Russian Officialdom Revives Soviet-Era Urban Legends about Threats and Russian People Use Social Media to Spread and Exaggerate Them, Arkhipova Says

Paul Goble

    Staunton, May 7 – In Soviet times, officials in 1952 spread rumors that the Jews were poisoning Russians; in 1956, they put out the word that Western intelligence services were preparing to poison Russians during the World Youth Congress; and in 1980, such agents warned that the West would use the Moscow Olympiad to do the same thing.

    This year, in advance of Victory Day, several senior emergency situations ministry generals have issued a similar warning, this time blaming the threat on Ukrainians. And according to independent anthropologist Aleksandr Arkhipova, the population has turned to social media to spread this latest urban legend (t.me/anthro_fun/3402 reposted at echofm.online/opinions/operacziya-otravlenie-ili-novaya-versiya-staroj-gorodskoj-legendy).

    As Arkhipova shows, the versions of the supposed threat offered by the population are simpler than those officials put forward; but they also spread more widely than the officials could ever hope to achieve, sparking fears that at some point may be beyond the regime’s ability to rein in and thus make the use of such propaganda dangerously counterproductive.