The Kremlin has launched a large-scale information campaign aimed at justifying to Russian society why Russia prioritises holding the initiative in eastern Ukraine over the immediate expulsion of Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region. This is stated in a new report by the Institute for the Study of War, according to Komersant ukrainskyi
According to the Russian media outlet Medusa, which cites sources close to the Russian presidential administration, the Kremlin is actively working to force Russian society to accept the limited Ukrainian presence in the Kursk region as a “new normal” and to downplay the significance of the invasion.
Kremlin propaganda encourages Russians to wait for Russian forces to recapture these territories after Ukraine’s “inevitable” defeat in the east. At the same time, the authorities are trying to divert Russians’ attention from the situation in the Kursk region by focusing it on humanitarian aid campaigns for the affected residents of the region.
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Notably, the Kremlin has decided not to cancel the gubernatorial elections in Kursk Oblast scheduled for September in an effort to minimise panic in the region. However, local elections in seven districts of the Kursk region affected by the Ukrainian invasion were postponed due to security concerns.
Russian state media began to actively portray the Kursk region and its residents as supporting the Russian military effort in Ukraine, despite some military disruption to normal life. Coverage of the situation in the Kursk region is presented as a limited operation, in contrast to Russian successes in the Pokrovsk sector, which Russian media outlets present as significant victories.
Medusa’s sources report that the Kremlin was initially shocked and concerned by the Ukrainian invasion of the Kursk region, but calmed down within a week as Ukrainian forces were far from densely populated regional centres such as the city of Kursk. All officials interviewed expressed confidence that fighting in the Kursk region would continue on the current scale for months.
This strategy is likely aimed at giving the Kremlin time and space to respond to the Ukrainian incursion into the Kursk region after achieving its offensive objectives in eastern Ukraine. However, this approach contradicts the Kremlin’s long-standing narrative on why Russia is at war in Ukraine in the first place, as the invasion of Ukraine has previously been justified as a defensive war to protect Russian sovereignty and territorial integrity.