Video games pushing glory to Russia amid war with Ukraine

Russian propaganda denigrating Ukraine is spreading through internationally popular online video games such as “Minecraft,” owned by U.S. tech giant Microsoft.

Also, the propaganda that aims to make Russian soldiers appear cool and menacing has appeared on the gaming platform Roblox, where a user created an array of Russian Interior Ministry forces in June to celebrate the national Russia Day holiday.

A channel on the Russian version of the warfare game “World of Tanks” similarly commemorated the 78th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in May, according to The New York Times, which first reported on the phenomena, suggesting Russian government involvement in the propaganda push.

These games and adjacent discussion sites such as Discord and Steam are becoming online platforms for Russian agitprop, circulating to new, mostly younger audiences a torrent of propaganda that the Kremlin has used to try to justify the war in Ukraine, according to The Times.

The paper reported that in “Minecraft,” Russian players re-enacted the battle for Soledar, a city in Ukraine that Russian forces captured in January. A video of the game appeared on Russia’s country’s most popular social media network, VKontakte.

The “Minecraft” activity featured a video tutorial declaring “Glory to Russia” and showing how to construct a flagpole in the game with a Russian flag, portraying the flag over a city labeled Luhansk in reference to an eastern Ukrainian province that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Times cited Microsoft President Brad Smith as having disclosed at a conference in April that the company had identified Russian efforts “basically to penetrate some of these gaming communities.”

It’s unclear whether the company has taken steps to counter the spread of Russian propaganda within “Minecraft.”

While some of the material spreading through the wider online gaming community may reflect the views of common Russian citizens, The Times reported the Kremlin could be engaged in an active program to spread agitprop through such platforms.

The paper noted that in remarks this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin underscored the Kremlin’s interest in the gaming industry as a potential tool for the government to instill values.

Critics of the U.S. government and military have a history of accusing the Pentagon of using warfare-oriented American video games such as “Call of Duty” as a recruiting tool.