Selling War at Home and Abroad: The Dual Objective of State Media Propaganda in the Russo-Ukrainian War

This study examines how authoritarian regimes set conflicting domestic and foreign propaganda agenda during wartime to ensure domestic unity and engage international audiences. We posit that authoritarian regimes relying on public support for legitimacy attempt to keep domestic opinion onside by emphasizing the high stakes and low costs of war, thereby ensuring that dissent against the conflict does not threaten the regime. Foreign audiences, on the other hand, are encouraged to consider their responsibility and the risks of catastrophic escalation associated with intervention. We test our argument by analyzing domestic and international Russian propaganda around the reinvasion of Ukraine from January 2022 to August 2023. By comparing war coverage tailored for domestic audiences in RIA Novosti and foreign-facing coverage that appeared on RT, we find greater emphasis on the threat from the opponent, the high stakes of the war, and less emphasis on risks in domestic media. Foreign media focuses more on international actors’ responsibility, the local stakes, and the risks of nuclear escalation. We conclude with a discussion of our findings and the tradeoffs autocracies must contend with in the management of the media during wartime.