In 2023, experts from Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise conducted more than 500 linguistic studies on the facts of Russian aggression. A significant part of these examinations concerned the glorification of Russian war crimes. The importance and peculiarities of conducting linguistic examinations on glorification were described by the experts of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise in their commentary to UNN.
Details
"The word glorification, according to Ukrainian and Russian lexicographical sources, forms the following synonymous series: praise, exaltation, glorification, glorification. The criminalization of the action denoted by the term "glorification" took place in March 2022, and it is enshrined in Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Justification, recognition of the legitimacy, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants". Such facts are investigated as part of a forensic linguistic (semantic and textual) examination," the experts explain.
They add that since 2014, the enemy has been attacking Ukraine in the information space, and glorification is one of the tools of manipulation.
According to experts, examples of glorification of the Russian military, as well as justification and recognition of the legitimacy of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine and the occupation of part of our country's territory, are often observed on social media.
In particular, the enemy acts to impose on the audience a negative attitude towards Ukraine, the current Ukrainian government, the Armed Forces, Ukrainians who defend the independence and statehood of their country, etc. Instead, there are attempts to form a positive or neutral attitude towards Russia as a "hero" and "liberator from occupation and Nazism" and a "victim of circumstances" who was forced to aggress and is groundlessly accused of human casualties and destruction of peaceful Ukrainian cities.
"For example, there is a detailed description of the actions of a participant in the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine with a connotation of heroism: "When your homes are being destroyed, women and children are being killed, a man has only one choice: to take up arms and stand up to defend his people. They lived like warriors and left undefeated, defending their native land from the Ukrainian fascists." Propaganda texts often use detailed descriptions of the pseudo-actions of Russian soldiers: "destroyed three armored personnel carriers and more than 20 Ukrainian Nazis...", "blew himself and the Ukrainian nationalists around him up. At the cost of his own life, he saved his comrades, who, thanks to his feat, were able to escape from the encirclement". In addition, negative characteristics of Ukrainian society and Ukrainian defenders are used, and vice versa, to actualize the meaning of "defender" for the invaders: "Let's support our guys who are now making history by protecting the civilian population of Donbas and Ukraine from the Nazis," experts give specific examples of glorification.
They note that the enemy has intensified its propaganda on the territory of Ukraine.
"We see a certain tendency to increase the number of such studies. In 2023, more than half a thousand linguistic examinations were conducted on the fact of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine and related contexts. Information about the revealed facts of glorification of the Russian military comes from different regions of Ukraine. This is likely to indicate the intensification of the relevant propaganda work by the Russian Federation, so everyone should be aware and conscious, effectively counteracting the information war on a personal level," conclude the experts of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise.