Russian Propaganda - Blog Posts

the saying "ignorance is bliss" was right because what the fuck is this

You all DO NOT fucking understand.

A “what did I do-o-o-o 😭😭😭 I'm just a little guy, I'm apolitical, what do you want from me-e-e-e 😭😭😭😭” russian is not a “good” russian. It is a product of russian propaganda they've got going on inside the country. It is what they've been brainwashed to think like. Their government feeds them contradicting lies and punishes for speaking up, so they sit quietly, not even wanting to learn about Kursk.

They went on a protest when there was no electricity due to infrastructure damage. They went on a protest abroad when a russian nazi singer got blocked on Spotify. Why don't they protest the war while living in Britain? Why do they either not give a fuck or attack Ukrainians abroad? It is THEIR choice to see Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine, Syria and then ploof on their backs receive belly scratches that Western folk happily provides.

They don't engage, then visit Crimea in the summer and run in complete bewilderment with tears on their faces when there's a bomb. What war? They're apolitical, guys. How could you? What did they do? Of coooourse they can call a Ukrainian a cowshed animal and still be apolitical (in russian of course, so you, their western friend, don't think bad of them). They can mock any language that got trapped under the empire however they please and not notice any oppressive undertones. You all did not hear what they think about Belarussian or Ukrainian — NOT when they're confronted, but when they speak in their space and in their language.

Image 1, “Dead languages of russia”

Image 2, “Guess why the fuck there are so many nationalities in ruzzian empire and why is that their culture is being erased. A bonus question: by whom? An extra hard question: do ordinary russians think that these people have the same social status as them? Do they think that some nationalities are subhuman?”

Of course they call for “peace”, because, you see, war is bad, because fuck the war! — because it's a surface-area nice thing they can say to get friends, because they're too “pure” to follow up with “they should give up so the killings stop giving me a bad reputation and I DO NOT GIVE A SINGLE SHIT about death when it's not on my Twitter feed”.

I know what a Westerner would think about this. At the very, very best, literally peak compassion I've met maybe twice, it would be: “Damn this is xenophobic, but I bet they're going through a lot right now, so I won't tell them that they're wrong”. And the funny thing is that I am not wrong. They're just nice to you, because your nation is not the funny one that belongs in the stables. If they're an opposition, they just want a better russia, not a free Ukraine.

And I'm talking about “leftists” here (not sure if it's the correct term, like, politically), the ones being befriended and cherished online. Shit the openly genocidal ones produce, which are many, is far beyond Western comprehension.

Then negotiate a peace. Stop trying to save a shred of territory because doing so is resulting in mass slaughter of incompetent barely trained Ukrainians. You fuckers are gonna capitulate at this rate, then Russia can do whatever they want. Negotiate. A. Peace.

1. Negotiating wouldn’t help.

We had the Budapest memorandum in 2014 when we got “security guarantees” from russia, USA and the UK in exchange for our nuclear arsenal and some other weapons. Did that help us in 2014? Nope.

Now, the year of 2014. Russians took our Crimea, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. We tried to negotiate with them and signed the Minsk Agreement. Did it ever help us in 2022? No.

Peace treaties with russia are worthless.

2. Giving up this “shred of territory” (which is the size of two Belgiums, by the way) would never stop the “mass slaughter of Ukrainians”.

Every day with russians on our land creates more torture chambers, mass graves, rape, forced deportation of Ukrainian children and concentration camps.

3. Does russia want to negotiate right now? No, unless all of Ukraine surrenders.

If all of Ukraine surrendered and became a part of russia, it would result in a complete genocide. Those Ukrainians who manage to survive will be sent by moscow as cannon fodder to Poland or Moldova. Is this the “mass slaughter of incompetent Ukrainians” you meant?

By the way, this is already happening with Ukrainians from the occupied territories who are sent by russians to the frontlines with no equipment, no training or even a health check.

If you mean “peace” as in a ceasefire, and letting russia keep the land it controls, it wouldn’t work either. Russians do not want to negotiate right now. If they did, they wouldn’t have started a new counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region.

