This study deals with pro-Kremlin strategic narratives related to the war in Ukraine disseminated in Italy by Russian media operating in our country and amplified by Italian media and influencers. It analyzes the evolution of such narratives in the time span from February 24, 2022 – the date of the start of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, renamed by Putin as “Special Military Operation” – to January 2023, linking them to the most relevant events related to Russian aggression in Ukraine (the Bucha massacres, sanctions on Russia, the food and grain cri-
sis, the “referendums” in Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, etc.). The study investigates the underlying manipulative goals of the pro-Kremlin strategic narratives on the war. These are: to confuse and disorient Italian public opinion about the causes and course of the war in Ukraine, to obfuscate the truth about the expansionist and neo-imperial nature of Russian foreign policy, to cause public opinion and policymakers to abandon the Atlanticist and pro-European stance of Italian foreign policy, and to erode public confidence in the values and institutions of liberal democracy. It also aims to better understand why many disinformation myths about the war, popularized by the pro Kremlin disinformation and propaganda ecosystem, continue to exert considerable influence on Italian political, media, and cultural debates.
Finally, this paper proposes some guidelines of a cultural strategy to effectively defend Italian democracy and national security from disinformation and propaganda efforts promoted by autocratic foreign powers to influence significant sectors of Italian society according to their geopolitical interests.
Dezinformatsiya and active measures: pro-Kremlin strategic narratives in Italy on the war in Ukraine, Massimiliano Di Pasquale and Luigi Sergio Germani, 2023