How the Russians Talk to Their People – And the Rest of the World

This is a public statement coming from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

I’ve included it because it is a perfect mixture of fact and propaganda, and to explain to you what the Russians hear from their government. Whether or not they believe it, I don’t know, but given the control of their media, they have nothing else to go on.

But this technique is not only classic, it is also compelling, if you have no competing information sources. It is used with various levels of subtlety every day.

Read this through very quickly, and afterwards, I will comment. See if you see the same things I do.

▪️During the day, the grouping of troops of Lugansk People’s Republic took control of Zatishnoye, Peschanka, and Surovtsevka.

▪️The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue to strike at the military infrastructure of Ukraine.

▪️Since the beginning of the operation, 2,814 military assets of the Ukrainian military infrastructure have been destroyed.

💥 Among them: 139 S-300, Buk M-1 and S-125 anti-aircraft missile systems, 84 radar posts of Ukrainian air defence, 974 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 104 multiple missile launchers, 359 field artillery and mortars, 727 units of special military vehicles, as well as 97 unmanned aerial vehicles.

❗️On the night of March 9, Ukrainian nationalists delivered about 80 tons of ammonia to Zolochiv settlement, northwest of Kharkov. According to the residents who left Zolochiv, the nationalists teach them how to act correctly during a chemical attack.

All this testifies to the preparation by Ukrainian nationalists of a provocation using toxic substances to accuse Russia of using chemical weapons.

First of all you see the tone is “factual” and no nonsense. It does not try to be persuasive, as normal propaganda would be, but it purports to be simple facts being reported by indifferent sources.

The first two statements are simple and meant to be easily verifiable. They are likely to be facts that have been widely reported and widely anticipated. A common technique used in propaganda (and marketing and politics), is “commitment and consistency.” It translates in this case to, “You can see we are telling the truth in the first statements, therefore the rest must be true.”

The next statements are likely true, but with minor exaggerations. Note that the total of 2814 “assets” are not accounted for in the list. The rest of the “assets” could be bicycles for all we know. But I’m imagining this is technically true.

The next statement about the ammonia is where we go off the rails. Ammonia is a standard component of fertilizer, of which Ukraine is a leading supplier, 80 tons is likely a trivial amount in that business. I’m thinking that yes, a shipment of ammonia was moved (and they likely have proof for the rest of the world), but Russians have assigned the shipment to its enemies and assigned a sinister motive (none of which can be disproven of course).

And the last statement summarizes everything casually leading to some of the most horrific charges that can be levied at a country – a potential used of chemical weapons.

And certain media outlets will pick up “chemical weapons” and run with it.

Did you find these for yourself? If not, take another look.