Russia propaganda31 May 2025 19:43
A new sinister genre of nationalistic fantasy fiction is on the rise in Russia, targeting the country’s most impressionable demographic.
Teenagers and young men are being pulled into patriotic fervour by “Z literature”, which delivers a simple message: enlist, fight, and glorify the Russian state.
The books, a reference to the “Z” symbol used to promote the invasion of Ukraine, have echoes of the heavy handed propaganda of the Soviet Union.
“What the state is trying to do to create a culture in which everyday life is militarised,” Dr Colin Alexander, senior lecturer in political communications at Nottingham Trent University.