Even if russia agreed to a ceasefire, and stopped bombing us (which would be a miracle), it would not last. They would use some time to regroup, train more soldiers, produce more weapons and ask for reduce of sanctions. In a few months or years they will attack Ukraine again, using the occupied territories. Just like in 2022.

4. Historically, we’re looking at the Third Reich annexing Sudetenland right now. Or even attacking Poland - if we remember Ukraine in 2014, Georgia in 2008 and two Chechen wars in the 1990s.

I’m sure you’ve heard of wwii but here’s a quick recap: everyone tried to appease hitler, no one cared when the third reich swallowed Austria, Czechia, Slovakia and only when the nazis attacked Poland, the people were like ‘OH MY GOD HITLER IS TRYING TO CONQUER EUROPE! This is unbelievable, why haven’t we stopped him before???’

(Well, not everyone was like that. Many people said “why should we fight for Poland, who cares about that hitler guy”)

5. Do you want a russian war with NATO? Or would you prefer to just send Ukraine some old weapons (that you don’t use anyway) and let us stop russia by ourselves?

NATO either helps Ukraine win now, or they will have to really fight russia in a few years. Do you want to send boys from NATO countries to die in Warsaw, Riga or Tallinn? Do you want russians to come to your country, to bomb your house, to kill your mother and rape your kid?

6. And for fuck’s sake, don’t talk to me like that. I wasn’t born in a first world country, yes. But that doesn’t make me inferior to you.

- Where are all Ukrainian writers? Why there are so few of them?

Just one example of hundreds similar cases:

Geo Shkurupiy was born on April 20, 1903, a Ukrainian writer of the avant-garde genre. Shot by the NKVD (the Secret Police of the USSR) on December 8, 1937, in Leningrad. His place of rest is still unknown. His wife, Varvara Bazas, was assigned the WTM category — "the Wife of a Traitor to the Motherland". Together with their son Georgiy, they - as an "enemy of the people" family - were forcibly evicted from Kyiv by the Soviet authorities.

To all those who died alone in the Russian occupation

🕯 "To all those who died alone in the Russian occupation". Muzychi village, Kyiv region

These are the words on the tombstone that stands on the grave of the mother of Ukrainian artist Alevtina Kakhidze. The artist installed it in 2021. This memorial project consists of six marble doors that replicate the location of the doors in the house of Alevtina's mother, known as Klyubnyka Andriivna, in the village of Zhdanivka, Donetsk region, as well as concrete porch steps recreated in real life. When the war in eastern Ukraine broke out, the artist's mother was unable to leave her home despite her daughter's persuasion. Alevtina dedicated a series of works to her mother, which were shown at exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad. Kakhidze's mother died in 2019 - her heart stopped while crossing one of the checkpoints controlled by the militants of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic". She was buried in the Kyiv region.

This is not the kind of message that children should receive from their parents "If we are killed, all the documents are in the basement."

This is what I mean when I say that we cannot negotiate and freeze the conflict. Because children from the occupied territories, who are now 14-17 years old, will be fighting against us in five years.

Don't be indifferent. Make Russia pay. Please hear our cry out to the world, keep spreading our voices, and donate to our army and combat medics (savelife.in.ua, prytulafoundation.org, Serhii Sternenko, hospitallers.life, ptahy.vidchui.org, and u24.gov.ua).

Our (Georgian as in the country) government quietly made new additions to the foreign agent law today.

1. The foreign agent law will affect not only organizations, but individuals. Failure to comply with the law causes a 5000 lari fine.

2. The law will allow the government all of your personal information including your political stance and sexual relationships. It makes every organization forced to comply with handing over all of our information to the government. If you are queer, have differing political views, or are part of a non-governmental organization against domestic violence, your anonymity is no longer guaranteed.

3. Only thing this does not include is country's secrets, nothing else is off the table.

When the anti "LGBT propaganda" law passed in Russia, all of you were going insane and cared. Give Georgia the same energy. If you can have sympathy for our oppressors on the basis of them being queer, you should keep the same energy for us, if not more.

