During the war, propagandists of Skabeeva’s group worked out a scheme for manipulating the content of a statement or speech, when the general content and meaning of the entire message is changed with the help of selective citation of theses. In addition, with the help of the same manipulations, propaganda narratives are sewn into the distorted publication. The other day, Skabeeva made such a manipulation in one of her posts in her own Telegram channel, distorting the content of Valery Zaluzhny’s speech before the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine undergoing training in Great Britain.
Manipulation
Valery Zaluzhny, who is currently the ambassador of Ukraine to Great Britain, visited one of the British military training centers where Ukrainian military personnel are currently being trained. He appeared before the soldiers. Certainly, this event did not pass the black eye and mouth of Kremlin propagandists, and more specifically, Skabeeva. In her Telegram channel, she allegedly quoted what Zaluzhny said. In her version, the speech of the former Chief Commissar reads as follows:
“You will have little chance to survive – Zaluzhny decided to inspire the Armed Forces personnel who are undergoing training in Great Britain. – Every day the war becomes more and more cruel. She leaves almost no chance of survival, but still, the war will be afraid of those who are ready for it. Here you need to learn not to be afraid of death, to look it straight in the eyes. Also, you need to kill Russians, kill without thinking. Kill first. Remember, if you die, others will take your place. Ukraine must be preserved.”
And now, the full text of Zaluzhny’s speech without abbreviations and compilations by the propagandist (link to the report of the British publication with Zaluzhny’s speech http://surl.li/obkkrx):
“Thank you very much for joining the army! This is a very, very courageous concession! We have one Ukraine. No one but us will protect her. Remember that the war is getting more brutal every day. She leaves almost no chance of survival. But still, the war will be afraid of those who are ready to join it. Therefore, it is necessary to learn this here. Learn not to fear death. Do not be afraid to look the enemy in the eye. This is very important. You have to learn here, first of all, to protect yourself. Learn to survive here. Second, look carefully into each other’s eyes. Remember each other. You have to remember each other for the rest of your life. And worry – where is my friend, where is Vasyl, where is Peter? What’s wrong with him? Is the war alive? And on the battlefield to look at the same comrade and try to save him. In anything, save your friend as much as possible. But that’s not enough! It is not enough to save yourself and it is not enough to save your fellow man. It is still necessary to complete the task. For this you will need to kill! Kill without thinking! When you see an enemy, kill him first before he tries to kill you or your friend. Please learn it here. Love each other and remember Ukraine. If you don’t make it, maybe someone else will take your place. But Ukraine must be preserved. Our children, our women, our fathers must live in peace, no matter what it costs us. We have one Ukraine! And we will definitely win!”
As we can see, the reduction and compilation of the propagandist Skabeeva actually changed the mood and meaning of the speech. This is how Zaluzhnyi talks about the difficulty, heaviness and deadly danger of war. He talks about death. But at the same time:
– about work on improving one’s combat skills;
– that training will increase the chances of surviving the war;
– about military brotherhood and mutual support on the battlefield;
– about intransigence towards the enemy;
– about self-sacrifice, if necessary;
– about the key goal in this war – the protection of one’s relatives and the preservation of independent Ukraine.
In Skabeeva’s interpretation and compilation, the content of Zaduzhny’s words actually boils down to two positions:
– in the war, you have no chance to survive – that is, you are sent to slaughter;
– Russians must be killed;
– you will die and be replaced by others – that is, your life is worth nothing.
In fact, the propagandist twisted and reinterpreted the words of the former Central Committee so much that she “stitched” in them three key narratives of Russian propaganda. Namely:
– the war in Ukraine is going on and will go to the last Ukrainian;
– the phrase “to kill Russians” is actively used by Russian propaganda in order to turn the reality of the causes of this war upside down – they say that this war was unleashed by the “collective West” in order to kill Russians with the hands of Ukrainians. However, the war was started by Russia, and Ukrainians have to kill Russians precisely because the Russians came to Ukrainian land to destroy and kill Ukrainians as a nation;
– for the “Kyiv regime” Ukrainians are cannon fodder, sent to be slaughtered so that the “regime” retains power.
So, as we can see, even small manipulations with real messages and compilation of these messages into the necessary verbal configuration allow propagandists to fundamentally change the mood and meaning of these statements.
