Ministry of Truth: Formation and support of the main rhetoric by informational ministries of so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People’s republics

Abstract

The peculiarity of the contemporary historical period, Ukraine is currently in, is the necessity of rapid reaction to new challenges and threats, which were absolutely unknown recently. The experience of recent years showed that information security is the most important component of the national security of the state. Neglect of threats in this area leads to economic catastrophes, diplomatic crises, military conflicts, wars and territorial losses. Information warfare is the war of the future, having numerous advantages over armed conflict resolution: these include relatively lower economic costs, anonymous nature of the enemy (which complicates contractions), and absence of informational borders in modern globalized world, as well as inability to set the rules of the game. The most spread methods of realization of the set goals in the information warfare are propaganda, manipulation, disinformation, and diversification of public consciousness. Herewith, one of the main components of the information warfare is rhetoric, aimed to form public consciousness in a holistic way. This research is the continuation of the study of the informational field of the occupied territories of Donbas, started in the article “Some aspects of humanitarian challenges of safe reintegration processes of Temporary Occupied Territories of Separate Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions: role of mass media”. The research aims to distinguish and formulate the main messages and rhetoric, which are basic for the contemporary informational policy of quasi-states on the Temporary Occupied Territories of Separate Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions. For the realization of the set aim, the following tasks should be performed:– distinguishing of theoretical approaches to the concept “rhetoric”:– analysis of the website of the “Ministry of Information of Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Ministry of communication and mass communication of Luhansk People’s Republic”:- distinguishing and formulation of the main rhetoric and messages, which are basic for the informational policy on the occupied territories, based on the analysis of the content of the websites of ministries.Hypothesis: Contemporary informational policy, which is formulated by the quasi-government, does not facilitate safe reintegration of the occupied territories into Ukraine and forms rhetoric, working for approaching with the Russian Federation, in the public consciousness.The main news themes and projects, the ministries realized, were determined. Themes of news (the period analysed - January 2021), which were further grouped into six main blocks were studied. The percentage weight of each news block was determined and further visualized in the work using the graphic method.The main rhetoric, working at the formation of public consciousness in “republics” was defined on the basis of the conducted analysis of the news feed of the ministries responsible for information policy in Luhansk and Donetsk People’s republics.