (stereotyping)

Labeling (stereotyping) is one of the most common propaganda tactics. Propagandists provide the phenomenon/process they are working against with negative content using a deliberate name or characteristic that evokes negative associations.

Less often, this tactic is used in a positive connotation such as calling a certain group of people heroes.

<< Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses “love bombing” tactics

"Love bombing" is a tactic used by propagandists to attract people to their cult or ideology. It works like this: they try to cut a person off from existing social support and replace him or her with communication with members of a particular group, that is, supporters of a particular ideology, who deliberately bombard the person with affection, trying to isolate them from the previous

<<Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses “join the masses” tactics

“Join the masses” is a propaganda tactic by which propaganda backs up its messages with claims supported by large masses of people. This is how propagandists try to convince the audience that everything they say is true.

This tactic is based on conformism - the tendency of people to adapt, bow before authorities, accept opinions and positions shared by the majority of representatives of their social group.

<< Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses scarecrow tactics

“Scarecrow” is a propaganda tactic in which the arguments of opponents are replaced by weaker ones.

After that, it is they who are refuted, and not the primary, stronger positions. This tactic exploits a logical flaw called “thesis substitution”. A classic example of this tactic being used is this dialogue:

A: “Sunny days are good.”

B: “If all days were sunny, there would never be rain, and without rain there would be drought and starvation”.

<< Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses “inescapable victory” tactics

This propaganda tactic is based on the constant and systematic belief of the target audience that the side represented by the propagandists will certainly win and achieve their goals.
1/13 This may happen soon or sometime in the future, but it seems to happen for sure. In this way, people affected by this manipulation are persuaded not to “be late” and join the ranks of the winners while there is still such an opportunity.
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<< Tactics and tools - How Russian propaganda uses “scapegoat” tactics

A “scapegoat” is a tactic that mitigates the responsibility for those guilty of something by shifting the responsibility to someone else - the so-called “scapegoat”.


1/14 disinfo.detector.media/en/post/how-ru… This is one of the main tactics of Russian propaganda, which propagandists use to justify the war crimes of the Russian occupiers.
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<< “40 to 60” or “60 to 40” is a propaganda method in which 60% of the information is true, and 40% is manipulative.

Propagandists create media that work on this principle and position themselves as an objective, independent or alternative source of information.


1/20disinfo.detector.media/en/post/how-ru… By spreading true news, propaganda media ingratiates themselves with the reader, which encourages him or her to turn off critical thinking and swallow the other 40% of misinformation.

It is often presented as something that the authorities are hiding from society and conspiracy theories.
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"Alona Victorovna Shevchenko was born in 1993 in a small village in eastern Ukraine. Grew Up with Russian as her native language to a family who owned a trucking business.

She graduated from Dnepropetrovsk university in English and Russian studies.


1/10 mrpickle.substack.com/p/ukraine-dao-… Around 2015 she moved to the UK where she worked as a translator for legal documents written in Russian.
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The fallacy detection system has the potential to reshape how individuals approach critical thinking, especially in the context of social media.


1/19 nafoforum.org/education/awar… One of the biggest challenges in the current digital age is that vast amounts of information are consumed daily without a structured means of evaluating its quality.
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Have you ever found yourself feeling an immediate surge of emotion while scrolling through social media or browsing online?
Maybe anger, fear, or frustration?

Have you ever caught yourself agreeing with a post just because it felt right, even before giving it a second thought?
1/12 It's not just you. It’s all of us. Our brains are wired to respond more strongly to emotional stimuli than to facts and logic.

This makes us human, but it also makes us vulnerable.
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We, who grew up in the Soviet Union/Russia are the grandchildren of victims or executioners. All of us, without exception… There were no victims in your family? So, there must have been executioners. There were no executioners in your family? So, there must have been victims.
1/7 There were no victims or executioners? So, there are secrets…

I believe we underestimate the strong influence of Russia’s tragic past on the psyche of today’s generations. Assessing the scale of Russia’s past, we usually think of the victims.
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My life as a troll –
Lyudmila Savchuk’s story

For two months, Lyudmila Savchuk was employed by the ‘Internet Research Agency‘ in Saint Petersburg, which in reality was a troll factory.


1/21 diis.dk/en/my-life-as-… Here she talks about her experiences as a troll.

– My name is Lyudmila; I am a journalist and I live in Saint Petersburg. A while ago I started to get interested in so-called troll factories, and I decided to investigate the phenomenon from the inside.
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“I studied at the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University. We had a military department.

In an atmosphere of secrecy, we were taught special combat propaganda - the art of sowing discord in the ranks of the enemy with the help of disinformation and manipulation of consciousness.
1/29 Let me tell you, it’s a scary business. I'm not kidding. Combat, or “black,” propaganda allows any distortion of real facts to solve propaganda problems.

This is an effective weapon used for the sole purpose of knocking out the enemy’s brains. The "rotten herring" method.

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Artificial intelligence refers to a collection of ideas, technologies and techniques that relate to a computer system's capacity to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence.


1/13 akademie.dw.com/en/generative-… When we talk about AI in the context of journalism, we usually mean machine learning (ML) as a sub field of AI. In basic terms, machine learning is the process of training a piece of software, called a model, to make useful predictions or generate content from data.
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