EUvsDisinfo: Everything is going to be all right (original title: Everything is going to be all right)
Every year on December 31, just before midnight, Vladimir Putin tells Russians that better times are ahead, that everything is going to be okay and that in recent years Russia has become stronger.
In reality, his full-scale invasion of Ukraine is approaching its third anniversary and the Russian economy is facing serious problems. He does not sound like the president of a country that will conquer shining peaks, but as if he were telling people falling from a tall building – as they fly down through each floor – – “so far so good“.
Defending the Motherland with Lies
Putin did not mention Ukraine in his speech, but he signaled to – in his words – „the collective West“ that the war against Ukraine will continue. This military task involves using information and current events as a weapon, firing a continuous stream of lies, which „EUvsDisinfo“ will continue to expose and counter in 2025. Let's start with a summary of the main distorted stories presented during the holidays.
Russia shot down another plane...
On December 25, 2024 Russian air defenses damaged an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane over Grozny. Russian air traffic control refused the plane permission to land and forced it to make an emergency landing over the Caspian Sea in Kazakhstan. The Kremlin went through the now familiar cycle of denial, dismissal and lying. First, false information was spread that a flock of birds caused the crash. When photos of the downed plane and the damage emerged, and only after Azerbaijani President Aliyev demanded that Russia take responsibility, Putin apologized for the incident – without taking responsibility – and said that the PVO had acted against Ukrainian drones.
… and blamed Ukraine
Along with the initial accusations against Ukraine, pro-Kremlin media quickly adopted the message that the plane crash was actually caused as a provocation to shift the blame to Russia. This automatic distortion of the Russian atrocity is reminiscent of the downing of MH17 more than a decade ago. It also illustrates how Russian propaganda constantly distorts the information space and does not deviate from its own worldview at odds with reality. Every atrocity committed by Russia is presented as a provocation to blame Russia.
Terror in America: Ukraine did it
The beginning of 2025 brought two tragic incidents in the US: a terrorist attack in New Orleans and a suicide bombing in Las Vegas. Before the investigations could even begin, Russian disinformation channels were already spinning their narrative. The Las Vegas bomber was wearing a "Slava Ukraini" T-shirt in photos on social media - apparently reason enough to suspect Ukrainian intelligence involvement. Similarly, these media outlets have questioned the FBI’s findings on the New Orleans attack, linking them to the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election – something they continue to call “fabricated”. The technique is the same as in the Azerbaijan Airlines incident and is part of a broader pattern. In 2024, Russian propaganda was trying to portray Ukraine as a global terrorist threat and fabricated a Ukrainian connection in incidents from Moscow to Dagestan and from Slovakia to Syria.
Gen. Kirillov and the Missing Biolabs
On the other hand, when Ukraine killed Russian General Igor Kirillov in Moscow on December 17, Russian disinformation networks went wild – but in a different way. Instead of the usual approach of blaming Ukraine, they blamed the “West” for the murder. According to their narrative, NATO (or Joe Biden, or the CIA, or the Deep State) eliminated Kirillov because he had “exposed” non-existent US bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine and the alleged use of Western chemical weapons in Syria. The reality, however, was different. Kirillov, the head of Russia’s chemical and biological defense forces, was sanctioned by the US and UK for his role in the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian forces. The day before his death, Ukrainian prosecutors formally charged him with ordering the use of banned chemical weapons in nearly 5,000 attacks since the invasion began.
Adapting the narrative
The reaction to Kirillov’s death shows how Russian disinformation adapts its messages to different audiences. For domestic consumption, the narrative is presented as Russia under siege by the West. For international audiences, old conspiracy theories about Western biological and chemical weapons programs are recycled. When Russia is caught using chemical weapons in Ukraine, it claims that the West is preparing covert attacks. When a Russian general responsible for the use of chemical weapons is killed, he suddenly becomes a brave whistleblower who exposes Western crimes.
Let us not be fooled!
Other topics in the EUvsDisinfo review:
US and Europe stand behind Ukraine's decision to stop gas flow
Ukraine has chosen not to extend the agreement allowing gas from Russia to flow through Ukraine to EU markets. Supplies stopped on January 1. According to some estimates, Russian gas sales revenues could be reduced by 6.5 billion euros per year. The Russian Foreign Ministry claims that Ukraine did not make the decision alone and accused the US of wanting to profit from the sale of its own gas, as well as the EU of damaging its own economy. Transnistria, a breakaway state dependent on Russia in Moldova, was supplied via the same route and is now also without gas supplies. Russia has already heated up the information space and accused Moldovan President Maia Sandu and the EU of a possible humanitarian crisis.
Norwegian ship refuses to rescue Russian sailors
When in late December the Russian cargo ship “Ursa Major“ sank off the Spanish coast after three explosions, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said that a Norwegian ship had refused to rescue the crew. Disinformation channels then accused Norway of Russophobia. In reality, the Norwegian ship “Oslo Carrier 3“ had secured the Russian rescue boat and was following instructions from the Spanish coast guard to wait for their ships, which were already on their way. Photos from the Norwegian ship's owner show them helping until Spanish rescuers arrive. The incident shows how pro-Kremlin media portrays routine international cooperation as anti-Russian discrimination.
West wants to use terrorists to maintain tension in Syria
After the fall of the Assad regime in Syria on December 8, pro-Kremlin media accused the US of being behind the events. Since then, a disinformation narrative has been pushed that the West is using terrorist groups to “continue tension“ in Syria. In fact, the US launched airstrikes against ISIS targets to prevent the terrorist group from taking advantage of the situation.
EUvsDisinfo/ translation: European Commission Representation in Bulgaria