On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was greeted with standing ovations when he showed up, via video link, to speak to the US Congress.
– We do not give up and we have not thought about it for a second, the Ukrainian president began.
– Think of it as a weapon
Just over an hour after Zelensky had been on the digital rostrum in Congress, Vladimir Putin appeared on Russian television. There the mighty president reached out to the West.
He believes that the “bloodbath” will continue, if the West continues to supply Ukraine with weapons.
The Western powers, who wanted to create an “anti-Russia”, do not care about the Ukrainian people, he said according to Reuters.
ACTIVE: On video link, Volodomyr Zelesnkyj has given numerous speeches. Photo: NTB
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– Disaster
Where Zelensky has been very active and clear in his rhetoric, Putin, for his part, has kept a lower profile in his communication.
Ketil Raknes, an expert in rhetoric and associate professor at Kristiania University College, believes Putin is now desperate.
– He shows weakness. He makes it quite obvious as a reaction to the fact that people around him have told him that they are losing. It’s not just that things are going badly militarily. In terms of information, this war is also a disaster for Putin, Raknes tells Dagbladet.
Expert on peace messages: – Gives hope
Raknes is sure that it was no coincidence that Putin took the floor shortly after Zelensky spoke in Congress.
– The Americans did a good job in advance of the war by actively going out and telling people about what disinformation the Russians would present, and at what time they would do so.
– Putin’s lies lose their effect when they have been told in advance which lies are coming and why they are coming. What he did in the speech now was just a potpourri of the most famous conspiracy theories from the Kremlin, he continues.
– Will Putin’s speech change anything in the information war?
– No, it does not change anything. It confirms that he has lost. And it shows that he himself understands that his own lies are ineffective. The only thing he can do now is make sure that those who watch Russian TV hear the lies again, he says.
RECOGNIZE THE DEFEAT ?: Expert on rhetoric believes Vladimir Putin has lost the information war. Photo: Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
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Stories in Russian media
Dagbladet has previously taken a deep dive into the kind of lies Putin has served the Russian people. Russia expert Håvard Swane Bækken highlighted several different stories that have abounded in the Russian media in the wake of Russia’s invasion.
- It is claimed that Ukraine has had a secret nuclear weapons program, and that they have developed biological weapons
- The nationwide TV channel Rossija-1 showed a feature that the US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland admitted that the US has run biological laboratories in Ukraine
- Ria Novosti repeated on Wednesday allegations that the Russian defense has uncovered “Ukrainian nationalists'” plans to use chemical weapons and try to blame Russia
- Last Sunday, Rossija-1 showed a case on how Ukrainian troops use civilians as shields, refusing them to leave Kyiv.
Zelenskyj claims to be addicted to drugs
Bækken emphasized to Dagbladet that several of these fictional stories dominate the news picture, and are the subject of thousands of individual cases.
“The first three cases in a number of countries have raised concerns that Russia is planning a” false flag operation “with such weapons, to justify escalation, he said.
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