THEMATIC PATTERNS OF RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION

Abstract

The article presents a description of a text collection representing disinformation messages about the war in Ukraine published on one of the Telegram channels in order to influence the Russian-speaking community in Germany. The main subjects that Russian propaganda used at the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine were determined on the basis of deductive thematic analysis, content analysis, and semantic and stylistic analysis of the texts. It has been established that the similarity of the subjects of Russian disinformation and the identity of their coverage in different countries allows us to talk about a full-fledged system of moderation by official Russia not only traditional media, but also social networks; a special news selection for commenting, the so-called agenda, and a certain way of commenting them. The same type set of topics and the identity of their coverage in different countries gives reason to conclude that they have been transformed into peculiar patterns, according to which a carefully constructed image unfolds through the story. The task: to compromise Ukraine, as well as European countries and politicians who did not support the Kremlin's military aggression; to impose a favorable for Russian vision of its attack on Ukraine; to cause panic with threats of global military conflict with the use of nuclear weapons among European citizens, and an energy and food crisis in Europe; to destabilize the domestic political situation within Germany; to demonize the image of the US to divert attention from the real aggressor and to compromise the partnership between the European Union and the US.