In pro-Russian channels, the farmers’ protests are linked to Western arms deliveries to Ukraine. A well-known pattern that is repeatedly brought out by the Kremlin.
It’s not just right-wing extremists and conspiracy ideologues who are trying to hijack the farmers’ protests for their own goals: Russia also sees the farmers’ protests as an opportunity to create its own narrative. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote in the text message service X: “The subsidies have been stopped and the astronomical expenditure for Ukraine continues to rise.” If things continue like this, the Ukrainian nationalists could soon export the protests (Maidan) that are so popular with them to Berlin. Russia will follow events with “sardonic interest.”
The current farmers’ protests are also being linked to the war in Ukraine on pro-Russian news sites and channels. For example, a graphic is being distributed in German-speaking, English and Russian Telegram channels in which the costs of Western weapons such as the “Leopard” tank or “Marder” are offset against farms. It says: “Send ‘Leopard’ to Ukraine or save thousands of farms?” The “independent Ukraine” continues to get rich “at the expense of the citizens” in Germany.
“Russia wants protests instrumentalize”
“Russia keeps trying to question Western arms supplies to Ukraine,” says Julia Smirnova, senior researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue Germany (ISD). The Kremlin is using current protests to encourage them and exploit them for its own purposes. In the past, Russia had, for example, chosen the energy crisis or the high number of Ukrainian refugees as starting points to undermine support for Ukraine among parts of the German population.
“It follows a similar pattern every time,” says Smirnova. Expenses for arms deliveries or Ukrainian refugees are portrayed as meaningless and are linked to other crises such as rising energy prices. It is not mentioned that the costs would not have been incurred without the Russian war of aggression.
Addressing their own audience, the Russian media also used the farmers’ protests to make the situation in Germany appear dramatic, says Smirnova. “The protests were picked up by state television to once again reinforce the narrative that the economic situation in Germany was not looking good and that people were dissatisfied.” The problems in the West are exaggerated to support their own legend of superiority. “The aim is to convince the public that Russia is doing relatively well.”
The federal government must save billions
The planned and partly withdrawn cuts in “climate-damaging subsidies” in agriculture are a consequence of the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling in November 2023, as a result of which the federal government had to save more than 30 billion euros in the federal budget for 2024.
By abolishing the preferential motor vehicle tax for forestry and agriculture as well as the abolition of the tax concession for agricultural diesel, the federal government expected overall additional revenue of almost one billion euros. The former has now been withdrawn, so that the savings for the government are still around half. According to the first draft, the federal government is planning to spend more than 400 billion euros for 2024.
When announcing the measures to plug the budget hole, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he would not change the aid for Ukraine. This includes eight billion euros for arms deliveries, financial aid for the Ukrainian budget directly or via the European Union and probably more than six billion euros to help Ukrainian refugees in Germany.
“Ukrainians must also be put in a position to oppose the aggression of Russian President Putin in the longer term,” it says Press release from the federal government. “This is an indispensable, clear message to the Russian president, who is clearly betting on the waning of international support for Ukraine.”
False images of destroyed fighter jets
The Russian side is not only using the farmers’ protests as an opportunity to discredit Western arms deliveries to Ukraine. Several false reports have been spread in recent weeks regarding the planned deliveries of F-16 fighter jets.
Some pro-Russian channels on Telegram said, among other things, that Russia had shot down several F-16 fighter jets. However, images that were supposed to prove this either did not show any destroyed F-16 fighter jets or were taken years ago in a different context. In addition, at least according to official information, there are currently no F-16 fighter jets in use in Ukraine.
According to media reports, the first fighter jets delivered from the Netherlands have so far only been used in Romania for training purposes; delivery from Denmark has been delayed.
Deployment presented as hopeless
Regarding the announced deliveries of fighter jets, some channels also say that the Russian armed forces have already found an “answer to US F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine.” Excerpts from Western media reports are also quoted in which the success of the fighter jets is described as hopeless even before they are deployed.
“The examples fit into the overarching narrative that Western arms supplies are useless or are being sold by Ukraine on the black market,” says Smirnova. There have already been cases, particularly in connection with allegedly destroyed Western tanks some Hoaxes. A video of a supposedly destroyed “Leopard” tank actually showed agricultural equipment.
“The goal is to convince the public in the West that Ukraine is a black hole for Western money, including for Western weapons. That it is not worth continuing to support Ukraine militarily,” says Smirnova.