Russians do not understand the meaning of the word “denazification”. Kremlin propagandists seek new explanations for war against Ukraine

Russians do not understand the meaning of the word "denazification" — it was named by Russian President Vladimir Putin as one of the goals of Russiaʼs invasion of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Proekt newspaper, citing sources: a high-ranking media manager, a sociologist close to the Kremlin, and an expert who receives Kremlin dark secrets.

According to the publication, in April the Russian authorities ordered telephone surveys of sociologists, which revealed the incomprehensibility of this word for Russians.

"After that, we started a mess — we were looking for new words every week, but we couldnʼt find anything successful," said one of the interlocutors.

According to him, the polls said that the Russians want to hear only about victory. Despite this, the publication notes, the propaganda did not completely abandon the use of the word "denazification", but only reduced the number of mentions.

Journalists believe that TV propagandist Dmytro Kiselyov tried to explain the meaning of the word for at least seven minutes on February 27 and March 6. And in April, he either did not talk about "denazification" at all or used the word once per issue.

It is also noted that one of the Putinʼs personal cameramen, Ilya Filatov, resigned after recording a video address by the Russian president about the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, which was shown early in the morning on February 24.

Filatov explained his dismissal as follows: "Reached the ceiling in the profession". He added that he was also "tired of sitting in quarantine for months."