The authors examine Russia's use of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism (REMVE) narratives in the context of its war against Ukraine from 2022 to early 2024. Using tools of network and content analysis on a multilingual corpus of data from X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram, the authors analyze Russia's propagandists' and proxies' success in reaching broad audiences through social media.

The Denazify Lie

Russia's Use of Extremist Narratives Against Ukraine

Elina Treyger, Heather J. Williams, Luke J. Matthews, Khrystyna Holynska, Joseph Matveyenko, Daniel Cunningham, Thomas Goode, Katya Migacheva

ResearchPublished Jan 16, 2025

On February 24, 2022, when Vladimir Putin announced Russia's "special military operation" into Ukraine, he claimed that Ukraine was led by "far-right nationalists and neo-Nazis" and that the purpose of Russia's invasion was to "demilitarize and denazify Ukraine." Russian leaders and propagandists have at once denied the existence of a Ukrainian nation and called for purging or cleansing the Ukrainian territory, in terms that often mirror rhetoric preceding past genocides. In this report, the authors seek to shed light on how Russia's extremist, hate-peddling narratives deployed in the war have spread online through social media. Have Russia's propagandists and its extremists been successful in reaching broad audiences through social media? Are their narratives fueling racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism (REMVE) in ways that might raise the risk of actual violence? Who is spreading and amplifying REMVE narratives?

To explore these questions, the authors identify major Russian narratives built around REMVE tropes and themes, identify and explore the online communities engaged in this extreme discourse, and characterize the actors whose voices most significantly shape which content is spread and amplified and the audiences the content is likely to reach. They focus on two major social media platforms, X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram, which have emerged as important forums for online discussions and conversations related to the war in Ukraine.

Key Findings

  • Russian and pro-Russian actors on X and Telegram have managed to push their narratives maligning and dehumanizing Ukrainians to communities in which these narratives might be expected to have little resonance.
  • Russian propaganda is making inroads into some of the major European languages—Spanish and German, as well as French and Italian.
  • REMVE narratives are also finding more-receptive audiences among relatively small linguistic communities in Eastern Europe. Serbian- and Bulgarian-language communities emerge as particularly vulnerable to cross-language and cross-cultural transmission of REMVE messages on both X and Telegram.
  • However, Russia's ability to successfully mainstream its propaganda and mobilize its audiences against Ukrainians is limited: The most virulent REMVE conversations on these two platforms remain highly Russian-language dominated, are concentrated in specific communities, and do not draw much attention from others in the networks.
  • Many of the discourse communities around REMVE narratives are not echo chambers but are contested information spaces with robust activity by pro-Ukrainian accounts.
  • The most virulent REMVE rhetoric suggests that much of it is bound to discussions of the Russia-Ukraine war. This finding extends the possibility that, if and as the kinetic aspects of the conflict subside, interest in the content spread by war-focused channels may also subside, decreasing their popularity and reach.

Order a Print Copy

Format
Paperback
Page count
140 pages
List Price
$38.00
Buy link
Add to Cart

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Available
  • Year: 2025
  • Print Format: Paperback
  • Paperback Pages: 140
  • Paperback Price: $38.00
  • Paperback ISBN/EAN: 1-9774-1477-X
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA3450-1
  • Document Number: RR-A3450-1

Citation

RAND Style Manual

Treyger, Elina, Heather J. Williams, Luke J. Matthews, Khrystyna Holynska, Joseph Matveyenko, Daniel Cunningham, Thomas Goode, and Katya Migacheva, The Denazify Lie: Russia's Use of Extremist Narratives Against Ukraine, RAND Corporation, RR-A3450-1, 2025. As of April 30, 2025: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3450-1.html

Chicago Manual of Style

Treyger, Elina, Heather J. Williams, Luke J. Matthews, Khrystyna Holynska, Joseph Matveyenko, Daniel Cunningham, Thomas Goode, and Katya Migacheva, The Denazify Lie: Russia's Use of Extremist Narratives Against Ukraine. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA3450-1.html. Also available in print form.
BibTeX RIS

Research conducted by

This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and conducted within the International Security and Defense Policy Program of the RAND National Security Research Division.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.