Title: A guide to Russian propaganda. Part 5: Reflexive ControlEuromaidan Press | News and views from Ukraine
Headings: A guide to Russian propaganda. Part 5: Reflexive Control
A guide to Russian propaganda. Part 5: Reflexive Control
Examples of Reflexive control used in Russia’s war against Ukraine
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Content: The Ukrainian authorities were prompted into making this decision with the help of Ukraine’s western partners, who abhorred the possibility of a war in Europe – aka pacification: “Both Americans and Germans in one voice ask us not to start any active actions, because, according to their intelligence, Putin will use it to start a large-scale land invasion. We have to hear Western partners, and they need time to make decisions,” said Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, then-head of the Security Service of Ukraine, at an emergency meeting of Ukraine’s NSDC on 28 February 2014. The ongoing de-facto occupation of Donbas, in which Russia has been maintaining two puppet statelets that keep fighting against the Ukrainian army with the help of Russian troops and weapons, is an example of a reflexive control operation which targets different audiences. The Russian-backed militants in Donbas are fed fake news about supposed Ukrainian atrocities to keep them fighting against Ukraine, while the Russian population is conditioned to support the Donbas militants and Putin. As a result, Russia’s aggressive actions are approved by the majority of Russians, some of whom rush to the support of the “people of Donbas.” Reflexive control methods used include distraction, deception, suggestion, and information overload. Meanwhile, the unpredictability and fog of war Russia creates over Donbas deters the international community from entering the conflict, with deception, information overload, paralysis, exhaustion, division, pacification, and pressure being used. One of the most vivid examples of Russian reflexive control usage in the Donbas war is that of how Russia militarily pressured Ukraine to accept the second Minsk protocol as a roadmap to conflict resolution in Donbas. If implemented verbatim, Minsk-2 will lead to Russia achieving its goals for Ukraine in the war.