If this law passes, every Georgian queer person I know is so severely fucked, myself included. If you make jokes about "being illegal in several countries" you better fucking care about the countries you're apparently illegal in, or going to be illegal in.

Make sure to spread this around. This is important.

How can I, someone outside of Georgia (the country), help fight the foreign agent bill?

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Brands you can boycott to help Georgia (the country) fight against the foreign agent law +what you need to know about it:

[Image ID: Three logos of different international chains depicted on a white background. On top the bands presented are Wendy's and Subway.

For information about brands you can boycott and the summary of what the foreign agent law entails, click on the link above, which refers to my older post. The government's escalating use of force and intimidation techniques during and outside of protests, such as threat phone calls, jumping people in the street, paying sportsmen to physically assault people. The police force has been using methods such as physical violence, torture, tear gas, rubber bullets, and water streams. Along with boycotting, there is a big amount of Georgians emigrating from the country, and organizing protests in other countries. Think about the resources and skills you have that you can use to help demonstrations on the ground and spread awareness on the issue. This might include your graphic design or copywriting skills, a large social media following - aid the protesters by spreading the word. SHARE information that might be useful for protesters inside and outside of Georgia. And most importantly donate, speak to people around you, and attend protests closeby to where you live. Some details of protests outside of Georgia and donation links will be listed below: List of currently known international protests: 12/05 15:00 Venice Biennale Georgian Pavilion | Venice 12/05 15:00 Piazza Garibaldi | Naples 12/05 16:00 Placa de Catalunya | Barcelona 12/05 16:00 Consulado de Georgia | Madrid 13/05 18:00-20:00 Brighton 4th & broadwalk | New York 14/05 18:30-20:30 Place du Pantheon | Paris 17/05 17:30 EU Commission | Brussels 17/05 18:30 Embassy of Georgia | London (And keep an eye on gza.europe on Instagram, for any further news on protests in Europe) Donation links: Shame Movement - Provides gear for protests, organizing demonstrations. GYLA - Georgia's Young Lawyer Association, providing legal help to those detained at demonstrations. All we ask for, is to have you fight together with us.

Brands you can boycott to help Georgia (the country) fight against the foreign agent law +what you need to know about it:

[Image ID: Three logos of different international chains depicted on a white background. On top the bands presented are Wendy's and Subway. On the bottom, it's Dunkin' Donuts. End ID.]

The foreign agent law (also locally referred to as "the Russian law". On February 2023, the ruling majority of the parliament registered a draft law, addressing a completely made-up problem of transparency of non-governmental organizations. The law refers to non-governmental organizations that receive funding from abroad as "foreign agents." In Georgian, "foreign agent" carries the same meaning as "spy." Back in 2023, we managed to fight back against the law that would completely destroy student exchange programs, charity work, LGBT and disability organizations, etc. The law would also allow the government to persecute you for something inconsequential, such as an anti-government post on social media. If the law passes, it would cause most of Georgia to be locked out of international relations and would demolish most of our scarce support systems.

Those are not all of the brands that support the Russian law here, however they are the international ones that through their owners in Georgia support the passing of the law.

Additionally, the government has paid people outside the regions to protest in support of passing of the law, and has threatened them with losses of their jobs and the jobs of their family members.

The protests have been going for many days endlessly, and policemen have been getting more and more brutal. Utilizing things such as water jets, armor, shields, flashlights, smoke, gas, etc.

Please stay with Georgia and support it against the country that has endlessly colonized, genocided, and raped us.

Thank you, Sakartvelo. Keep fighting. We believe in you.

🇬🇪🫂🇺🇦

HELLO! MY COUNTRY IS DESCENDING INTO AUTHORITARIANISM! PLEASE READ!

I'm too angry to formulate how many lines the government has crossed and how dangerous the situation has gotten… please read, and know the truth.

Long post about so-called Ukrainian “xenophobia” towards russians. If you’re not from East Europe\Ukraine - PLEASE, READ IT.

Me and my friends are really tired from seeing shit like this, so here’s simplest explanation to (almost) every popular agrument and answer to it.

Starting with definition. Xenophobia = hate for something foreign just because it is foreign. We DO NOT hate russians just because they're russians.

