Words that kill: 8 aspects of Russian genocidal rhetoric

Weaponized propaganda kills and there should be legal liability for info crimes. The main goal of the Kremlin's Voice project is to spread this message. Over the past six months, our analysts have been researching the genocidal rhetoric of Russian propaganda, as the Kremlin's mouthpieces not only spread disinformation and destructive narratives, but also build the basis for war crimes against Ukrainians.

The results of this work were discussed in the online panel "Words that Kill: Genocidal Rhetoric of Russian Propagandists", held on 25 January with the support of the National Democratic Institute.

"Genocidal rhetoric is a way of encouraging and justifying genocide. There's a precedent in the international humanitarian law that lets define the term more broadly and single out the features that Russia uses to encourage genocidal actions against Ukrainians. It's the case of Rwanda when the founder of the Radio of a Thousand Hills was charged with the use of genocidal rhetoric," explained Anastasiia Herasymchuk, deputy editor-in-chief at UkraineWorld.

The analysts of the Internews Ukraine spoke about the 8 aspects of Russian propaganda and how the Kremlin's mouthpieces turn words into weapons in Russia's war against Ukraine.

Journalist and analyst Vladyslav Faraponov drew attention to the ability of propagandists to fuel violence against Ukrainians by manipulating words: "Their narratives serve both as a tool to justify Russia's aggressive policy and to redefine international support for Ukraine as an act of aggression against Russia, thereby legitimising response actions against Western countries. This is a classic example of propaganda aimed at shaping public opinion and justifying extreme measures in the face of international opposition."

He also spoke about one of the favourite techniques of the Kremlin's mouthpieces: "Russian propaganda often uses various tactics to manipulate public opinion, and victim-blaming is one of them. Here are three ways propaganda can use it: rewriting history and facts, shifting responsibility, and dehumanising the victim."

How exactly propagandists advocate the so-called "SVO", described journalist and analyst Andriy Avramenko:

The Russian 'special operation' would not have been successful without massive propaganda efforts. Defending one's own land is always legitimate, and at the same time, no one likes to be called an aggressor. To this end, the Kremlin has banned the word "war" because of the negative connotations it carries. Many people in Russia have been persecuted simply for calling the war a war. However, some leading propagandists used this term and for some reason were not sanctioned.

He also focused on the fakes spread by enemy propaganda: from rumours of secret biolabs to denial of one of the most brutal war crimes committed by the Russian army - the massacres in Bucha, which Russian propaganda calls a "staging".

The Kremlin's mouthpieces also do not avoid gender issues, although they systematically use narratives about the "threat of feminism" and the protection of so-called traditional values from "Western influence". Dzvenyslava Shcherba, a journalist and analyst, spoke about gender disinformation. She noted that propagandists not only humiliate Ukrainian women and mock the victims, but also directly call for gender-based violence.

She also drew attention to the newspeak of Russian propaganda: "The terms 'Gayropa', 'Country 404', 'Swine Reich' and 'Malorossia' prove that the imagination of propagandists has no limits in creating offensive words about Ukrainians. But I would like to focus on one example - the "casserole-headed". This term was invented in 2014 during Euromaidan. It refers to the events when protesters made a joke of the former government after passing law that banned wearing helmets in public. So people wore random things on their heads to show the absurd of this law. However, Russian propaganda discredits either these events or Ukrainians who have an active civil position."

Analyst and journalist Inna Polianska spoke about linguocide as a separate topic in the rhetoric of Russian propagandists:

Russia deliberately uses language as a weapon in its war of aggression against Ukraine. The Russian language is an instrument of assimilation, and any attempt at resistance is labelled as 'Nazism'. That is why Russian troops The analysts of the Internews Ukraine spoke about the 8 aspects of Russian propaganda and how the Kremlin's mouthpieces turn words into weapons in Russia's war against Ukraine. immediately replace place names in the occupied territories with Russian ones and remove Ukrainian-language books from libraries. This strategy is a logical continuation of the policy of systematic banning and marginalisation of the Ukrainian language, which was implemented in the Russian Empire. It continues to restrict Ukrainian vocabulary in order to bring Russian and Ukrainian closer together.

She also commented on the clear, direct and brutal calls for genocide of the Ukrainian people: "While the official mouthpieces of Russian propaganda carefully select words and formulations, making them vague and metaphorical, others call things by their proper names. Symbolically, among these individuals, there are Russian soldiers who contributed to the annihilation of the Ukrainian nation on both physical and information levels and contribute to heroization of military service in the ranks of Russia's occupational army and use their reputation to justify war crimes against Ukrainian people".

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