Russian authorities in occupied parts of Luhansk Oblast had ordered the creation of propaganda centers posing as “museums of the special military operation (a Russian term for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine),” Governor Artem Lysohor said on Jan. 6.
Russia has occupied parts of Luhansk Oblast, including its regional center, since 2014. Following the start of the all-out war, Moscow’s troops seized the majority of the region.
These propaganda places will exhibit Russian military equipment and glorify local collaborationists, Lysohor said. This is meant to strengthen the myth of popular support for Russian occupation among local youth.
Such an exhibition had recently been opened in a history museum in Svatove, the governor noted.
Propaganda and indoctrination is one of the methods employed by the Kremlin to integrate occupied territories of Ukraine.
Mimicking the tactics used during the occupation of Crimea and Donbas in 2014, Russian authorities are seeking to curb access to outside information and organize propaganda events also in newly conquered areas of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts.
Read also: Escaping Russian army: The story of one Ukrainian forced to fight against his homeland
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