We hate russians for their warcrimes: both of the past and present.

(Litteraly the day I wrote this thread on Twitter it was another missile attack in the morning)

To put it plane and simple: russians and everything russia related aren't bad for just being russian: russians and everything russia related are bad because they destroying our lifes, cities, kill, rape, stole, occupy, torture and etc.

"But not every russian is related to military! Most of them against war!"

Oh? Really?

But even without numbers: you need to understand that more often so-called anti war russians are just ignorant to what their country doing. Be against war isn't about just words and position - it's about proving your position action. And by taking none since 2014, russians made it clear that they're okay with war.

"Anti war" russians most likely still paying taxes, and those money lately goes to army. "Anti war" russians, again, didn't do anything to stop war. Hell, most of liberal russians are direct imperialists.

So, if you see russian online and even if they're proclame themselves to be antiwar, in 99% cases they aren't.

Also, I simplifying most of things to better understanding, but you also need to know that without context of East Europe\russia-Ukraine conflict history a lot of imperialistic russian shit can pass though your ears. Just be aware of it.

"But how can they do anything against in such authoritarian country!"

Let's head back to simple math. According to russian sources, there was almost 15k detained (note: detained =\= convicted) for anti-war actions.

It all may sound scary... Until you look at looses of ru army.

So it is MUCH more safer in russia to be anti-war that is to be pro-war. Does it bother russians? Not at all.

and don't get me started on how lame it is for country with 144 million population to be afraid of abvously much lesser police force)

***

So, in summary:

Ukranians don't hate russians for being russians. Ukranians hate russians for being bloodthursty, ignorant mass who actively support war and\or don't do a shit to stop it.

Most russians, even "good" ones - likely a war supporter. Yes, they may not a straight forward z-one, but almost 100% an ignorant person who supports war by their money and absence of action against it.

We, Ukranians, have neither the strength nor the desire to look for a needle in our son's haystack.

Keep it in mind and please, do not get into conflicts, the nature and context of which you do not understand. Thanks for reading.

P.S Also there's a really good thread on Twitter that looks over this as a question of basic empathy, so please read it as well.

P.S.S And feel free to ask questions.

"Ukraine is getting too much attention" "it's not that bad suck it up" "but what about [insert country]" "I bet if russia did [something russia has done 20 times] the world would react bc Ukrainians are white" "but what oil prices" "there are only 647 dead Ukrainian children in 2 years" "what about russian protesters" "white privilege" "that's not genocide this is anti-imperialism" "what about 8 years of bombing bambas children" "but Azov regiment" "I don't want WW3 we must appease russia at all costs" "Ukraine rejected peace deal with russia" "they are all nazis anyway" "kill yourself"

This is how it feels.

I’m so fucking tired.

We shouldn’t be “racist” to Russian. We shouldn’t be “xenophobic” to them. We shouldn’t be russophobic. We should have helped them. We should be more accepting. We must be forgiving. We cannot have a trauma response. We cannot avoid Russian.

We cannot do that and that. Also that.

We must do that and that. Also, that.

We cannot complain. We cannot show our suffering. We are at fault. We must negotiate. We must be silent. We have all deserved. We should have been destroyed. We need to understand. We need to be grateful.

Today I had to publicly defend a Ukrainian 14-year old child simply because he feels uncomfortable to engage with Russian art accounts. Child whose country for most of his life is at war with Russia. Child who spent night sheltering from rockets.

But he doesn’t have a right to be uncomfortable with oppressors.

He is xenophobic.

He is racist.

But Russians that arrived at his posts and started mocking him, are not.

“They are victims of bullying, so it is justified response”

Everyone can have a justified response. Everyone, except us. Because we must be a perfect victim. Or not victim at all? Maybe we are the one that attacked? Maybe we are nazis? There would be always 1001 arguments we do not deserve to be called victims.

World was watching us suffering for centuries. They disarmed us, left us defenceless and then, didn’t even help us a lot until we started screaming. Sometimes I feel that even now, people are still watching at us like at some drama, putting million expectations.

