Russia’s new messaging on tensions with the US - analysis

Last week, Russia’s TASS state news media reported on comments by Pope Francis. He had apparently said that “a few years ago, it occurred to me to say that we are experiencing World War III in bits and pieces. Here, for me today, WWIII has already been declared," the pontiff said at a meeting with editors of Jesuit magazines.

The reason Russian media pushed this story is that they wanted to show that the pope agrees with concerns in the West about Russia’s invasion. He has blamed Ukraine and the West for the war in other interviews, claiming Russia was “provoked” into invading.  

Moscow’s line is slightly different but the overall context is that Russia wants us to know that it is going to escalate – and it wants to push fears into the West. It knows that a recent visit by European leaders to Ukraine helps bolster the European consensus on the second largest "near abroad" post-Soviet state. The US is also moving long-range artillery and potentially advanced drones to the embattled country. But supplies are slow and Ukraine is suffering.  

Russia’s messaging is that this year marks the end of the “unipolar” world. Russia and its friends in China, Turkey, Iran and other authoritarian states have been saying this for several years. Their goal is to reduce American and Western power. READ MORE