What Russians See in the News: A War Over Western Plans to Subjugate Them

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the state media’s focus on the war has shifted. Gone are predictions of a lightning offensive that would obliterate Ukraine. Instead, in the Kremlin version, the battlefields are one facet of a war being waged against Russia.

The reporting is less about Ukraine than “about opposing Western plans to get control of Mother Russia,” said Stanislav Kucher, a veteran Russian television host now consulting on a project to get Russians better access to banned news outlets. The United States is the main antagonist, with Europe and NATO its lackeys.

The extent of Russia’s staggering casualties in Ukraine remains veiled in Russian news media; only the Ukrainian military suffers extensive losses. Ukrainian civilian suffering is all but invisible. There are emotional stories about individual deaths, though the reaction is not always what the Kremlin might have hoped for. Read more

@nytimes