Since the attack on Ukraine, the Kremlin has been trying hard to spread propaganda against Kyiv and the West. They are obviously not only successful in their own country. According to a survey, more and more Germans believe Russia’s conspiracy myths – especially in the East.
The approval ratings for pro-Russian conspiracy stories about the war of aggression against Ukraine have risen significantly in Germany in recent months. Approval is particularly high in East Germany. This is the result of a representative study by the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (Cemas), which is available to the editorial network Germany (RND).
For example, 18 percent of those surveyed nationwide agreed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was taking action against a global elite that was pulling the strings in the background. In a previous Cemas survey in April, it was still 12 percent. In addition, 12 percent believe that Ukraine, together with the United States, operated secret bio-laboratories for the production of bio-weapons – an allegation made by Russian officials but never substantiated. In April, seven percent of respondents agreed with this statement.
The Cemas survey shows clear differences in the assessment of pro-Russian propaganda between East and West Germany. In East Germany, one in three agreed with the statement that NATO had provoked Russia for so long that Russia had to go to war. In western Germany, on the other hand, only 16 percent agreed. 14 percent of those surveyed in eastern Germany also believe that the war in Ukraine would only serve as a distraction from the corona pandemic. In West Germany it was seven percent.
Pro-Russian and conspiracy-ideological statements also received particularly high approval ratings from AfD voters. Almost half agreed with the two statements that Ukraine is actually part of Russia and that Russia had to go to war because of NATO provocations. The statements from left-wing voters received the second-highest approval ratings.
“Our survey shows that the spread of conspiracy stories has increased significantly since April,” social psychologist and Cemas managing director Pia Lamberty told RND. “The crisis of the last few months can be the ideal breeding ground for conspiracy stories, which are fueled and reinforced by both right-wing extremists and Russia,” she explained.
The data used by Cemas is based on a population-representative survey by the opinion research institute Bilendi
