Kremlin’s Promotion of Traditional Values Failing to Change Russian Behavior in Directions Putin Regime Wants, ‘Re-Russia’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 29 – Kremlin propaganda has succeeded in promoting anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian views but it is failing in its effort to gain real support for what Putin calls “traditional values” like getting Russians to have more children or want to see their children go into the army, the Re-Russia portal says.

            Indeed, a survey of recent polls suggests, according to this outlet which is produced abroad by Kirill Rogov, those efforts not only have failed to change the behavior of Russians but appear increasingly counter-productive with Kremlin critics arguing like the z-bloggers arguing that the Putin regime is on the wrong course (re-russia.net/analytics/0421/).

            While it is possible that over the longer term, the Kremlin propagandists may succeed, Re-Russia says, its resources for doing so are “limited: the influence of television is declining, the attempts to dominate the Internet have produced anger and alienation, and the Kremlin’s monopoly on ‘patriotism’” is now being challenged.

            “As a result,” the portal concludes, “ideological pressure ‘from above’” is proving counterproductive, “tending to foster the emergence of neo-Soviet ‘doublethink’ or to provoke a backlash of resistance particularly among young people at whom the Kremlin is directing its primary ideological thrust.”

            The article offers details on polls over the last few years concerning Russian attitudes about traditional values which confirm these conclusions.