Misinformation colors how Russians are seeing the Ukrainian war

Russian citizens have been at the center of their government’s propaganda campaign to twist the events of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in a way that makes Russia look like the hero and Ukraine look like the aggressor.

Even before the war began, the government and state-run media in Russia were showing a distorted view of reality by painting a false narrative of the Ukrainian government.

Russians have been told falsely that Ukraine’s government is full of neo-Nazis, that Ukraine was creating nuclear weapons to attack Russia and that Russia needed to intervene to save the Ukrainian people.