The Provocation-Salve Cycle

This sense of being under siege is an essential component of the Russian strategy of purporting to be the rescuer of the damsel whom Russia itself had led into a state of distress.

We will see in later chapters how Russian Disinfolklore managed to convince Ukrainians in Russia-occupied Ukraine that it was Ukrainians who were threatening them, not the Russian occupiers.

In occupied Ukraine, as elsewhere, the Russian Big Bad Wolf managed to manipulate the minds of its victims into becoming blind to the real threat (the Russians).

Russian Disinfolklore even convinced Ukrainians to fight against a mythical threat that Russian Disinfolklore had conjured into being.

Source: Routine: Provoke the Distress, then Purport to Salve it

The full cycle has three stages: (1) create the threat, (2) blame someone else for the threat, (3) offer yourself as the rescuer. Russia occupies Ukraine, convinces Ukrainian civilians that Ukraine’s own army threatens them, then presents Russia as the protector. The author witnessed this first-hand in eastern Ukraine.

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