How Putin’s Soviet-style propaganda machine created a brainwashed ‘zombie nation’ as he drags Russia behind Iron Curtain
LONG before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin began building his very own Soviet-style propaganda machine.
But Vlad's warped techniques at brainwashing his citizens have reached worrying new levels and have set Russia back decades, experts have warned.
The tyrant's campaign to put Russia back behind the Iron Curtain has taken a terrifying turn as he attempts to twist the minds of the young and come down hard on those who question the Kremlin's distorted reality.
Starting this year, all Russian school children will study a new subject: "Fundamentals of the Spiritual and Moral Culture of the Peoples of Russia".
Meanwhile, youngsters have been filmed and to wear to class.
Those who have spoken of chaos inside the Russian ranks or troops who refuse to fight have been jailed while protesters on the streets of Moscow have been quickly silenced.
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A spider's web of Russian critics and oligarchs have mysteriously died in the last year and a half - many from unexplained falls after criticising the war in Ukraine.
Wagner warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin's plane was mysteriously blown out of the sky after he led his men in a daring coup against the Kremlin.
Throughout the chaos inside Russia, Putin has continued to put himself and his country in an information vacuum to support his deeply twisted mindset.
And as of late, Putin has been compared to his predecessor, dictator Joseph Stalin - who was a propaganda king himself.
Like Stalin, Putin has sent his soldiers to die en masse, ruthlessly cracked down on his opponents, and attempted to turn the country into a superpower to face down the West.
Ian Garner, author of Generation Z, told The Sun how the onslaught of propaganda in recent years has become more sinister than ever.
He said: "That rhetoric in the last year and a half - and even over the last few years - has become very pointed and quite frightening.
"By starving citizens of opportunities to hear alternate viewpoints, by closing down the independent media and by putting people through court trials, Russia is shutting people who disagree up by frightening them."
The rise of sinister Russian "re-education" camps has been likened to Nazi-style brainwashing facilities for Ukrainian children before they are shipped off to be raised in Russian homes.
The Kremlin tells the world that these "abandoned" children have been "saved"; from their war-torn country but in reality they have been abducted and shipped across the border.
Yet propaganda to justify the war is working in Russia, and public opinion about the conflict in Ukraine has not swayed, according to Garner.
He said: "The people who were fervently in support of the war continue to be so. The people who oppose the war continue to do so.
"Russians have been convinced that 'everything here is good and everything that isn’t is bad and dangerous.'
"That's the history that Russia has experienced for centuries. And that's the history that it's fated to experience again, just as it's experiencing today."
Vlad's disturbing brainwashing techniques are just the latest in a long plan for Russia to move back behind the Iron Curtain, senior consulting fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme Keir Giles said.
He told The Sun Online: "Russia has been consistently moving back towards its historical comfort zone of indoctrination of its children and militarisation of the state for an extended period.
"There is no reason for Russians to start to think as others do across Europe that the age of empires is over and that military force is not the appropriate way to get what countries want from their neighbours."
Breaking away from this indoctrination campaign is not only dangerous for the average Russian citizen - it's also alienating.
Garner explained: "When your state, your community leaders, friends and family are telling you over and over again that your brothers and sons are fighting to save people like you - people who speak your language, people who come from your culture day in, day out.
"It’s easy to think, “If I were in that situation I would be some great, independent, free thinker, and I would be the first on the barricades, and I would be revolting.
"But would you? Would you really have the guts and smarts to do that?"
There are signs that the Russian public is beginning to sway in their allegiance to Putin as some suggest his grip on power is weakening.
Bill Browder pointed to the instance in June when Wagner soldiers were welcomed with loud cheers by Russian citizens as they marched on Moscow in an attempted coup.
The fervent support Wagner gained before Prigozhin's death earlier this month could be reflective of a growing anti-Putin sentiment, Browder said.
Browder told The Sun Online: "People aren't particularly happy with the war, and aren't happy with Putin.
"But everyone, everything is driven by fear in Russia."
But any glimmer of change seen in Russia thanks to Prigozhin's uprising has likely been snuffed out after his violent death in a mystery plane crash.
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Prigozhin seems to be the latest of Putin's foes who have died in mysterious circumstances after daring to speak against him - but will likely not be the last.
Garner said: "This propaganda is done to manufacture a sense of fear around Russia. It’s about control, fear and meddling. It's what the Kremlin does best."