Time Stopped for Russia in 1945: A Digest of Russian Propaganda for May 31

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security has collected the main fakes and narratives of Russian propaganda for May 31.

1. Ukrainian refugees are made into witnesses and “victims of Nazism”

2. State-level looting

3. Russia planning to “demilitarize” NATO

4. “We can do it again” has no bravado and no point

Russia is collecting “testimony” of deported Ukrainians about “Nazi crimes”, and collaborators are announcing export relations with Moscow.  The Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security has collected the main fakes and narratives of the Russian propaganda of May 31.

Ukrainian refugees are made into witnesses and “victims of Nazism”

The Kremlin continues the so-called “denazification” of Ukraine. And its final part is going to be the so-called trial over Azov fighters. The leader of the so-called “DPR” Pushylin promised that the tribunal over them would be “international”.

As of now, “LPR” and “DPR” have only been recognized by Russia and equally unrecognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia. So even Russia itself is unclear about what Pushylin is calling an “international tribunal.” However, preparations for this propaganda TV show are underway. And now, they are holding a casting for “witnesses and victims of the prosecution”. 

And unlike various actors regularly “suffering from the atrocities of the Kyiv regime,” this time, it may involve real people. Even someone we knew personally. We mean Ukrainians who, on “humanitarian grounds”, have been forcibly deported into Russia.

IN REALITY, Russian investigators are guided by the principle of “confession is the queen of evidence.” This phrase is attributed to Andrei Vyshinsky, Stalin’s prosecutor, organizer of show trials of “enemies of the people” during the Great Terror.

Vyshinsky’s followers now have enough human resources from Ukraine to select and work with those who will “testify” and “confess.” Those deported to Russia are called for interviews / interrogations and demanded to confirm that “Ukrainians are shooting at Ukrainians” and “how the Nazis killed civilians.” On May 31, it was shared by Telegram channel “We can explain.”

The Telegram channel Rotonda tells how it is happening in Saint Petersburg.

So if you happen to recognize somebody you know at the future “international tribunal” and hear them testify about the “atrocities of the Kyiv regime,” it’s good to know how this testimony came to be.

State-level looting

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, everyone was surprised by the scale of looting done by Russians. After the third month, it became clear that the entire country is a looter. But from washing machines and bed linen, which have already been identified by their owners, who shared it on BBC, Russian looting fully moved up to the national level.

On May 31, Pushylin declared that the “DPR” was becoming a “sea state.” As it turned out, the reason for gaining this “status” was the ship “Astrakhan”, which took 2.5 thousand tons of stolen Ukrainian metal out of the occupied seaport of Mariupol. In early June, the Russian “Astrakhan” will go back for a new batch.

Russia is not hiding this fact, but they are lying that the cargo is shipped allegedly “according to agreements” concluded before the war.The Ukrainian company Metinvest, which owns the metal, said that they gave no instructions to send the metal to Russia.

Given the creation of the “DPR merchant fleet”, let’s remember what it will trade in.

– Andrii Stavnitser, co-owner of the TIS port, talked about “80 ships blocked in Ukrainian seaports and $15 billion of income lost.”

– Petro Andrishchenko, advisor to Mariupol mayor, pointed out that the occupiers have already announced the “nationalization” of 34 ships remaining in the seaport. 

– As of the moment of invasion, there were several commercial ships there with 28,000 tons of Ukrainian metal products. The occupiers can take it to Russian ports with the aim of further illegal sale.

– Due to the destruction of Azovstal and “nationalization” of Mariupol metalwork plant, Rinat Akhmetov is preparing a lawsuit to Russia for at least $17-20 billion. And this without Avdiivka Coke Plant, Luhansk TPP and dozens of other facilities, which are now under the control of the occupiers.

– Taras Vysotskyi, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, said that Russians had stolen about 400,000 tons of grain.

– In Melitopol, 27 units of Agrotech farming equipment for $5 million have been stolen and transported to Chechnya.

– Russian Vice PM Khusnullin claimed that Zaporizhia NPP will work for Russia and supply power to Ukraine for money. That is, we are offered to buy electricity stolen from us.  

The occupiers are not even hiding the fact that they are stealing. On May 31, Kherson collaborator Stremousov said he was ready to “export” not only grain but also watermelons and strawberries to Russia. And in Melitopol. They are already preparing to export cherries from local farms to Russia. 

Just in case, we will remind you what the chief looter said about it.

Russia planning to “demilitarize” NATO

Well, while the occupiers are taking everything out of the temporarily occupied territories, from bed linen to metal and cherries, the Russian SSS (Solovyov-Skabeyeva-Simonyan) are continuing their geopolitical wars. Simonyan said that “if it were not for NATO howitzers, we would have taken Kyiv in 2 days.” Solovyov threatened: “We can strike at the decision-making centres (USA) and screw Article 5 of the NATO Charter.” Skabeyeva has simply already declared war on the entire alliance.

IN REALITY, it is unclear how the “second-best army in the world,” which has been unable to “demilitarize” Ukraine, is going to do it with NATO. At least, given the budgets. 

In addition, EU countries (the vast majority of which are NATO members) will increase their military spending by another 200 billion euros due to the war in Ukraine.

For instance, on May 31, Germany announced a large-scale mobilization of the Bundeswehr costing EUR 100 billion. This includes: 

– 40.9 billion for the purchase of new Eurofighters and F-35 fighter bombers, as well as the development of a space early warning system; 

-19.3 billion for the development of the Navy, including the purchase of new ships and submarines; 

-16.6 billion for the development of ground forces, including the development of new infantry fighting vehicles to replace the Marder ones. 

If Russia thinks that it will take the North Atlantic Alliance in terms of personnel, it should redo the calculations. The largest armies among NATO countries now have the following manpower:

  • USA – 1.35 million;
  • Turkey – 439 thousand;
  • France – 207 thousand;
  • Germany – 185 thousand;
  • Italy – 175 thousand;
  • The UK- 156 thousand;
  • Poland – 121 thousand (and has already officially announced an increase in the number of servicemen);
  • Spain – 119 thousand;
  • Greece – 110 thousand;

Therefore, Russian propagandists simply need to do their homework before threatening the Germans and the rest of NATO that they “can do it again.” 

We can do it again” has no bravado and no point

And finally, here is how they imagine life after the “repetition.” Medvedev, a man who was once considered Russia’s president and has now been appointed a media narrator (somewhere between Surkov, Prokhanov and Dugin), sees the future of Europe and the world after the war in Ukraine and in light of anti-Russian sanctions like this.

IN REALITY, their problem is really primarily psychological. Or even psychiatric. Svitlana Chunikhina, Deputy Director of the Institute of Social and Political Psychology of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, believes the following.

“Since Russia operates in Ukraine in the same way as the Soviet Union did in Europe during World War II (the same narrative of ‘liberation’ and ‘protection’, the same murky scheme of creating ‘people’s governments’, the same expectations that the local population will meet the ‘liberators’ with flowers, and if they do not, they will be forced to; the same desire to represent the occupation of foreign states as the expression of the original will of the peoples living there, and restoring historical ties) — we must assume that Russia did not win that war; it died instead.

It’s like time stopped for it in 1945, and everything that happened next was a dream, a fantasy of life that was not meant to be.

And the slogan “We can do it again” has no bravado and no point It’s not that they can do it again, they have to do it again time after time. Roll their cursed boulder up the mountain without any hope of reaching the top and finally getting to the surface.