Seven favourite hidden narratives of Russian propaganda
In spite of over two years of conflict, Russian narratives concerning Ukraine continue to shape the thoughts of people around the world. In order to overcome this, it is important to know the facts surrounding Ukraine and its fight against unprovoked aggression.
July 29, 2024 -
Valerii Pekar
Vladyslav Rashkovan
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Articles and Commentary

Photo: Radovan1 / Shutterstock
We know that Russia has invested decades of efforts into create a distorted image of Ukraine in different parts of the world – from Europe and America to Africa and Asia. Those efforts were visible before 2022 and became much more amplified after the full-scale Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
There are many projects dedicated to debunking such nonsense and false narratives, like Texty, The Reckoning Project, East Stratcom Taskforce, the Atlantic Council’s “Narrative Warfare” and “Undermining Ukraine”, as well as “We are Ukraine”, UAQA and others. Thanks to these resources the majority of the population inside and outside of Ukraine can separate Russian lies from facts.
Nevertheless, when analysing narratives about Ukraine and its war against unprovoked Russian aggression, one can find some stories much more digestible than others and more difficult to be labelled as pure propaganda from Russia or its political and media satellites. The text below will be useful to those who need arguments in such disputes.
- Ukraine is just a proxy of NATO, which wages war with Russia in Ukraine.
This approach totally negates the agency of Ukraine. Ukraine has fought with Russia’s imperialist policies for centuries. Since the first days of the full-scale invasion in February and March 2022, when western support had not yet been organized, Ukraine’s society declared its will to resist. The US, European countries and other partners started to support Ukraine only when they saw that Ukrainians were really eager to resist, and that the state, economy and army were resilient enough.
Moreover, it is Ukraine that sets the goals of the war. Ukrainian society and political leaders have proposed a formula for peace and defined their attitudes regarding various peace proposals. A permanent demand for more well-defined and strict western positions and policies has been a constant part of the Ukrainian side’s argument. While Ukraine’s partners unfortunately often appear slow and too careful, the country has defined the framework for its future.
- Ukraine is an ally of the colonialist US and Europe, while Russia is a successor to the anti-colonialist USSR. Thus, this is a war between good and evil, where Ukraine fights on the side of evil.
This narrative is spread in the postcolonial countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, where colonialism is still a part of historical memory. These countries consider the USSR as a promoter of anti-colonialism because they do not know that in its own area of interest (Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus, and Central and Northern Asia) the USSR historically demonstrated the worst sort of colonialism.
Ukraine’s war is a typical war of independence, an anti-colonial war for its right to define its own future, internal and foreign policies, international alliances, etc. At the same time, Ukraine supports the decolonization of Russia, which continues its colonialist policy towards numerous indigenous peoples inside Russia. This is emphasized in resolutions of the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. So, Ukraine is on the anti-colonial side – against colonial Russia.
- Ukraine is a country of extremely aggressive people who continue to fight when it has been possible to establish peace. Therefore, Ukraine does not want peace, it wants war.
To establish peace it is necessary that two sides are ready. Putin has repeatedly emphasized that he is not ready for peace negotiations. The aggressive steps of his army and his personal demands like the demilitarization of Ukraine simply just open the door to further escalation, not to peace. The war crimes of the Russian army from Bucha to Mariupol proved that life in the occupied territories means the everyday threat of murder, rape, kidnapping, hostage-taking and looting.
Many Ukrainian warriors are common civil people who joined the army to protect their cities, homes and families. Ukraine did not demonstrate any kind of aggression before the Russian invasion and never thought to invade Russia’s territory. What Ukraine needs is to liberate its own land from the occupiers – from the Kharkiv region to Crimea. The restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the liberation of Ukrainian land is a key element of the peace formula proposed by the Ukrainian leadership.
- Ukraine is a nationalist state. Nationalism is an evil ideology that brought many disasters including world wars, and now we see its rise in Ukraine.
While the popularity of right-wing nationalistic parties is growing across Europe, in Ukraine the last elections with a certain success for the right was 2012, when they got 8.2 per cent of seats. Since then, extreme right parties have lost in parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2019 (winning just 1.3 per cent of seats and then just 1 of 450 seats respectively). This reflects the real level of popularity of right-wing nationalist ideas in Ukraine’s multinational and multiconfessional society.
At the same time, state symbols are extremely popular in Ukraine as symbols of resistance against Russian aggression. The national blue-and-yellow flag; the state coat of arms (the old Rus’ trident of the princes of Kyiv); the national anthem; and the map of its territory symbolize unity, resilience and opposition to Putin’s statements that Ukrainians people do not exist, or that Ukraine is a part of the Russian people. Ukraine has a long history and Ukrainians are proud of it.
- Ukraine is an autocracy like Russia. Democracies should not support any party in a war between autocratic regimes.
Ukraine is a parliamentary democracy with regular free elections and a high level of political competition (although, according to the Constitution, elections cannot be held in wartime due to legal, security and other reasons). In its more than 30 years of independence, Ukraine has now seen its sixth president and its current parliament was elected in 2019 with 76 per cent being new faces. This contrasts with Russia, where Putin’s regime has kept power for almost 25 years – a clear sign of an autocratic state.
One of the major reasons for Putin’s invasion is indeed democracy in Ukraine, which undermines his statements that democratic values do not match the mentality of Eastern Europeans. Ukrainian democracy is the major foundation of Ukraine’s resilience. It is a true nail in the coffin or a silver bullet when it comes to Putin’s autocratic regime in Russia.
- Ukraine cannot defeat Russia because it has much fewer resources. Russia never loses wars. Russia is too big and has nuclear weapons, so it will prevail anyway.
There are numerous examples of a smaller country overcoming a bigger one, from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Also, Russia lost many wars in the past (the Crimean War, Russo-Japanese War and Winter War are the most prominent examples), including one in Afghanistan during the nuclear era.
Russia is a big but very archaic state; its resources are not unlimited. It can mobilize unskilled people but cannot produce weapons comparable to western ones. Only hidden backdoors to circumvent sanctions allow Russia to buy components to continue the war, which will be over as soon as these backdoors are closed.
- Ukrainians are too emotional when telling of their experiences. Their trauma deprives them of the ability to judge, so that is why they cannot accept negotiations and establish peace.
It is true that the emotional tone of Ukrainian storytelling shocks western readers. All the basic stories about the war already have been told, and repetition does not attract attention. But for Ukrainians this is a lived experience which continues day by day, 24/7, without any breaks. If you lose another friend or relative after the first one, this is not the same story, it is a whole new one.
When considering peace and war, Ukrainians look to be too much engaged from the western point of view. This is because several generations of Europeans and Americans have never seen a war in their own territory. Despite this, their ancestors had the same emotional perceptions during the Second World War. At the same time, emotions do not prevail in Ukraine, where war and peace are being discussed in the media and at various events every day. Pragmatism is a strong feature of Ukrainians, not emotions. The country is striving for nuclear and ecological safety; food and energy security; the release of prisoners and those children and adults deported by Russia; the liberation of national territory; the cessation of hostilities; the prevention of escalation and repetition of aggression; and the restoration of justice. All of this is not about emotions. Instead, it is all about saving the lives of Ukrainians and the survival of Ukraine as a country.
In a nutshell, despite the enormous resources that Russia has invested in disinformation and spreading its narratives, it is not very difficult to recognize and refute them, or at least not spread them.
Valerii Pekar is a co-founder of the Nova Kraina Civic Platform, the author of four books, an adjunct professor at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School and a former member of the National Reform Council.
Vladyslav Rashkovan is Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund, former Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine and the co-author of two books.
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