Russia already talking of “supporters of Putin’s regime”: propaganda digest for Dec 1

Fear of The Hague live

When Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, said something like “if we lose in Ukraine, The Hague awaits us” a couple of days ago, it could still seem accidental.

On February 1, after another top propagandist Skabeyeva also voiced the point of the International tribunal, this became an obvious symptom.

IN FACT, since it was the first time that the term “supporter of Putin’s regime” was voiced on a federal channel, the propagandists are gradually starting to call spade a spade.

Secondly, this means that Skabeyeva and Simonyan are sane (and therefore fit for conviction) because they understand who they are and for what they will be held responsible.

Thirdly, with all due respect to the Kremlin yard man (who will also be in The Hague, according to Simonyan because she knows he is from the FSB), Skabeyeva is less categorical: it follows from her speech that only the leaders of the “Putin Reich” and the key propagandists will be persecuted.

Moreover, they are already preparing the rest of the Russians to accept the fate: their money will go to restitutions.

In addition, against the backdrop of palpable and inevitable defeat, the task of propaganda is to sow a sense of collective guilt with all Russians, and therefore — to “unite” them in the spirit of “Moscow is behind, The Hague is ahead, there is nowhere to retreat.

Furthermore, hence the explanation by Skabeyeva of why Ukraine needs to be bombed: “Without The Hague tribunals, criminal cases, compensation, reparations, so that there is nothing, it is necessary to activate hostilities, to keep pressuring them so that they appeal to us for a truce or to establish peace.”

The stranglehold of the International Tribunal on the Kremlin’s neck

“Fear of The Hague” is already so strong that the Russian Putin’s “Combat Mosquito” Nebenzya also got involved in the discussion of this topic.

He stated that “the European Commission initiative to create a tribunal in Ukraine under the auspices of the UN is an attempt to give the lawlessness regarding Russia legitimacy…”

IN FACT, that Nebenzya clearly described the legal mechanism that the West is now trying to implement, also indicates that the “mosquito” is sane. And that means he is fit for conviction.

So, let us remind you that we are talking about the EU proposal to create an International Tribunal against Putin and the persons involved in the events of February 24 and those that preceded it.

Experts explain that by analogy with the Nuremberg tribunal (and the precedent exists, so it is logical that it is being approached), a fundamental decision to create such a special body is put forward right now, before the end of hostilities.

For the first time, the question of the tribunal over the Hitler seniors was substantially raised at the Yalta Conference in 1945. Real decisions were made later — the statute of the tribunal was developed in August 1945, and the process itself began at the end of autumn of the same year. However, approval decisions were made in advance.

The same is happening now. The hostilities in Ukraine are ongoing, but their outcome is beyond any doubts. Therefore, it is logical that the issue of “what will happen afterwards” is already being raised.

Why is the question being raised about the new tribunal? Because the situation is unusual. We are talking about a country that has nuclear weapons and is part of the UN Security Council. We need not just a decision imposed by the capitulation, but the one that has a legal basis. Only a sentence can provide it. However, none of the existing international judicial bodies has the authority to resolve such issues.

Therefore, they will be established, as well as for the Nuremberg tribunal — on an unprecedented basis. That is, this tribunal should also become one of its kind, and after completion of the work it will be dissolved.

Of course, the Kremlin does not recognize such a decision (so far). Therefore, Moscow appeals to its illegitimacy, insisting that it should be approved exclusively by the UN Council, where Russia will, of course, veto it, and the PRC will, at best, abstain.

Therefore, the sequence of actions of the EU is also beyond doubt: first capitulation, then court. Besides, unlike Germany-1945, no one will occupy Russia-2022. But the forms of persuasion will be found, in which all the defendants will be given to the tribunal without any conditions. Even if there is no capitulation of Russia, its new authorities will definitely give the most notorious war criminals.

Again, there is a precedent. On April 1, 2001, ex-President of Yugoslavia Milosevic was arrested, according to the Yugoslav legislation, on charges of committing a number of criminal offences. On June 28, he was handed over to The Hague International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and transferred to the UN prison in The Hague.

That is why Russian propagandists are concerned about The Hague topic. They (at least their leading pool, including Nebenzya) will undoubtedly end up in the dock.

Let it be reminded that at the Nuremberg’s main tribunal, only 21 Nazis were tried. At subsequent trials, cases of another 177 people were heard. Later, thousands of those who were killing or helping to kill were found and brought to justice.

And it is already working, given the legal fact proven in The Hague on November 17 — the Russian line for life imprisonment is already moving. In addition, let us remind you, it adopted the decision on the payment of material compensation to the families of victims of the MH17 flight. So, the stranglehold of the International Tribunal is already on the Kremlin’s neck.

