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    Teaching orcs not to sound like orcs: a rare glimpse into Russian Army’s internal communications

    on 05/30/2022 | | News | Russian-Ukrainian war Print This Post Print This Post
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    Volunteers of InformNapalm international intelligence community received an interesting document recovered in the village of Velyka Dymerka, Kyiv Oblast. It was found among the papers left behind by the Russian servicemen as they fled the area or were defeated. This is a reference for use by Russian soldiers instructing them about how to communicate with the disgruntled locals who are clearly unhappy about the occupation. The document was apparently written by a morale officer or a politruk, as they are still called in the Russian army.

    The content of the document shows that the author is a professional who understands the general political line of the Russian leadership on Ukraine, demonstrates good observation ability, has basic knowledge and applied skills in psychology, understands the mood of the soldiers around him as well as the grievances of the Ukrainian locals. In one notable passage, he cautions against using some Russian propaganda mainstays that do not work in that part of Ukraine, e.g., about the “people being shelled in the Donbas”, as locals are not buying any of it.

     

    Our politruk teaches his soldiers the practical use of a number of classical propaganda and disinformation techniques: gaslighting, red herrings, whataboutisms, false accusations, name-calling, appeal to prejudice, etc. Soldiers are directed to use euphemisms about Russia and its actions, shift blame onto Ukrainians authorities, answer questions with a question and also tell outright lies. Let us have a look at some notable examples.

    Red herring
    This is one of the favorite techniques here. When asked if you “are Ukrainians or Russians?”, you say that you are “Orthodox Christians“, as this “image is not tainted“, unlike the image of the Russians. You also tell them about gay parades, sale of the land to foreigners, biological laboratories, and all other ungodly things you are saving them from. Our politruk generally recommends not answering any questions about the war, and only answering “those questions we have an answer to“.

    Gaslighting
    Another favorite. Although it is clear that they are an occupation army, the soldiers are advised to answer the questions about why they are there in arms with “we’ve come with a humanitarian mission, we bring food” or “we’re temporarily filling in for the police who have escaped“.

    Blame shifting
    The food shortage and power blackouts should be blamed on the Ukrainian authorities or the police. All in all, there are several calls to “shift the vector” of responsibility or communication.

    Lies and deception
    When asked about bombed power substations and power outages, the soldiers should say that local Ukrainian authorities and police blew them up, or as an alternative “the entire north of Ukraine was blacked out by order of the authorities from Kyiv“.

    Euphemisms
    This is another ploy widely used throughout the document. You do not say “shot dead” “liquidated” “killed“, you say “the problem was taken care of“. And that applies to “dogs, looters, and members of territorial defense“. You also do not use the world “war”. And, of course, you do not say [quote!] “Death to the Ukies” “It’s now Russia here, forget Ukraine“. These last two phrases come from the “How it sounds” column, i.e. describing the actual dominant mood of the politruk’s fellow soldiers. Under the “Notes” to another question he says that “yes, we are Russians!“, but you should avoid asserting it for the time being to avoid confrontation.

    Name calling
    Our brave politruk also instructs how to do the name calling right. You do not say “Ukies” or “khokols“, this is confrontational. But you can call Poroshenko and Zelensky “puppets” led by the “US puppeteers“. And under the “Explanation” to that question, he concedes that “we will be forced to put up with the concepts of ‘Ukraine’ and ‘Ukrainian’” for a while.

    Conclusion
    There are many other telling passages in this document. We are publishing its complete translation here. It is a fascinating reading, giving a rare insight into the thinking of the rank-and-file Russian soldiers and their command, without any diplomatic glossing or political spin.

    It is impossible to establish the actual Russian military unit which produced this document, as this area saw many of them. And it does not really matter. The document would apply to any of the occupation units that entered Ukraine on February 24. All in all, the text makes the impression of somebody trying to teach orcs not to sound like orcs. But we should make no mistake – this orkish army came to Velyka Dymerka to eliminate everything Ukrainian and turn The Shire into Mordor.

    Little did they know…

    Read more from InformNapalm:

    • The criminal from Bucha lost his phone in Ukraine. “They already know they are known all over the world”
    • War criminals identified: identification data of scouts of the Russian 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade
    • HUMINT: Russian Guard colonel commands the Russian occupation forces in southern Ukraine.
    • Cargo 200 going to Dagestan: Moscow sending potential separatists to Ukraine for slaughter

    This publication was prepared by Artem Velichko, editor of InformNapalm English.

    Distribution and reprint with reference to the source is welcome! (Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0) InformNapalm social media pages: Facebook / Twitter / Telegram / Slate (Sl8).

    InformNapalm does not receive any financial support from any country’s government or large donors. Only community volunteers and our readers help us to maintain the site. You can become one of the community volunteers. Please support the development of InformNapalm, the unique volunteer intelligence resource, with donations through Patreon.

    Tags: BuchaHostomelIrpinRussian 64th Motorized Rifle BrigadeRussian war criminal

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