5. The Baudrillardian “Discourse of the Good:” Putin’s False Flag Operation to Denazify Ukraine

Building upon Baudrillard’s theories about virtual warfare and Debord’s concept of le détournement (rerouting-hijacking), this chapter investigates the digital iron curtain erected in Russia by Putin and his supporters. This discussion underscores how Putin has taken advantage of a binary mental structure pitting absolute good against evil to justify his invasion of Ukraine and to portray the Russia-Ukraine War as a “humanitarian” initiative designed to denazify a country governed by a freely elected Jewish president. The majority of Russian citizens still support the war and the alleged motivations behind it because of the Kremlin’s sophisticated cyber squads, hackers, and trollers in addition to the Russian state media apparatus. Putin has proven to be extremely adept at fabricating his own (hyper-) reality with a veritable arsenal of simulacral tools at his disposal. Nevertheless, the highly organized prebunking campaign launched by Ukrainian officials and their Western allies in the weeks prior to the invasion, the utilization of old and new media like shortwave radio and the dark web, the creation of phony online restaurant reviews by average Russian citizens and whistleblowers, and the Situationist methods adopted by engaged street artists place a spotlight on the limitations of Putin’s takeover of the real.