Volgograd as “an advantage of accession to Russia”

On December 1, the head of the faction “Just Russia” in the State Duma Mironov proposed to rename Volgograd to Stalingrad. In his opinion, against the background of the war in Ukraine, this is a really necessary step. After all, “Stalingrad is a symbol of victory and a turning point of the Great Patriotic and World War II. The symbol of the victory of good over evil.”

On the same day, Putin and Lavrov made two mutually exclusive statements.

The dictator stated that “residents of new regions of Russia are our people,” we need to do everything to support them so that they feel the benefits of joining Russia.”

At the same time, the head of the Russian foreign propaganda department Lavrov compared Kherson with Stalingrad, answering the question of “why Russia bombs ‘its’ Kherson.”

IN FACT, after this explanation by Lavrov, Putin’s words became clear on December 1 that “15% of Russia’s inhabitants need psychological support.”

After all, the task of the president to “support Kherson” with the simultaneous promise by the Foreign Minister to turn their city into Stalingrad is worthy of the attention of psychiatrists. Doctors will certainly recognize Putin and Lavrov as sane.

Meanwhile, in the context of Stalingrad / Volgograd, another aspect of the “Russian world” is interesting, which is offered to Kherson region region residents as “a sense of advantage from joining Russia.”

At the end of October, when propaganda outlets, choking with a victorious enthusiasm over “Surovikin’s Armageddon,” only began to publish a photo of de-energized Ukrainian cities, queues to pump rooms, and other manifestations of “municipal apocalypse,” in the hero city Volgograd, utility services scrambled to eliminate the consequences of the large-scale sewer accident.

After the two collector pipes burst, the faeces were flowing down to the Volga River for more than a day. Schools and kindergartens had to be shut, and 200,000 people were left without water and heating. The emergency lasted for more than a week.

The night air temperature in Volgograd these days was about +4 degrees Celsius, so because of the use of heaters, blackouts began. Governor Bocharov stated that the sewage pipe had been laid back in the 1970s, and admitted that the authorities and municipal services were unaware of its current state.

Here are some more facts about the “victory and turning point symbol” — Putin’s Volgograd:

●     the city is officially recognized as the most depressive location in Russia; 

●     on December 2, the electricity will be massively switched off in the city

●     in the Volgograd region, there is such a high number of the unemployed that by the decision of the governor, they will be forcibly sent to road construction sites, made harvest agricultural products or process waste;

●     the military town near Volgograd was left without heat and people turned to Shoigu himself:

We think it is enough to understand what Putin is referring to when he talks about the need to form “a sense of an advantage from joining Russia” among Ukrainians from temporarily occupied territories. Lavrov at the same time threats to turn Kherson into Stalingrad, and Mironov in parallel demands to return the heroic name to Volgograd, although it will not bring the victory over the local fecal-municipal apocalypse closer.

Even if this suffering city is again called Tsaritsyn (and it is quite possible when the new Russian authorities will give Mironov, Putin and Lavrov, etc. to the international tribunal), the destruction in the “Russian world” will not automatically disappear. Because the only thing it can produce is the devastation — both in Ukrainian Kherson and in the Russian Volgograd. Because the devastation is in the head.

Russian fakes are losing in Qatar

And finally, in the context of the Stalingrad “victory” over the “Ukrainian Nazis” — another football-ish story about the creation of fakes on the mundial, which is currently taking place in Qatar.

Recently, there was a story with illumination that allegedly supported the Iranians in the match with Americans.

This time, Solovyov showed a video with alleged Ukrainian fans in his Telegram-channel, who painted Hitler’s moustache on the Mascot of the World Cup 2022, adding Nazi greetings. The video was stylized as the footage of the Arabic news channel Al Jazeera.

IN FACT, Al Jazeera itself soon reported that it was a fake. And DPA journalists on YouTube found that some fake video footage was taken from the three-hour video of the fans’ arriving at the stadium in Doha prior to the first game, published by the British newspaper The Sun.

In addition, the DW Facktencheck team draws attention to the wrong writing of the main stadium of the World Cup in English — “El Beit” instead of “Al Bayt.”

In addition, the indicated scene of the “arrest” of Ukrainians also shows the mismatch between the police officers’ uniform and that of law enforcement officers working at the World Cup. The sign on the sleeve of one of the police officers is actually a military one. And there are many inconsistencies in this video.

Conclusion: Due to the war in Ukraine, Russia was not allowed into the Qatar stadium, so it decided to create fakes about it instead. But they are just as awkward as Russia playing football.

Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security