The Most Persistent Narratives of the Kremlin’s Propaganda Towards Romania in the First Year of the Russo-Ukrainian War

Abstract

This article examines how the Russian invasion of Ukraine influenced Kremlin's propaganda against Romania. For one year (24.02.2022 – 24.02.2023), the author followed official statements by Russian politicians and diplomats, material appearing in the most important federal media outlets, and messages released via social media and other marginal propaganda sources. Thus, it was possible to determine the main Russian propaganda narratives against Romania: „Romania seeks to annex parts of Ukraine”; „Romania seeks to annex the Republic of Moldova and Transnistria”; „Romania promotes unreasonable Russophobia”; „Romania is a «Western colony» used by the USA against Russia”, and last but not least, attempts to discredit Romanian aid to Ukraine. In this way, the author determined the image of Romania created by the Russian propaganda machine for its audience, but also the ways in which Moscow uses the distorted image of Romania to influence public opinion in Ukraine and Moldova.