The Kremlin’s propaganda machine is running at full throttle

is being born before our eyes. Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has ushered in a new era…Russia is restoring its unity—the tragedy of 1991, this terrible catastrophe in our history, has been overcome. Yes, at a great cost, yes, through the tragic events of a virtual civil war…but there will be no more Ukraine, as the anti-Russia.”That triumphal article appeared on the site of Ria Novosti, Russia’s main state online news agency, on February 26th. It declared: “Russia restoring its historical fullness, gathering the Russian world, the Russian people together—in its entirety of Great Russians, Belarusians and Little Russians [a pre-Soviet term for Ukrainians].” Ukraine, it said, has returned to Russia. And the great leader, Vladimir Putin, “has assumed, without a drop of exaggeration, a historic responsibility” for this “solution” to “the Ukrainian question”.