Ideological Preparation for the Full-Scale Invasion (2020–2021)
A period of intensive ideological conditioning of Russian society and the political elite to justify the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood. The head of the Russian state published a programmatic article declaring that "Russians and Ukrainians are one people, a single whole," and wrote of the Bolsheviks that "the Bolsheviks' actions in severing from Russia its historical territories are not considered a criminal act"[1]. Deputy Security Council chairman D. Medvedev (Kommersant, 11 October 2021) declared negotiations with Kyiv pointless: "it is pointless for us to deal with vassals. One must do business with the suzerain"[2]. In parallel came the indoctrination of the army and military blackmail through the massing of troops near the borders under the guise of exercises[3].
Actors
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| G0011 | Russian Federation | 4 |
Instruments Applied
| ID | Name | Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| S0009 | Diplomacy | 3 |
| S0021 | Propaganda | 1 |
Procedures Carried Out
The publication of the manifesto "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians" (July 2021), constructing a pseudo-historical myth: "Russians and Ukrainians are one people, a single whole," while modern borders are declared the result of the fact that "the Bolsheviks' actions in severing from Russia its historical territories are not considered a criminal act"[1]. The same article describes how Lenin personally "persuaded" the leaders of the Donetsk-Kryvyi Rih republic "to act within Soviet Ukraine," and how the Central Committee resolved "to create at the congress 'one government for all of Ukraine'"[1]. On the eve of the invasion the thesis was taken to its limit: in his address of February 21, 2022 Putin declared that "modern Ukraine was entirely and wholly created by Russia, or, to be more precise, by Bolshevik, communist Russia," and called the country "Ukraine named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" - "He is its author and architect"[4].
The official denial of the Ukrainian nation's right to independent statehood: the article by the head of the Russian state declares outright that "Ukraine's genuine sovereignty is possible precisely in partnership with Russia," while "the wall that has arisen in recent years between Russia and Ukraine" is declared a split of "between parts of what is essentially one historical and spiritual space"[1].
An article by D. Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, in Kommersant (11 October 2021) marginalizing the Ukrainian leadership: "it is pointless for us to deal with vassals. One must do business with the suzerain"; "at the head of Ukraine stand weak people who strive only to line their own pockets," and negotiations with them are "absolutely pointless"[2]. In the same text the Ukrainian president was likened to a hypothetical Jew serving in the SS[2].
Total indoctrination of Russian society with the ideas of the philosopher I. Ilyin (so-called "white fascism") and the transformation of the "Russian World" concept into a state ideology (rashism) that justifies the metropole's cultural superiority and existential right to violence against its neighbors[3].