Russia’s war against Ukraine is first and foremost an information and psychological war, where the main target is the minds and consciousness of Ukrainians.
Using psychological weapons, Moscow has influenced Russian-speaking residents of Luhansk and Donetsk, changing their morale, political views and behavior. Without this psychological training, the Kremlin would not have been able to mobilize its “fifth column” for armed struggle.
The Kremlin uses information and psychological weapons to control Ukraine. These weapons include various means and methods to influence people’s minds and distort their information space. This influence is carried out through the media, rumors, and other channels to change political orientations, spiritual values, national characteristics, and attitudes toward history, culture, and traditions. The use of manipulation, disinformation, and rumor-mongering can influence all spheres of the country’s life, from foreign policy to the economy and army morale.
Kremlin weapons are aimed at disorganization and disinformation. It can disrupt mental health, provoke aggressive actions, and subjugate human consciousness. Psychological weapons include coding, zombification, and psychocorrection.
The main tools of Russian psychological warfare are spreading panic, disrupting mobilization, promoting individualism and regionalism, and attempting to split society and undermine trust in the government. The peculiarity of these attacks is that they are spread not by Russian media, but by Ukrainian patriots, relatives of the military and ordinary citizens, even right-wing nationalist organizations.
The Russian FSB is actively spreading panic in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet. The FSB’s 18th Special Center is working around the clock to do so, using robotic systems to send out panic messages on social media.
The purpose of this war is not only to seize territory, but also to destroy Ukrainian identity, undermine confidence in their own strength, and make Ukrainians doubt their state.
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