Russia propagandists: from pop stars to world destroyers | EUROtoday

The crowd cheers because the white-blond singer Jaroslaw Dronov – identified beneath the pseudonym Shaman – sings his hit “Ja Russki” (“I am Russian”). An enormous Russian flag seems on the stage behind Dronov’s again; he himself wears the tricolor as a band on each higher arms. Down within the viewers close to the city of Sudak on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which has been annexed by Russia since 2014, they’re waving Russian flags and singing alongside enthusiastically.

Somewhere within the crowd a toddler holds up a poster. “Victory will be with us” is written on it. It is a reference to the warfare that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered in opposition to Ukraine 4 years in the past – and which claims victims there on daily basis, together with civilians from infants to previous age.

“I’m Russian. I’ll go to the end. I’m Russian. My father’s blood in me. I’m Russian. That’s lucky. I’m Russian. Despite the whole world,” Shaman sings on stage – and the viewers joins in enthusiastically.

Shaman is a chief instance of a profession boosted by Russia’s warfare. The 34-year-old has been in present enterprise for over ten years. He could not achieve a foothold along with his love songs till he switched to patriotism. One of his songs, translated into German, is named “Mein Kampf,” and one other track is named “Wstanem” (“Let us rise”). He revealed this in the future earlier than the beginning of the warfare.

The piece, initially devoted to the reminiscence of Soviet troopers in World War II, shortly grew to become the anthem of the brand new warfare. A dozen different, equally enterprising performers took half in an alternate model of the one – together with well-known Russian pop stars similar to Grigory Leps and Oleg Gasmanov, Sergei Lazarev, Nikolai Baskov and Nikolai Rastorguyev.

They are all common friends on the quite a few live shows held by the Kremlin in help of the warfare. But it wasn’t simply singers who had been used for Kremlin propaganda. Athletes, actors, presenters and journalists additionally seem on the mass occasions with typically outrageous messages.

The actor Ivan Okhlobystin, for instance, who grew to become identified in Russia for his position as a cynical senior physician in a hospital comedy collection primarily based on Western fashions, referred to as for a “holy war” in opposition to Ukraine and the West on Red Square in Moscow.

His colleague Mikhail Porochenkov was filmed in 2014 firing a machine gun in direction of Ukrainian positions on behalf of the Moscow-controlled separatists on the airport in Donetsk. He wore a helmet with the inscription “Press”, which is definitely supposed to tell apart media representatives from preventing troopers.

Porochenkov has been a part of the Kremlin administration’s “agitation brigades” for the reason that starting of the warfare. Her job is to carry out in entrance of Russian fighters in Ukraine to boost the troops’ morale. The complete factor is financed by the assemble “Integrazija”, supposedly an NGO, which, nevertheless, receives its cash from state and state-affiliated firms.

According to info from investigative journalists, the equal of a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of euros flowed by these and different buildings in 2023 alone. The cash is used for quite a lot of PR measures to justify the invasion, which violates worldwide legislation. In addition to Porochenkov, rock singer Yulia Tschitscherina and his actor colleagues Sergei Garmash and Sergei Bezrukov are additionally on the payroll of the agitation brigades.

Irony of destiny: Bezrukov, who has made cash with a number of pathetic warfare movies lately, additionally took half within the satirical present “Kukly” (“Dolls”) in the beginning of his profession within the Nineties. High-ranking Russian politicians had been taken for a journey there. The present was created by the screenwriter Mikhail Shenderovich, who was now labeled a overseas agent as a warfare opponent and Putin critic and had to enter exile.

Nikita Mikhalkov shouldn’t be lacking from the ranks of warfare propagandists. The now 80-year-old doyen of Soviet and Russian cinema has all the time been identified for his proximity to the highly effective in Moscow. In the Nineties, he supported President Boris Yeltsin and received an Oscar for finest overseas language movie with “The Sun That Deceives Us,” a drama criticizing the Great Terror beneath Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Under Putin he grew to become an ardent supporter of his insurance policies. In his personal present “Bessogon TV” (“Exorciser of the Devil TV”), he spreads conspiracy theories and Russian nice energy fantasies and incites in opposition to liberals, minorities and the West on the whole. He justified the warfare in opposition to Ukraine as a “fight against Satanism.” In return, he advantages from quite a few bonuses and profitable positions. For years he has been considered one of Putin’s confidants in elections.

Shaman additionally earned this standing within the 2024 presidential election. He additionally just lately modified his spouse for the second time. While the producer Yelena Martynowa had beforehand promoted his profession and formed his stage picture, he married Yekaterina Misulina in November 2025.

Critics imagine that this step was additionally made for profession causes. Misulina is among the most influential ladies in Russia. With her “League for Internet Security,” which is financed from sources near the state, she hunts down voices essential of the Kremlin on-line and is taken into account the face of informers in Russia. The marriage ceremony ceremony came about within the PR-friendly metropolis of Donetsk in japanese Ukraine, which was occupied by Moscow troops.

The rise of Shaman has already impressed imitators. The best-known instance is the singer Tatjana Kurtukova. In distinction to Shaman’s moderately brutal type, she depends on the gentle sounds of Russian folks music, however the patriotic undertones can’t be ignored – as within the at the moment very fashionable track “Matushka Zemlya” (“Little Mother Earth”).

They carried out collectively at a nationwide vacation live performance in entrance of the Kremlin. The 32-year-old, whom mockers name a “shaman in a skirt,” is clearly drawn there. She reportedly hopes to develop into tradition minister in some unspecified time in the future. At least she mentioned in an interview that she is now finding out administrative sciences with the intention to meet the calls for of a political place.