Russian culture and management of meaning in introduction of political influence in Ukraine

This paper investigates narratives and ideology of disinformation campaign
which Russian Federation launched into information space since February 2014
when undisguised occupation of Ukraine started. At the same time world liberal
democracies were also targeted. In this study we examine the role of the national
history and people’s cultural self-identification in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Moscow claimed they started the disguised war against Ukraine to protect ‘people
who feels a connection to Russian culture’. And this narrative was not just a casus
belli, but also the important factor of country’s socio-political destabilization.
Russian Federation used Russian culture affinity to raise hostilities between
people. Disinformation campaign was simultaneously inciting hostility against
Ukrainians at the same time portraying ‘people who feels a connection to Russian
culture’ as victims. Common spoken language in Ukraine was used to incite
violence and disinformation convinced that those who speak Russian are in peril.
While in fact Ukrainian language and culture are country-wide suppressed after
Russification period, Russian propaganda stated otherwise. Disinformation
campaign was inventing new reality, distorting history and denied Ukrainian
ethnocide in 20th century. This campaign brought a number of mercenaries as
combatants to the east-Ukrainian battlefield and also turned a number of Russia's
propaganda consumers around the world into ‘viral carriers’ of conspiracy
theories.