FUTURISTIC DIGITAL VISUAL CONTENT AS A TOOL OF RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 21 ST CENTURY
Authors:   National Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute», Kharkiv, Ukraine, MOTENKO Yaroslav , SHYSHKINA Yevheniia ,   National Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute», Kharkiv, Ukraine
Published: February 2024

At the beginning of the XXI century, a noticeable segment of the digital environment of the Russian Federation became a mass representation of visual images advertising its armed expansion with the aim of establishing itself within the borders of the USSR and seizing the territories of other states. Among such digital images, illustrations in the genre of alternative history attract attention. Their purpose is to exert propaganda influence in the youth environment. The authors of these works identify Russia and the Soviet Union and suggest the public users to dream about the topic: "How would the course of world history change if the USSR existed in the 21st century?". Source criticism of these visual sources indicates that they belong to the means of informationpsychological influence, which are an integral part of the Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war. The viewer's subconscious feels the aggressive influence of a visual series of Soviet political symbols in the plot, which uses motifs from wellknown works of mass culture, as well as scenes of violence. As a result, in a viewer is formed a psychological setting for a positive assessment of the historical experience of the USSR and a tolerant attitude towards the heroization of the Soviet totalitarian past. One of the most popular plots of propaganda content is the revival of the Soviet Union as a neo-imperial communist project using advanced military-space technologies and the war of the Russian Federation with NATO. The communities "USSR-2061" and "Russian Space Society" are points of crystallization of supporters of such ideas on the Internet. These communities spread their visual messages on Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, VKontakte, LiveJournal and YouTube. As a carrier of ideological allusions are used digital paintings, made by techniques of concept and promo art. Both types of visual art are widely applied in the process of gamification of the digital space. Therefore, they correspond to the aesthetic tastes of modern youth, turning them into the main object of a visual information attack. The conceptual charge of these arts attaches to the use of historical pictorial symbols: the coat of arms and flag of the USSR, details of the landscape, interior, clothing, weapons, and transport. In the paintings depicting the metropolises of the second half of the 21st century, the viewer sees architectural monuments in the style of the Stalinist Empire. Colorful scenes of battle painting «promise» the viewer the complete destruction by Soviet soldiers of the future world of the «collective West». So, according to the authors of the article, the futuristic visual political message for the Russian regime in the course of the hybrid war turned into one of the means of informationpsychological influence, capable of performing manipulative and campaigning functions both in the Russian Federation and in other countries, that belong to the orbit of its desired political influence. The potential possibilities of using futuristic political messages as an informational weapon necessitate further scientific study of this phenomenon.