Public morale in Russia regarding the war in Ukraine is demonstrably affected by its military bloggers on Telegram, a messaging service that has become one of the most popular forms of media in the country. Kremlin officials are, to some extent, exposed to these writers.
Russian propagandists believe that defeat in the war is a “foregone conclusion” and are now just thinking about “how to lose” without being humiliated, a Ukrainian official has claimed. Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, claimed that Ukraine “have already won” and that the “rhetoric of all Kremlin propagandists” has started to reflect that “they themselves are well aware of it”.
On Tuesday, one of Russia’s most prolific military bloggers, a former Russian commander named Ivor Girkin, returned to Telegram after two months on the frontlines to decry the “protracted” war effort as a “suicide” mission. In comments seen by nearly 1 million Russians, Girkin later called General Sergei Surovoikin, who in October was appointed the head of operations in Ukraine, as “completely insane and useless”.
“I think you have seen that over the last three months, the rhetoric of all Kremlin propagandists has changed dramatically.
“First, they started to cautiously criticise their leadership, then – the top generals, and now they have reached the point where their victory is out of the question, they’re thinking about how just not to lose, but everyone understands that this is impossible. Their defeat is already obvious.
“Once again, there will be some more difficult times, but the Russian defeat is a foregone conclusion and they themselves are well aware of it.”
Propaganda in Russia is a strategy peddled not just by Kremlin officials but by military bloggers, known as milbloggers, on platforms like Telegram.
Roughly a quarter of Russia’s population use Telegram, though other figures suggest there are as many as 77 million users, and nine of the ten most popular political channels spread Kremlin pro-war narratives.
Dissent against the Kremlin and the war’s generals, however, is becoming increasingly frequent on the messaging site.
On Tuesday, Igor Girkin, a prominent voice on the platform, accused Russia of suffering from a “crisis of strategic planning” whereby there are little to no tactical plans in place and none of the soldiers are cohering around a wider goal
