The video shows a Russian couple and their son traveling by plane to the United States. But during the flight, scenes take place that surprise these poor and unsuspecting emigrants: first, they are greeted by a woman who introduces them to her “husband”, who turns out to be another woman; later, the stewardess asks them not to eat meat because the vegans in the back row are bothered; then, the husband goes to the bathroom and has to let a black man pass, on his knees, to compensate for the slavery of the past. The couple and their son end up jumping out of the plane by parachute, asking mother Russia for forgiveness.
Newsweek specifies that the video has been circulating for days on Telegram channels in support of the Kremlin and, as happens with everything, has ended up on Twitter, where it has been shared from accounts surprised by the homophobic and coarse tone of the alleged satire.
In the comments there is no lack of people who assure that the West is already like that and that the Russians have nailed it, although they may exaggerate a bit for the humorous intention. Others remember that nothing remotely similar happens and that the video only shows the Russian government’s obsessions with freedom and diversity. I have not been able to find any tweeter who affirms that the video has convinced him and that he is already looking for a flat in Saint Petersburg. Rather, the opposite is true: this scene is a response to the mass departure of Russians in recent weeks, faced with the possibility of being recruited and ending up on the Ukraine front.
It is not the first pro-Putin propaganda video that has gone viral to the surprise of Twitter users: at the end of July, the Russian Embassy in Spain published one that invited Europeans to move to Russia, a country with cheap gas, “women beautiful” (nothing was said about the men) and “without cancellation culture”. Of course, without clarifying that maybe in Russia they won’t cancel you with four insults on Twitter, but if you criticize the Putin government you run the risk of ending up in jail or slipping and falling through an open window.
The ad was parodied in versions that kept the voiceover, but preferred to use other images of Russia: bombings, civilians trying to stop the advance of tanks, empty supermarkets, protests by journalists, scenes of police brutality and cemeteries.
Of course, nobody expected us all to run to the Russian embassy to ask for asylum. These videos want to cause division and confrontation, as was clear in the comments. This is what Peter Pomerantsev defines in This Is Not Propaganda as the search for a “permanent conflict”. The objective: that we buy the mark from Putin and spend a good time arguing about whether or not it is true that we can eat meat in public, as if we did not do it every day, and that we put aside, even for a few minutes, what what is happening in Ukraine.
In his book The Chaos Machine, the journalist Max Fisher summarizes the Russian network strategy, very similar to that of right-wing populist parties: “It appeals to the identity of a group. Tell them that identity is under attack. Stoke outrage at another outside group. And use as much emotional language as you can.” The only way left for Russia to show some strength is to weaken what it sees as its adversaries (the Western democracies). That is why the Kremlin supported Trump, Brexit and the independence of Catalonia. Because he is hell-bent on Russians believing that elections and free speech only bring chaos, and that it is better to opt for a strong leader, like Putin, to lead his country in exquisite order towards utter ruin.
