Russia’s Presidential Administration has ordered state and Kremlin-aligned media outlets to begin writing about “Putin strikes” on Ukraine, two employees at such outlets told Meduza.
The Presidential Administration’s political bloc sent loyalist media recommendations advising them to report that “the effectiveness and efficiency of Russia’s strikes far exceed what the Ukrainian military has achieved.”
“Our ballistic weapons have performed flawlessly. The Ukrainian regime has lost its most important production and storage sites, where cruise missiles and drones, along with their components, were assembled and stored. ‘Putin strikes’ are far larger in scale and more effective than enemy attacks. We are shutting down the militants’ missile programs, which helps keep Russia’s regions secure,” the guidance document says.
Headlines, comments from servicemen, and articles using the phrase “Putin strikes” indeed appeared this week in major Russian media outlets.
For example, the Russian news website Gazeta.ru published an article with the following subheadline:
“SVO” veteran Konovalov: “Putin strikes” deprive the Ukrainian military of the ability to fight.
The outlet cites Vitaly Konovalov, head of the Association of Veterans of the Russia-Ukraine War in Stavropol Krai, who says the strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are allegedly aimed at undermining supplies to the Ukrainian military. Notably, Konovalov himself never uses the phrase “Putin strikes.” It appears in the connecting phrases and generalizations added by propagandists.
Novye Izvestia published an article titled “Putin Strikes on Ukraine: Ukrainian Military Left Without Electricity and Weapons.” Rosbalt used the phrase in the headline of a news item titled “Putin Strikes on Ukraine: Ukrainian Military Losing Logistics Hubs, Substations, and Vessels.” It also appears in headlines and articles from Fedpress. Segodnia.ru writes about a “series of “Putin strikes.”” The phrase has even appeared in pro-government Instagram accounts.
A political consultant who works with the Presidential Administration’s political bloc said directly linking Putin to the strikes on Ukraine is meant to try to boost the president’s approval ratings.
According to polls by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM), Putin’s approval rating fell from 75% in July to 71% in early October, while trust in him fell from 74% to 70% over the same period.
“In this case, [the idea is to raise the ratings] among the pro-war, ultra-patriotic segment of society, who need to be shown some successes from the war. To the question “What has been accomplished?” [at the front], the suggested answer is “Putin strikes,” by analogy with the “Stalinist strikes,”” the consultant said.
During Joseph Stalin’s rule, the term “Ten Stalinist Strikes” referred to 10 major Soviet army operations during World War II.
The source told Meduza that it is hard to assess how effective the appearance of “Putin strikes” in the press has been: “Maybe it will have some effect on the older segment [of society].”
Speaking at a press conference in Bishkek on September 1, following the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Vladimir Putin said he had ordered the Russian military to prepare and carry out massive strikes on Ukraine’s energy facilities. “They’re striking our people, so they’ll get a response,” he added.
In mid-October, discussing the Russian army’s strikes on Ukraine, Putin said:
They took the first step. We started responding. Now they’re whining about energy facilities too, and about other targets, including data centers and so on. They started it. They shouldn’t have started it.
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Andrey Pertsev