The essential characteristics of Ruscism are:
- the aggressive hatred of those whose opinions differ from traditional Russian propaganda
- the ideology of the Russian Orthodox Church's (ROC) spiritual theory of Russian "chosenness"
The StratCom provides examples of such Russian propaganda cliches against Ukraine:
- "We have never attacked anyone"
- "Russians do not attack, they only liberate"
- "A coup d'état organized by America took place on the Maidan"
- "Ukraine and Ukrainians do not exist; it is an artificial, invented nation"
- "Crimea seceded on its own because the people of Crimea did not support the coup d'état"
- "The cities of southern Ukraine were founded by Russian rulers"
- "Crimea is Russian because a referendum was held there"
- "Ukraine has attacked and is killing the people of Donbas"
This "will help to form a unified approach of international institutions to defining Russian policy" and in the future "will facilitate bringing Russian war criminals to real responsibility," the StratCom wrote.Read also:
Ukrainian parliament recognizes Ruscism as Russia’s state ideology
Russian ideology: imperialism, militarism, and racism
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