I’m feeling absolutely helpless. Whatever we do, we cannot do. No matter how we react, we should have reacted differently.

We owe everyone everything and no one owes us anything. Wonderful world to live in.

I’m losing motivation. I’m losing hope. I want to scream and cry. But it is also hopeless.

Why us? Why now? Why?

I see so many reflections today from different people: someone woke up from the explosions, some from a phone call, some woke up and saw hundreds of notifications from different telegram channels. It is still so unimaginably bizarre. I have no ability to put into words the feeling of your world falling apart and we didn’t even understand half of the danger that was surrounding us. We were so damn close to disaster with half of Europe believing that nothing good will come out of it.

Ukrainians didn’t care what Europeans thought though, I personally saw news pieces about "Russia will take control of Kyiv" a lot later, somewhere in May, when Ukrainian military took control over the north of the country. And I’m so eternally grateful to every Ukrainian who made sure that all this "experts" sat in those flashy studios red from guilt. I’m grateful for my life, I’m grateful for our Ukraine. She persist. She is still the love of our lives. She’s hurt and devastated but she lives despite all the attempts to destroy her. Same as us. Somehow still here.

Yet I feel more detached from the western world than ever and I’m so fucking jealous of you all. It’s not even about the rockets or shakheds - somewhere along the lines you accept the fact that you may die in any moment - it’s about normal things like your Twitter feed that doesn’t look like a necrology, military terms that don’t make any sense to you, your city that doesn’t stop everyday to mourn the dead, you don’t feel guilty for trying to live a normal life while your classmate, who wanted to be a director, posts stories from the trenches. All of that and more. I’m not even entitled to my emotions because there always will be someone who says that my country is not suffering enough. I no longer react to comments like this as emotionally as I’ve done before but it is still so bizarre to see stuff like that from people whose countries have always been the one to inflict suffering on others.

I may sound mean or sarcastic or whatever but there is so much negativity inside of us that was put there by people like I’ve mentioned above that it is going to be released from time to time. "Your country shouldn’t exist", "Only 9 thousand killed", "You all are nazis/racist/zionists/any of the -ist terms" - yet you should always react in a constructive way because the moment you let your emotions go, you are the worst person on the planet. But who am I kidding, some people here do believe that we are. There is a thousand bad people with sketchy patches in a 40-million country and suddenly "That’s why I no longer support Ukraine". Well, honey, that means you never did. Because Syrian flags were quickly replaced with Ukrainian ones and just as quickly with Palestinian. It’s not about the "Support the oppressed", it’s "Anything to not feel guilty" because then you’ll find the reason to hate Palestinians, just as you did with us. If only you cared about the problematic shit happening in you country as much as you care about our political and social life.

But there are people who still are there for us. Countries that are still here. We may not say it as often but we are thankful. So very thankful for everything you’ve done and are doing for us. Thank you for hearing us and uplifting our voices.

Recently one of the most beautiful people here have lost her life defending me and you. She was always in my notes, always making sure that we didn’t feel uncomfortable even if she of all the people had all the right to be upfront about her thoughts and feelings. I don’t think I will ever get rid of the feeling of guilt. She was there while I wasn’t. She said to mourn her through anger. Anger towards the oppressor. Anger that should be directed into something useful: donations, sharing info, contacting your MPs and so on.

The soldier‘s death is not something out of ordinary during the war, it’s not considered a war crime but what if half of the army are civilians? Volunteers who left their homes to protect them. What if the soldier was a teacher, a poet, an actor, an IT-specialist, a scientist, what then? Isn’t it a tragedy? My country is loosing yet another generation of beautiful talented people and it makes my view of the future even darker.

But what can I say? I’m still here. My country still stands. Ukrainian air defence is doing everything possible and impossible to protect the lives of the civilians. Ukrainian military is still the only thing keeping us all alive. Heroes, titans, gods. Glory to them. Eternal glory to those who lost their lives defending Ukraine.

To Ukrainians: якось буде, прорвемся.

We already see it how the nation of heroes is being demonized by propaganda as more and more people are falling for it. It hurts in a way that we, Ukrainians, can't even explain.