Marta Barandiy

A film of Alexander Penasse "Ukraine-Russia: Behind the Smoke Screen" can look neutral.

Soft voice. Human stories. Archive footage. “Another point of view.”

But neutrality is not about tone.It is about structure.

And one of the clearest manipulations in Alexandre Penasse’s film is chronology.

The film says: “The West wants history to begin on 24 February 2022.”

Then it offers its own timeline:

NATO "expansion" fear of Russia. Orange Revolution as "Western interference".
Euromaidan "Coup". Language "genocide". Minsk agreements. And "Missed peace.”

Interesting chronology.

Shame about the missing chapters.

Because somehow Chechnya disappears. Georgia disappears. Previous Russian wars disappear. The repressive logic of Putin’s regime disappears.
The pattern of Russian violence disappears.

Everything that breaks the image of Russia as merely “reactive” is removed. There is nothing about Russia's provocations.

Then comes the next familiar line: Zelensky as dictator, puppet, illegitimate president, controlled by the West, allegedly using mobilisation to “keep his position”.

But let’s compare.

Ukraine: five presidents in 25 years.
Russia: same man since 1999.
But sure, tell me more about authoritarian Kyiv.

Then the moral fog:

“Two peoples suffer.”
“There is no good guy and bad guy.”
“Everyone is guilty.”
“Fratricidal war.”

Human suffering is real.
Moral equivalence is fake.

This is how propaganda works: it does not always openly defend the aggressor. Sometimes it just blurs responsibility until the aggressor disappears.

Then come the usual words: neo-Nazis, fascism, Azov, Right Sector, Svoboda, Bandera.

And then the dangerous escalation: “Ukraine pure”, “russophone vermin”.

That is not just an argument. That is dehumanisation.

And dehumanisation is always a red flag.

There is also the “another point of view” trick.

Penasse says he wants another perspective. He admits he will be shown only what they want him to see. But still frames it as brave truth-seeking.

When a Russian-organised press tour sells itself as brave truth-seeking, that’s not courage. That’s curated access.

Then sanctions:

Sanctions don’t hurt Russia. They only hurt the EU and the US. Russia has Chinese cars. Sanctions are allegedly “ineptie”.

Russian propaganda starter pack: sanctions don’t work, but please lift them immediately.

Then Maidan as “coup”: Western politicians visited. Nuland handed out pastries.
The US supported democratisation. Therefore: coup.

But presence ≠ orchestration.
Support ≠ ownership.
Diplomacy ≠ proof of a coup.

Then language policy becomes “genocide”.

Changing language policy is not the same as proving genocide. Words matter.
Legal terms matter more.

And finally: Russia as the “protector” of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers abroad.

Europe should recognise this language.

When a state claims a mission to “protect” co-ethnics abroad, Europe should not hear peace. It should hear a territorial doctrine.

This is why the problem is not simply that the film offers “another point of view”.

The problem is that the chronology, omissions, vocabulary and moral framing reproduce a Russian script.

Neutral tone does not make propaganda neutral.

#Ukraine #Disinformation #RussianPropaganda #InformationWarfare #Europe #MediaLiteracy #HybridWarfare

1 month ago | [YT] | 0