Propaganda videos are circulating on Facebook: Moscow is heaven and European metropolises are hell!

It is not the first time that Kremlin propaganda has portrayed Russia as a protector of traditional and family values, as a “pure” and solely “normal” country, unlike European cities dominated by violence, LGBT doctrine, Muslims, and the like. Hence, the finger is pointed at the West as the “destroyer of traditional values.” It is a myth that the West wants to destroy “traditional values,” that is, that “Russia is fighting a holy war against godless Satanists in Ukraine to protect Christianity and traditional values,” Euvsdisinfo estimates in its analysis of the Russian war in Ukraine

 

Author: Ana Anastasovska

 

“Where would you rather live–Moscow or London? This is Moscow–what do you notice?” In recent months, Facebook profiles known for supporting Vladimir Putin and his “special military operation” in Ukraine have increasingly shared videos comparing the capital of Russia–Moscow to some of the European metropolises. Thus, in the videos from Moscow, one can see clean streets, beautiful girls, “straight couples” and the like, while in the videos from London, Paris and others, Muslims, dirty streets, people with gay flags, and so on are dominant.

Truthmeter.mk managed to find some of those videos.

This video from Moscow shows beautiful and well-groomed girls walking down the street.

“According to the EU/NAFO [NATO] scum, Russians are “orcs.” Do you agree?” the post reads, and below it you can read comments like: “The only normal people left on the planet.”

A video with beautiful girls from Russia has also been shared here.

“This is Moscow, what do you see” says this video, as well as this one.

 

And the answers follow in the comments:

Very beautiful women

Normal country, normal people.

The following are videos from London. They show gatherings of people of the Muslim faith.

“This is London. For publishing such content, the authorities can “treat” you to up to 3 years in prison,” this video says.

In this video, which shares parallel footage allegedly of Russian and Muslim women, the question is asked:

“Which city would you like to visit between Moscow and London?”

“Moscow, without a second thought,” is one of the answers.

This video “observes” that “London is looking more like Africa thanks to decades of mass immigration.”

 

Videos are also being shared from Norway and Ireland.

 

This is Norway. But honestly, it could be any other country in Western Europe, Canada, or Australia. What do feminists and LGBT+ people who support Islamist immigration think will happen to them when these people become the majority?

 

Ireland ladies and gentlemen.

Russian propaganda

Such videos were also noticed by the Russian Roman, who posted a commentary on his YouTube channel titled “Russia vs. the West (THE TRUTH).”

“As a Russian, it’s always really interesting to me what Westerners think of Russia. Well, it turns out that many in the West think that life in Russia is better than US or Europe. Today we’ll look at a few terrible propaganda videos comparing ‘pristine and clean’ Russia to the ‘dirty fallen West’. Moscow vs London – Who will win? Is Moscow actually cleaner than most Western cities? What is life in Russia like? And is it actually better than in the West? As a person who lived in Russia for his whole life and also traveled to EU, I wanna talk about it,” says Roman in the video description. 

He notes that the videos shared by Russian propaganda channels from European cities usually show footage of protests or when they are covered in garbage, usually after concerts or large group gatherings, or simply show videos of streets with Muslims walking around, as these footages are largely shared and supported by people who hate immigrants.

 

“And for me as a Russian, this is really not anything new because this is a pretty common trope on Russian TV, in Russian propaganda, saying essentially that all of Europe is in complete despair, completely destroyed, just covered in trash and that actually people live terribly there,” Roman commented.

He emphasizes that life in Russia is far from ideal as it is portrayed, that Moscow’s streets are not as perfectly clean and tidy, and as he notes, for example, Russia still has a major drug problem.

 

Propaganda tactics of the Kremlin

It is not the first time that Kremlin propaganda has portrayed Russia as a protector of traditional and family values, as a “pure” and solely “normal” country, in contrast to European cities dominated by violence, LGBT doctrine, Muslims, etc. Hence, the finger is pointed at the West as the “destroyer of traditional values.”

 

It is a myth that the West wants to destroy “traditional values”, that is, that “Russia is fighting a holy war against godless Satanists in Ukraine to protect Christianity and traditional values”, assesses Euvsdisinfo in its analysis of the Russian war in Ukraine.

 

“Often, pro-Kremlin disinformation pundits, particularly Vladimir Solovyov, deploy this disinformation narrative in conjunction with unfounded accusations against Ukraine for allegedly attempting to destroy the Orthodox Church. This manipulative tactic picked up steam in 2019 when the Orthodox Church of Ukraine was granted the status of an independent church and again in November 2022 when the Ukrainian government announced it would draw up a law banning churches affiliated with Russia,” writes Euvsdisinfo.

Demonizing Ukraine and its Western supporters as godless goes hand in hand with pro-Kremlin disinformation that the West wants to destroy “traditional values.”

 

Together, they portray Russia as the protector of these values. This disinformation narrative of protecting the threatened values is steeped in homophobia that often verges on outright hate speech, says Euvsdisinfo.

The narrative of “endangered values” is typically used to challenge Western positions on the rights of women, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTQI+ groups. Pro-Kremlin pundits often ridicule the West’s alleged “moral decay” or “depraved attitude,” while in contrast, Russia and Orthodox Christianity stand out as true defenders of traditional values.

The idea of ​​the West collapsing against Russia, the “guardian” of decency and morality, comes from the very top of the Kremlin. According to a 2015 analysis by the European Council on Foreign Relations, Putin took this position as early as 2013, blaming “Euro-Atlantic” countries for their moral decadence.

“One clever propaganda trick was to enhance the image of the evil West by merging together the social conservative and the anti-Western posture. In this way, the West and Westernisers, gay people, liberals, contemporary artists and their fans, those who did not treat the Russian Orthodox Church with due respect, and those who dared to doubt Russia’s unblemished historical record were all presented as one ‘indivisible evil,’ a threat to Russia, its culture, its values, and its very national identity,” according to an analysis by the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Russian disinformation is targeting the European Union

Russia continues to conduct disinformation campaigns against Europe, notes the foundation for global research and analytics “Jamestown.”

Russia’s current disinformation campaign revolves around three key ideas, writes “Jamestown:” spreading anti-Ukrainian agendas, anti-EU themes and narratives, and glorifying Russia, its military-political leadership, diplomacy, and economic “achievements.”

Being the target of a Russian disinformation campaign is nothing new for the European Union. According to the Jamestown Foundation, since 2015, EU officials and disinformation experts have tracked over 17,000 cases of anti-EU propaganda generated by Russia, and the first half of 2024 alone has seen 1,500 cases.

 

 

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