Rogue regimes employ a vast arsenal of propaganda techniques to brainwash a population. Moscow is no exception. To foster public pseudo patriotism and justify its dodgy policy, the Kremlin feeds people with dubious stories about the “rotten” United States and the “worthless” US dollar. Another scary story is about the nightmare of the Germans.
Some credulous Russian viewers of federal TV channels believe that every second German is in despair about how to survive the winter without Russian gas. Such stories aim to shift focus away from the economic havoc in Russia triggered by the hostilities in Ukraine and retaliatory Western sanctions. Citing pro-Kremlin experts, the most powerful European economy is doomed to failure because both the German industry and households are heavily dependent on Russian carbohydrates. Apart from the energy crisis, the German economy has buckled due to high inflation raging across the EU. According to recent polls in Germany, 75% of respondents define soaring inflation as an upheaval. Half of the pollees admit that their economic conditions have changed for the worse. On top of that, the drop-dead proof of the doom and gloom among German consumers is that inflation in Europe has spiked to the strongest rates in 20 years when the single European currency was introduced.
Earlier, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the eurosceptic and far-right populist party in Bundestag, appealed to the government for urgent measures, highlighting grave problems in the domestic economy entailed by the embargo on Russian oil imposed by EU countries. Besides, the deputies warned that the oil embargo could assure Moscow to cut off its gas supplies to Europe.
