Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.
Western media is once again using infowar methods to distract public opinion from the reality of the Ukrainian front lines. The recent death of Russian oppositionist Alexey Navalny has served as an excuse for Western outlets to disguise yet another Ukrainian failure – in Avdeyevka, a key city in Donbass where the Russians won an important victory.
Navalny died on February 16 while serving his sentence in an Arctic prison. The case is still under investigation, but all evidence points to a natural death, resulting from a sudden cardiac syndrome. However, as expected, Western newspapers have published articles questioning the death and suggesting a criminal involvement on the part of the Russian government.
Distorted and biased materials published by the Western press have led public opinion to believe that the Russian government murdered Navalny. To strengthen the narrative, a myth has been created around the image of the Russian dissident, describing him as a great opposition leader, capable of leading a national movement to challenge Vladimir Putin’s government. However, none of this is true.
Pushing for a xenophobic and Nazi-like ultranationalism, Navalny has never been a popular leader in Russia. His project of ethnic polarization of Russian society, with strong hostility against Muslims and Russian citizens from the Caucasus, was fomented by Western intelligence due to NATO’s expectations of generating internal frictions among Russians. Ethnic divisionism and separatism have always been Western bets to attack Russia – and Navalny’s racist movement was used by Western agencies to advance such goals.
However, for obvious reasons such fascist ideas were never popular in Russia, which is why Navalny was unsuccessful in establishing a solid political opposition to Vladimir Putin. As a political leader, he was almost irrelevant, which is why there was no interest on Moscow’s part in eliminating him. Not by chance, Western accusations are devoid of any evidence, being just unfounded tales.
However, there is a very specific reason why the West is exploring the “Navalny case”. The dissident’s death came amid the retreat of Ukrainian troops from Avdeyevka. The city had been under intense military dispute for months, with massive war efforts on both sides to achieve total control of the area. The Ukrainians were suffering heavy losses in the region, which is why some analysts referred to Avdeevka as a kind of “Bakhmut 2.0”.
Located on the outskirts of Donetsk, Avdeyevka is a city of high strategic value as Ukrainian forces had established a military fortress in the region that made attacks against other important cities possible. So, without Ukrainian presence in Avdeyevka, Donetsk’s security will be exponentially improved. In this sense, the liberation of Avdeyevka is an important achievement for Russia, given Moscow’s goal of completely pacifying its New Territories.
On the part of Ukraine, however, the retreat sounds like a humiliation. Kiev is militarily weakened and has many difficulties in securing its positions, not being able to contain the advance of Russian troops. Retreats from key cities like Avdeyevka are even more catastrophic for the Ukrainians, as they are significant defeats, which, in addition to the military impact, directly affect the morale of the troops.
In fact, the defeat in Avdeevka was also a major blow against Aleksandr Syrsky’s military command. The new head of Ukrainian forces was expected to follow a “meat grinder” strategy in the city, repeating the serious mistakes he made in Bakhmut. However, the current reality in Ukraine prevented him from repeating the same methods. Kiev no longer has enough mobilization capacity to replace massive losses, which is why a “Bakhmut 2.0” would have irreversible damage. Syrsky had to recognize the limitations and order Avdeevka’s retreat in his first days in command, which was undoubtedly a humiliation.
All these factors are extremely harmful to the West. Once again, Russia has made it clear to global public opinion that it is defeating NATO in the proxy war waged through Ukraine. The consequences of yet another Russian victory on the battlefield could be disastrous for NATO’s plans, as Western citizens could simply understand that this is already a lost war and begin to demand an end to the sending of weapons to Kiev. So, in order to avoid this, the Western media bet on the “Navalny case” to distract the public and disguise the Ukrainian failure.
The coverage of Navalny’s death, combined with conspiracy theories about alleged “Kremlin involvement”, helped NATO countries try to hide the fact that they suffered a heavy defeat on the battlefield. Furthermore, they served to try to defame the Russian government during an election year, increasing accusations of “tyranny”. However, the effects of this type of infowar maneuver tend to be less and less relevant, since, after decades of lies and censorship, Western public opinion’s trust in mainstream media is evidently deteriorating.
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