How russia uses environmental initiatives for propaganda abroad
russia has announced the international campaign “memory garden,” presenting it as an eco-patriotic initiative involving dozens of countries worldwide.
▫️The campaign involves planting trees in honor of those who died during World War II. On the surface, the idea appears universally positive. Participation in an environmental initiative commemorating war victims is difficult to refuse.
▫️However, beneath this apparent “neutrality” lies a political agenda. The campaign begins in occupied Crimea, making it a tool for legitimizing russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territories. Participants also include russian-occupied regions of Georgia — South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The “memory garden” campaign exemplifies how even seemingly apolitical initiatives can be turned into instruments of information influence by russia. Here, environmental and memorial elements are combined with propaganda, and through foreign participation, russia constructs a positive image of itself as a state supposedly uniting peoples around historical memory.
