Tell them it is a trap: Russian media find out how Russian propaganda is preparing for possible retreat from Kherson

The Kremlin has developed a number of recommendations (manuals) for Russian propagandists, which should prepare the audience for the fact that the Russian Federation may leave Kherson.

Source: Russian news website Meduza, which received two so-called documents with recommendations

Details: The first manual proposes that the Russian propagandists insist that the Kherson front is very important for the Ukrainian government, and that is why it will send "tens of thousands" of troops to secure victory there. It also states that Kherson can become a trap for Russian troops, who will have no way to retreat. 

Quote from the Russian recommendations: "Russian troops seek to preserve the lives of civilians and personnel. It is the danger of a massive attack on the city by a huge group of nationalists that dictated the evacuation of the city's civilians to the left bank of the Dnipro river".

"The enemy wants Kherson to become a trap for Russia, a battlefield with tens of thousands of victims. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are planning to stage a terrorist attack by destroying the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. Blowing up the [K]HPP may become a ‘trap’ for our fighters. In this case, settlements with civilians will be flooded, our military will be surrounded and will not even be able to fight; they will simply be washed away".

Details: The second manual stated that state propaganda should "pay attention" to the speech by Anatoly Torkunov, the diplomat, historian and political scientist, member of the Scientific Council of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. At Putin's meeting with historians, Torkunov mentioned the Battle of Poltava of 1709, and stated that before winning it, Peter the Great "retreated to Poltava" and it was the retreat that ultimately led to the "turning point in the war."

Meduza’s sources in the Kremlin also remarked that Putin has not yet decided on retreating from Kherson, and the Russian authorities consider it to be an "undesirable" but "probable" option for the development of events in the contact zone.

Background:

• On Monday, Kyrylo Stremousov, the Russian-installed puppet governor of Kherson Oblast, said that the last trip of a motor boat that could "evacuate" local residents from the right bank of Kherson Oblast to the left was on 7 November.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Kherson residents should be deported from the city.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!