KARL SIGMUND BERTING ⟩ A generation of fake Soviets is being raised before our very eyes

The wolf and hare characters created by Svetozar Rusakov in the cartoon "Nu, pogodi!" ("Well, Just You Wait!") were the most popular animated figures across the Soviet Union. Photo: Internet

• Russian propaganda is exploiting Soviet nostalgia.
• The generation often labeled as snowflakes is being told through videos that they are anything but.

It is no secret that our eastern neighbor wants to destabilize the societies of former Soviet republics and use propaganda to gradually soften public opinion in its favor. For older generations, Soviet nostalgia is undoubtedly one of the tools in that playbook, web editor Karl Sigmund Berting writes in his opinion piece.

More than three decades have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and during that time, a generation and a half has grown up with no memory of that era. Still, it has been recognized that this strange sense of nostalgia is a card that can also be played on younger people.

While scrolling through social media (especially since the escalation of the war in Ukraine) I have noticed trends that just will not go away. These are reels and TikToks (short videos – ed.) edited from old photos. The image sequence might include, for example, an old man with a Zhiguli car, a cozy Soviet-style kitchen with grandma's cutlets sizzling in a pan, a run-down panelka*, and a pothole-ridden road. Playing in the background might be the song «Trava u doma»**, which many from my generation still remember from the cartoon «Nu, pogodi!».

These videos tap into the warmth of home we felt at our grandparents' house and the good childhood memories of grandpa giving us rides in his car. Understandably, such memories stir tender feelings. But how do a drab Soviet apartment building and a pothole-filled road fit into this nostalgic picture?

They are aimed at the Eastern European market, and while at first, the Russian bear may have had its hairy paw in the creation of this content, it is now likely being edited and circulated by so-called useful idiots.

The videos tend to carry two kinds of undertones: some focus on the warmth of childhood, while others emphasize how difficult life used to be. It is hard to see how a harsh past is meant to inspire positive feelings toward Russia – but there is a certain logic at play. A generation often dismissed as snowflakes is being told that we are anything but, because we grew up in tough conditions and are actually hardened Eastern European warriors.

These videos circulate widely in both English and, of course, Russian. The algorithms do their job, and I understand why these clips are polluting my feed – I have a heightened interest in the topic, but no one is truly protected from them.

They are aimed at the Eastern European market, and while at first, the Russian bear may have had its hairy paw in the creation of this content, it is now likely being edited and circulated by so-called useful idiots who have been blinded by nostalgia. This is part of a broader soft power campaign.

I hope for more critical thinking among both the young and the old, and especially from those hovering over the ever-boiling pot of social media.

* a Soviet-era prefabricated concrete panel apartment building

** «Grass by the Home,» a 1983 song by former Soviet and Russian music group Zemlyane