Functioning of Visual Narratives of Russian Propaganda in the Conditions of Armed War Against Ukraine

The purpose of the article is to study the functioning of visual narratives of Russian propaganda in the conditions of Russia’s armed war against Ukraine and consider the phenomenon in the context of postmodern theories. The research methodology is based on the application of the postmodern method of deconstruction, systematically applied to the visual texts of Russian propaganda in order to reveal hidden meanings. The novelty of the research consists in revealing the peculiarities of the functioning of the visual narratives of Russian propaganda, which, in fact, made it possible to simulate the reasons for the large-scale armed invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, as well as to create masking of the real reasons for the war, which are related to the crisis phenomena of power institutions with imperial determinants that are not appropriate for modern times. Among such mechanisms the repetition of the visual narrative in various modifications and contexts was found; hiding a detail or masking it; manipulation of images (mother and homeland, motives of the collapse and resurrection of the empire-Russia-USSR, etc.). One of the non-obvious techniques was the discovery of this type of visual constructions which enter the viewer’s field of vision unnoticed and begin to work automatically at the right moment, disguising themselves as structures of axiomatic knowledge. We called this technique “inversion of automatic writing”. Conclusions. As a result of the research, we come to the conclusion that the effectiveness of Russian propaganda is ensured not so much by the quality of visual information, but by its quantity and intrusiveness, commensurate with the displacement of any other informational “noise”, as well as by the aggressiveness, emotional colour and appeallessness of the presentation. However, technological means are present. Systematic repetition of the same figurative messages in different combinations and contexts allows to bind together ideologically different topics, ranging from political and geopolitical to elementary everyday issues (store windows, American jeans, American dollars, etc.). The article also traces the stages of formation of the “enemy” image by means of propaganda, namely through the use of techniques of dehumanization and desubjectivization of the image of Ukrainians, and further – militarization and glorification of war as the sacred mission of imperial Russia. Examining the phenomenon in the context of postmodern theories testifies to a deep crisis of the power institutions of the Russian Federation, which, in the language of postmodernism, reflects the stage of a simulacrum self-reproduction. The latter makes it possible to make encouraging predictions, since the specified stage is called by postmodern theorists the last in the functioning of the system, which precedes its inevitable disintegration.