Kremlin Tells State Media to Portray Occupation of Kursk as ‘New Normal’

The independent news site Meduza, citing sources close to the Kremlin, reports that  Russian state propaganda outlets have been instructed to play down the significance of Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region. At the same time, they should prepare their audience for the fact that, although the area occupied by Kyiv will eventually and inevitably be recovered, this could take time – measured in weeks or even months.

According to its inside sources Moscow’s propagandists should present the “temporary” occupation as a “new normal” and to avoid portraying the situation as shocking or dangerous.

“It is necessary for people to consider what is happening not as a deviation, but as a new norm, albeit temporary. This should be soothing. It is difficult to exist deviating from the norm. The norm, even if it’s a new one, is simpler [for people to accept],” a media expert with close ties to the presidential administration told Meduza.

This could also explain why President Vladimir Putin has been portraying it as “business as usual” with his official activity over the last week, although some say his “hands off” approach is as much to do with him distancing himself from attempts to recover Kursk should it all go wrong.

The Kremlin’s plan is for the print and broadcast media to channel the initial shock the loss of territory in Kursk caused “into a positive direction” – to explain that the return of the territories will happen, but it can take time and people need to be patient and “wait.”

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This follows on from the findings of a survey by Russia’s Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) that suggested the level of anxiety among Russian citizens was now higher than it was during the Wagner PMC “mutiny” in July 2023.

At the same time, the authorities have instructed regional governors to organize the collection of financial and other assistance for the Kursk region. Meduza’s sources say this may include the forced deduction of a proportion of the earnings of state employees and state corporations, sources from the offices of regional officials told Meduza.

Another Meduza source said that inside the Kremlin it was believed it could take several months to recapture the lost territories near Kursk, but the interlocuter thought even that could be “quite optimistic,” even “if everything works out [well]” for the Russian military.

On the evening of Aug. 20, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Alexander Syrsky, claimed that Ukraine’s forces controlled 93 settlements in an area of ​​1,300 square kilometers (502 square miles) in the Kursk region. This is likely to increase even further as the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) has cut off areas south of the Seym River, after they blew up three bridges in the Glushkovo district.

Abbas Gallyamov, a Russian political scientist in an essay on the PointMedia website dismisses the Kremlin plan as little more than a sticking plaster that is covering up the growing fatigue and negativity that the Russian people are feeling towards the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine. He feels that the “new reality” approach will reinforce the view that Putin is no longer able to defend his country and it is actually that thought that will become the “new normal.”