Narratives
Recognize the pattern: learn to detect known russian narratives in propaganda texts that look harmless
The concept of “narratives” often comes up in the context of Russian and pro-Kremlin disinformation and influence efforts.
A narrative is an overall message, communicated through texts, images, metaphors, and other means. For example, repeatedly portraying individual politicians as crooks will eventually establish a narrative that politicians in general are corrupt and deceitful;
Pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets use a set of narratives that work as templates for particular stories and can be adapted to a target audience. Different narratives are used for various audiences;
Some of these narratives have been in use for hundreds of years. Variations of the narrative of “The Decaying West” are documented since the 19th century.
Narratives can be combined and modified based on current events and prevailing attitudes.
EUvsDisinfo has identified some categories of repeating narratives. It is worth knowing these: 
Narrative 1: the Elites v the People
The idea of an elite disconnected from the hard-working people runs strongly in political history. Several - often rich - politicians and political movements have claimed to represent the voice of the common man, the little guy, the silent majority, against a corrupt and smug clique comprising of the representatives of political parties, corporations and the media. This narrative is not the Kremlin’s invention, but pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets exploit it frequently. See
Narrative 2: The ‘Threatened Values’
The narrative about ‘Threatened Values’ is adapted to a wide range of topics and typically used to challenge Western attitudes about the rights of women, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTQI+ groups, among others. Pro-Kremlin commentators ridicule alleged Western ‘moral decay’ or ‘depraved attitudes’. By contrast, Russia and Orthodox Christianity stand out as the true defenders of traditional values, as by this official Russian promotional video(opens in a new tab) illustrates. See
Narrative 3: ‘Lost Sovereignty’
Russian and pro-Kremlin disinformation sources like to claim that certain countries are no longer truly sovereign. Back in 2015, a cartoonist for the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti illustrated this idea with an image: Uncle Sam is turning up the flame on a gas stove, forcing Europeans to jump up and down while crying for sanctions against Russia. See
Narrative 4: ‘The Imminent Collapse’
In Aristotelian rhetoric, the concept of kairos denotes a sense of urgency for action. Most speakers utilize this concept when they claim: act now, before it’s too late! In the pro-Kremlin disinformation context, the narrative of the ‘Imminent Collapse’ fulfills this function. See
Narrative 5: ‘The Hahaganda’
A final resort in disinformation, typically when confronted with compelling evidence or unassailable arguments, is to make a joke about the subject, or to ridicule the topic at hand. See
Narrative joker: “Nazis”
The picture of pro-Kremlin disinformation would not be complete without considering the narrative of ‘Nazis’ that summarizes in a single word the mythology sustaining the Kremlin’s regime: all enemies (and victims) of Russia are Nazis. See
Further collection
EUvsDisinfo publishes more collections of russian narratives. However, these follow a dangerous approach, to merge - like real propaganda - some basic narratives together and use those as section headers (summaries) of much longer sections that require more reading and often refer linke to to debunking elsewhere. The risk is high, that readers remember the summaries (= lies). Here is an example: Thirteen myths about Russia’s war against Ukraine exposed