Cherkasov argues that the propaganda has become more powerful over the decades. There were few newspapers and TV channels in Soviet times, but now there are new platforms for propaganda thanks to the internet.
One of the narratives of the propaganda then and now is of a preventive war. The Soviet and Russian leaders said the same thing: that the conflicts were intended to thwart NATO’s plans. Such rhetoric reinforces the idea of a “just war” in both the Soviet and Russian public mind.
The war propaganda uses messaging that helps individuals feel like they aren’t complicit. Cherkasov says this is done because people need to justify themselves, convincing themselves, for example, that they are strong and decent, keep their word, and defend the weak.
The role of propaganda in justifying aggression
“At first, our troops went in to help the Afghans build plants and treat sick people. It was a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan.”
— Nikolai Kirzhenko, Afghan War veteran from Kirov
“All our actions have been aimed at helping people living in the Donbass. It’s our duty and we will fulfil it to the end.”
— Vladimir Putin, president of Russia
“‘We aren’t attacking, we are defending,’ ‘we’re not the ones who are violating treaties: other [countries] are violating treaties,’ ‘we’re not the aggressors, our opponent is the aggressor,’ ‘we are defending civilians’—all of this is intended to make a person feel that they belong to the right side, the just side. It’s also meant to keep the person involved [in the war or in justifying it],” Cherkasov says.
“But that’s all politics. It’s the common people who suffer.”
— Iskhak Baishev, Afghan War veteran from Penza
“Almost every day we see civilians dying and suffering in the southeast [of Ukraine].”
— Svetlana Petrenko, spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee
Following the same rationale, the propaganda and the authorities try not to use the word “war.” “Deploying a limited contingent of troops” in Afghanistan and the “special military operation” in Ukraine shape the perception of the events as something positive, necessary, and not shameful.
“We wrote about everything in the [military] newspaper. However, we put quotes around the words ‘wounded,’ ‘battle,’ and ‘ambush.’ Because there was no war: we were providing international assistance. That was in 1981–1983.”
— Nikolai Kirzhenko, Afghan War veteran from Kirov
“Russia is not waging a war; we don’t wage wars. Waging a war is completely different. It means the complete destruction of infrastructure, it means the complete destruction of cities, and so forth. We do not do this.”
— Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for the President of Russia
“My late friend Misha Rozanov wrote an article entitled ‘I'm an antifascist.’ This is one of the observations he made there: ‘Fascism makes the entire nation accomplices in crimes—both good people and bad people, consciously or unconsciously, and even its own victims.’ This lie [about war] is one of the ways of gently compelling good people to be complicit in crimes,” Cherkasov concluded.