Putin’s Russia ready to ‘do second world war again’

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Russia’s state-owned media propaganda has played a relatively important role in shaping Russians’ perception of the war with Ukraine, propelling Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings. As Putin announced before launching the invasion on February 24, Russian offensives in Ukraine are a “special military operation” whose aim is to protect Russians in Ukraine and “de-nazify” Ukraine. And Putin’s propaganda machine has successfully instilled the idea into Russians’ minds that the war must be fought off until the very end, even if that means committing the atrocities of the Second World War, a Russian propaganda watcher warned.

Speaking to Times Radio, Dr Ian Garner said: “To Russians, this is a story that they’re told that signals that we have to do this again.”

“We have to repeat the whole affair, and that really is the watchword for them.”

“In the West, we think of the Second World War in the terms of ‘Never again’.”

“We would do anything to avoid it.”

“But in Russian, they have the phrase ‘We can do it again’, literally.”

This renewed propaganda comes as Russian troops appear to be stalling on many fronts after failing to invade the Kyiv capital region.

Now, Russian forces are launching multiple offensives in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas in a bid to accomplish Putin’s initial goal: restoring peace in the war-stricken region.

Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists have been fighting each other in the Donbas region since 2014.

In a calculated manner, Putin first recognised the region’s two republics of Donetsk and Luhansk to then justify his “peacekeeping” operation, which eventually turned out to be a full-blown military invasion

Dr Garner continued: “And so, when they hear that Russia is threatened by fascists, by shadowy forces, by invaders from the West, there is this great motivating force acting on ordinary people, that is going to get them cheered up and excited about war.” 

“With some trepidation and fear, of course, mixed in too.”

Since Russia blocked Russians’ access to Instagram and Facebook, Russians are believed to be constantly exposed to propaganda “like a fish in water”. 

“Water for a fish. That’s really the way to understand this. Of course, there are a great many Russians who aren’t convinced by this.”

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“Don’t get me wrong. There is hope for getting out of this war. And there is hope for Russia beyond this addiction to this aggressive and macho-nationalism.” 

“But for many others, when your friends are telling you that these things are true, when you’re hearing these stories, at some point, even if you’re a rational person, even if you’re very highly educated, you’re going to start to think that there’s not just smoke without fire.”

“There’s got to be something to this.”

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