Kremlin Media Using Term ‘De-Nazification’ Less Often Because Polls Show Russians Don’t Understand It, Project Group Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 4 – “De-Nazification,” a centerpiece of Vladimir Putin’s explanation for why his “special military operation” was needed in Ukraine in the first days of the war, has been largely dropped from the Kremlin’s domestic propaganda because polls show that Russians don’t understand it and some even find it hard to pronounce, the Project group says.

            Because Putin prepared his February 24^th action in secret, the group, which includes journalists displaced by the Kremlin leader’s campaign against independent media, did not have the opportunity to conduct the kind of polling it typically used to test out terms he was using (t.me/proektproekt/733).

              As a result, Project says, Kremlin media used it in saturation levels during the first days of the war. But it quickly became apparent that this term was not a success. Few Russians could explain what it meant, and some, those familiar with the subsequent polling effort report, found it difficult to pronounce.

            The Putin regime thus decided to cut back in its use, giving preference to other terms Putin had introduced, something that can be seen in the content of programs like Dmitry Kiselyov, who earlier used “de-Nazification” constantly in his broadcasts but now does so only sparingly.