Russian Soldier: “I Thought We Were Coming Here to Help These People”

By Kris Osborn, President – Center for Military Modernization

(Washington, D.C.) Just how much of the Russian population is influenced, convinced or swayed by false media reports and disinformation campaigns intended to blind the public to the actual reality of what is happening on the ground in Ukraine? Are Russians, or at least a majority of Russians, fully blocked from seeing media reports of destroyed family homes and civilian areas throughout Ukraine? Is it possible in this information age of the internet that ordinary Russian citizens simply do not have access to the free world and Western news reports? 

Russian Disinformation

This may be true to an extent, experts say, and Russian state-run media continues to overflow and bombard the airways with false narratives regarding the war in Ukraine. These news reports include showing fake, altered or manufactured video footage and circulate false information about the war.

Are Russians simply unaware that children are being murdered by the hundreds if not thousands? Did Russian soldiers truly think they were only on a training mission or a limited effort to “help” the Ukrainian people and remove Nazis. Of course these suggestions are and were ridiculous, yet if accompanied by manufactured Russian video evidence or coerced testimonials, average citizens may simply not understand. Thousands, if not millions may simply be in the dark about the war crimes, atrocities and deliberate attacks on civilian neighborhoods.

One former very high-level intelligence community official closely following the war says these manufactured videos can have a devastating influence upon average Russian people simply unaware of the truth. In the face of mounting evidence to the contrary, video images showing fake Ukrainian atrocities can regrettably have a very large impact.

Mike Mears, Former Director of Human Capital for the CIA, closely follows the war in Ukraine and at times watches Russian news broadcasts. He told Warrior he is “disgusted” by what he sees on the Russian news.

“A psychological study published last month stated that if all your senses say one thing, but your eyes tell you another, you believe the eyes. So seeing is believing, basically all these old sayings come through. So that’s what ties all that together that the Ukrainians had been able to use this power of storytelling and vision and visioning. And on the Russian side, of course, they are too if you watch Russian news, I tried to check in every other night, until I got so disgusted, I’ve got to turn it off,” Mears said.

The Kremlin is making strategic use of fear and scare tactics toward the Russian people, by telling them they are in grave danger of being killed by NATO unless defended by Russia.