What do Russians see and hear about the war in Ukraine?

On Russian state television, the country’s residents present themselves daily with an unreality. News programs describe the invasion of Ukraine not as a war, but as Vladimir Putin himself does: a “special operation.”

This unreality is now the law of the land in all of Russia, with the media has officially banned the use of words including “war” and “invasion” in any reference to the “operation” in Ukraine. Anyone accused of spreading “false information” about the army in Russia now faces 15 years in prison.

As CBS News foreign correspondent Imtiaz Tyab reports, draconian repression of the speech led the last remaining independent Russian news channels. to close its doors last week.

“Russia is becoming completely isolated,” Ekaterina Kotrikadze, who was a presenter for independent television station Rain in Russia before fleeing her country, told CBS News. “I really like North Korea.”

He said the Russians are only told one story.

“The message is clear and very simple: that NATO is just around the corner. That NATO is threatening Russia,” he told Tyab.

Across Russia, anti-war protests are being crushed with an iron fist. Monitoring groups say more than 13,000 people have been detained in protest against the war in the country since the invasion began. However, the acts of defiance continue.

Tyab asked Evgeny Popov, a seated Russian lawmaker, how he thought the war was going.

“It simply came to our notice then [the] The military operation is going pretty well, “he said.

“You keep referring to this as a military operation, but this is an invasion, this is a war,” Tyab challenged Popov.

“You, and much of the Western world, live in a world of Ukrainian myths,” he replied.

What is undeniable is that military support in Russia remains high.

The letter “Z”, initially used by Russian forces to identify their own on the battlefield, quickly became a powerful pro-war propaganda tool for the Kremlin.

“This letter is a symbol, and it’s scary, it’s scary,” Kotrikadze told TV Rain, noting that the symbol has similarities to a symbol used by the German Nazi regime.

A U.S. official told CBS News on Wednesday that between 5,000 and 6,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since fighting began in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Tyab asked lawmaker Popov if the invasion had been worthwhile, given the loss of life and the international condemnation and sanctions now facing Russia.

He said Russia is a “proud nation and we love our country. We have no other homeland and we must protect it.”

In:
• Ukraine
• Russia
• Vladimir Putin