Memory as a weapon: russian propaganda marks the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of the ussr
On the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion of the soviet union, russia launched a large-scale propaganda campaign aimed at justifying its armed aggression against Ukraine.
▫️ In publications by kremlin-controlled outlets and official statements, the key tool of manipulation has been the artificial drawing of parallels between the events of 1941 and the current war. russian propaganda persistently portrays Ukrainians as Nazis and Western countries as the equivalent of Hitler’s coalition. russian occupiers are described by russian media as the “true heirs of the victors,” in an attempt to frame the war of aggression against Ukraine as a “sacred act of resistance.”
▫️ Targeting foreign audiences, particularly through events organized with the support of rossotrudnichestvo in countries of the Global South, russia actively promotes the narrative that the Soviet Union was the principal victim of the Second World War, monopolizing this status under the banner of the “great sacrifice of the russian people.” In this way, the kremlin seeks to whitewash russia’s image in the eyes of the international community and divert attention from the war crimes it is committing today.
By militarizing historical memory, moscow seeks to evade responsibility for violations of international law and disguise its war of conquest as a “historical mission.”
