Moscow’s latest propaganda myth
Without much notice from western commentators, during the past half a decade, the Kremlin’s propagandists have begun pushing a new myth about Russia’s greatness. They claim that Russian is Europe’s most widely spoken native language. On the other hand, Moscow decries the supposedly endangered status of Russian across the continent.
June 23, 2026 -
Tomasz Kamusella
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Hot TopicsIssue 4 2026Magazine
Illustration by Andrzej Zaręba
In this age of Russia’s full-scale military onslaught on Ukraine and parallel hybrid assaults on the rest of Europe, propaganda is like yet another missile, drone or ballistic rocket. It does not raze Ukrainian cities or perpetrate arson attacks. Instead, misinformation sows confusion and devastates critical thinking, thus, playing into the aggressive Kremlin’s hands. Lies, big lies, statistics and propaganda are the Kremlin’s Pravda, which used to be the mendacious title of the Soviet Union’s main daily mouthpiece.
Russia “justifies” its war on Ukraine, claiming that neither the Ukrainian language, nation nor state exist. On the other hand, the Kremlin decries Russophobia allegedly spreading in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe. This is done as though growing anti-Russian sentiment had nothing to do with a restive Russia and its programme of neo-imperial Reconquista. The slogan is “Like our grandfathers in the Second World War, we will win in Ukraine” and then in Europe.
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propaganda, Russia, Russian language
