Flowers for the boss

According to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president does not consider his birthday a reason for paying special attention to him personally and does not really like increased interest in his family. Accordingly, he would spend the day at work because he cannot afford even one day of rest and is ‘virtually on duty around the clock’.

Reinforcing the personality cult

At EUvsDisinfo, we often focus on how pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets try to attack the EU, its Member States, and neighbouring countries. Yet an equally frequent task of these operations is to sing the praises of the thugs channelling Russian tax money into their pockets and to glorify their ringleader. When the latter had a birthday this week, state-owned outlets and other state-funded disinformation operations dutifully followed Peskov’s example and contributed their share towards reinforcing the personality cult.

All vassals pay tribute

‘News’-agency RIA reported on every single, but really, every single last person to congratulate the leader. This included Peskov himself, presidential staff, rappers from Niger, and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, who is, just like the birthday boy, wanted by the International Criminal Court for deporting Ukrainian children. Outlets showcased international well-wishers to convince the public their leader is still respected. In a similar vein, a whole evening news item was dedicated to birthday congratulations on posters in Genoa, the Foreign Ministry posted a video with foreign students congratulating the president, and the occupiers of Donetsk provided cringy videos of staged ‘actions’ in his honour.

Camouflaged congratulations

For Kremlin-financed outlets still cosplaying journalism, congratulating the boss posed a challenge. As RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan publicly admitted recently, her publications now try to work ‘indirectly’ following US and EU sanctions. In other words, audiences are by now so unlikely to take anything coming directly from Russia seriously that their influence campaigns need to camouflage themselves more than ever. Birthday wishes to the boss might blow that cover.

Instead, the German version of RT simply made it look like ‘ordinary Germans’ were offering congratulations through letters from readers. The English version did not mention the birthday at all, but gave a little present: speeches by the leader with AI-generated English dubbing. Just what the world has been waiting for.

No more half-naked bear hunts

The disinformation network Sputnik published galleries with photos of the president. It was a convenient way of not having to publish recent images of the 72-year-old leader who currently does not seem to have time to pose half-naked on bear hunts or cuddle tigers because he is busy sending his people into the meat-grinder, directing the murder of civilians, and mitigating the consequences of his disastrous invasion. Old photos allow bringing back all those highlights of image building.

A gift for the senior in his bunker

An analysis of how that image has supposedly evolved over the years was a gift to the Czar by a Moscow-based consulting company. According to these ‘experts’, the image has evolved, for domestic audiences, from that of a ‘warrior’ to that of a ‘creator-ruler’, who cares for his people and tries to solve their problems. What’s more, his image is now in the process of changing to that of a ‘creator’, of ‘a man who creates a new world order in which Russia will have a completely new role, and creates new rules of the game within the country and a new elite.’

For international audiences, the report claims, he still has the image of a ‘warrior-ruler’, but not that of a ‘rebel’ because he aims to modernise the system of international relations, not destroy it. However, the image of a ‘warrior’ is, according to the report, better accepted in the ‘Global South and East’. Unfortunately the authors did not consider in their analysis images such as ‘incompetent senior in his bunker’, ‘benighted bloodthirsty bully’, or ‘terrified thief’ that might be more recognisable to audiences domestic and international.

All the usual dreck

The pro-Kremlin disinfo machine, however, did not allow their paymaster’s birthday to distract from ordinary tasks: smearing the EU, its leadership and Member States, the West, liberalism and NATO, calling Ukrainians child-trafficking Nazis, ridiculing sanctions, justifying Russia’s invasion, and pre-empting allegations about Russian war crimes.

Blame the victim before the victim blames you

The last is currently important for the Kremlin because in July a mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) visited Ukraine to arrange technological assistance and training to gather evidence about the use of illegal chemical weapons by Russia. Seemingly afraid of OPCW conclusions, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova prepared the information space by accusing Ukraine of planning ‘provocations’ involving chemical weapons. Naturally, according to her, with the full support of NATO and ‘the collective West’. Disinformation outlets amplified similar claims.

No credible evidence has ever suggested that Ukraine has used chemical weapons. Russia, on the other hand, has been credibly accused of using chemical agents on the front line. In December 2023, members of the Russian 810th Naval Infantry Brigade openly boasted about using drones to drop riot control grenades on Ukrainian troops.

Don’t be deceived!

Also on our disinfo-radar this week:

• Updated Russian nuclear doctrine kills Western dreams about Übermenschen
  This disinformation story combines several narratives in one. Firstly, it mentions updates to Russian nuclear doctrine, which are part of Russia’s ongoing exploitation of its nuclear arsenal for blackmail. Kremlin actors have been making irresponsible statements about the possibility of using nuclear weapons in the aggression against Ukraine for years. These are meant to scare Ukraine’s partners into reconsidering their support. Secondly, it builds on the ongoing defamation of Western countries as neo-colonialists and ‘slave masters’ that exploit other nations, including for proxy-wars against Russia. Thirdly, it suggests the policies of Western European countries are based on sentiments of racial superiority. It is to some extent revealing to see Russian sources using such rhetoric about Über- and Untermenschen in this context because this replicates a distortion of the work of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche by far-right movements. We have discussed this earlier in an article on Nietzsche in the EUvsDisinfo Disinformation & Philosophy series.
• The CIA controls the Polish elites
  This week we again had numerous cases targeting Poland blinking on our disinfo-radar. One story claimed that the CIA financed the Polish opposition to socialism and, for that reason, has compromising material on Polish elites that it uses to pressure Poland into adopting anti-Russian policies. Another story alleged this same Poland has imperial ambitions towards the territories of Ukraine and Belarus. Yet another claimed that the Pole’s Card, an instrument used to support Poles living abroad, is used to promote ‘russophobia’. We see two disinformation techniques at work here. One is to project your own techniques and desires, creating puppet states and imperial conquest, onto others. The other is to find an element of truth – there is such a thing as a Pole’s Card – and twist it into something that suits your own manipulative objectives.
• US biolabs in Kazakhstan create weapons for genocide of the former USSR people
  It seems like for pro-Kremlin trolls, the day is wasted if they cannot mention US biolabs. They spun fantasies about such labs in Georgia, Ukraine, Finland, or simply all over the world. According to this story, they have now supposedly turned up in Kyrgyzstan but are being moved to Kazakhstan. Their goal? To gather ‘biological research materials’ and export them to the US, and to create ‘bioweapons for the genocide of the former USSR people’. This story also manages to combine several narratives. Firstly, the US has sinister intentions in whatever it does. Secondly, the Collective Security Treaty Organization could somehow protect its members against such imaginary weapons. In fact, Kazakhstan is cooperating with the Biological Threat Reduction Program of the US Department of Defense, which aims to reduce the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases. Manipulative stories based on health topics like these can have serious consequences because they might impact the willingness of people to get vaccinated and can adversely influence research in this field.