Russia is using China's social media to present its narrative of events leading up to the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, in a move Chinese experts said was intended to show Russian resilience while reaching for wider public support.
The Russian embassy in Beijing on Thursday published a series of online articles, videos and commentaries denouncing Ukraine's 2014 "Euromaidan" movement as "an unconstitutional coup" directly supported by the West.
Hashtagged "the 10th year from the coup d'etat in Ukraine", the posts on the embassy's official Weibo and WeChat accounts coincided with the February 22 anniversary of the removal of Ukraine's pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych.
Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.
It was also two days ahead of Saturday's milestone second anniversary of the 2022 invasion. Earlier in the week, Russia's state-operated Sputnik News - which has a significant Chinese-language service - also ran a series of reports on Ukraine.
While supporters of the movement - named after Kyiv's Maidan, or "independence", Square - called it a "revolution of dignity", Moscow and its sympathisers in China regard the events as a Western-orchestrated colour revolution.
The Russian embassy in Beijing has posted articles, video and commentaries to social media in China with the hashtag "the 10th year from the coup d'etat in Ukraine". Photo: Weibo/Russian Embassy alt=The Russian embassy in Beijing has posted articles, video and commentaries to social media in China with the hashtag "the 10th year from the coup d'etat in Ukraine". Photo: Weibo/Russian Embassy>
In a bid to appeal to Chinese nationalistic sentiment, the social media campaign accuses the US, Britain, Germany and other Western countries of interfering in the Maidan demonstrations.
The material also covers Western influence on the current Ukrainian government, as well as Ukraine's economic struggles since Yanukovych's fall.
Yang Cheng, executive dean of the Shanghai International Studies University's Academy of Global Governance and Area Studies, said the campaign was part of Russia's public diplomacy effort to reach for wider support amid limited international space.
"The overall perception of the Ukraine war is negative in international media and China, with its special ties with Russia and some members of the public showing support for Moscow, has a relatively more favourable environment," he said.
Li Lifan, a Russia specialist with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said the campaign could be aiming to show Moscow's economic and military resilience ahead of the conflict's anniversary, as well as Russia's presidential election in March.
"Within China there are two groups, the anti-Russian and the pro-Russia, and it seems that Russia is looking to use Russian-based narratives to demonstrate that the country remains strong and resilient, economically and spiritually, in spite of Western sanctions," he said.
"Russia needs something to back it up, especially before the election, and Chinese social media also seems to be very interested in such narratives."
A screenshot from a video posted to Chinese social media by Russia's embassy in Beijing ahead of the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine. Photo: Weibo/Russian embassy alt=A screenshot from a video posted to Chinese social media by Russia's embassy in Beijing ahead of the second anniversary of the war in Ukraine. Photo: Weibo/Russian embassy>
Russia's economy remains surprisingly resilient despite sanctions imposed by the West. In late January, the International Monetary Fund more than doubled its forecast for the pace of the country's economic growth this year, raising it from 1.1 per cent in October to 2.6 per cent.
Sputnik News broadcast a Chinese-language documentary presenting Moscow's narrative of the decade-old events leading up to its invasion of Ukraine.
The documentary covered Ukraine's pro-Europe protests of November 2013, Yanukovych's ousting in February the following year, the March 2014 pro-Russia referendum in Crimea, and the subsequent war in the eastern states of Donetsk and Luhansk.
It featured comments from Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who said the Euromaidan movement caused social disintegration, suppression, violence, and economic crisis in Ukraine.
The movement pushed the country and its people to "the edge of the abyss", she said. "The only goal [the West] are pursuing is to turn Ukraine into a powerless colony and use it as a tool against Russia."
According to Zakharova, the presented case attested "to the urgency of carrying out special military operations for the denazification and demilitarisation of Ukraine and eliminating the threat from its territory. All the tasks will be accomplished."
Russia's justification for its invasion of Ukraine has met with no censorship on the strictly controlled internet in China, which insists it is maintaining neutrality in the war.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have maintained their close relationship, while China has significantly strengthened economic ties with sanctions-hit Russia, with annual trade growth of 25 to 30 per cent.
Beijing has not condemned Russia's actions, but has called for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the conflict. Meanwhile, Western countries are pressuring China to act and help to end the conflict in Ukraine.
At an event in Beijing organised by the Polish, Ukrainian and European Union embassies, US envoy Nicholas Burns said: "China's silence on the existential issue of Ukrainian sovereignty and independence is deafening. Its support to Russia is very troubling indeed."
At the same event, British ambassador Caroline Wilson said Beijing's "actions need to match [its] words". She also expressed concern about the "diplomatic and practical support" for Moscow that was "sustaining Russia's war effort".
Additional reporting by Laura Zhou and Zhuang Pinghui
