War in Ukraine: Kremlin propaganda briefly turns Ukrainian into an icon

When the older woman sees the pictures, she is flabbergasted. “I’ve never seen any of that.” The approximately 70-year-old Ukrainian, whose name is given as Anna Ivanovna, comes from the village of Velyka Danylivka not far from the embattled city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine. She’s just a peasant – and she’s an icon of Russian war propaganda. Or at least she was. She appeared on murals, posters, postcards, sculptures and bumper stickers. Holding the red flag of the Soviet Union and stylized as “Mother Russia” as she is known from World War II. For the Kremlin’s current war propaganda, she was “Grandma Anna” or “Grandma Anya”, according to other reports also “Babushka Z” – a reference to the Z emblazoned on Russian military vehicles in Ukraine.

There is no doubt that Anna Ivanovna was briefly a popular figure in Russian propaganda justifying the invasion of Ukraine. , who only recently confronted her with the testimonies of her “career” as a propaganda figure, she was probably doing more of a favor than showing surprise. Because at least since mid-May, the elderly Ukrainian has been telling journalists her wondrous story again and again. It’s hard to believe she’s oblivious to the hype she’s sparked from Belgorod on the Ukrainian border to the distant Pacific coast. It looks more like “Grandma Anna” is making a second career – this time as a media figure on the brink of war.

“Grandma Anna” and the Ukrainian soldiers

The original story is essentially undisputed – that Ukrainian soldiers shot in early March. In it, an elderly woman can be seen approaching the soldiers while waving a Soviet flag. Apparently, the Ukrainians thought it was a funny idea to pose as Russians a few days after the invasion began and not far from the Kharkiv front. “Grandma Anna”, at that time still an unknown older woman, wanted to appease the supposed Russian soldiers with the old Soviet flag and pro-Putin statements. What else could she and her husband have done against heavily armed soldiers? “I thought it’s over now, they’re going to shoot me,” she later said in a conversation with journalists.

She prays for the soldiers, “she also prays for Putin,” the woman can be heard in the video. Then one of the men hands her a bag of groceries, says mockingly that it’s for Putin, and then reveals himself by shouting: “Glory to Ukraine!” Anna Ivanovna is perplexed. But when one of the soldiers takes her Soviet flag, throws it on the ground and tramples on it, she recovers. “My parents died for this flag,” she protests. She puts the groceries back.

Special operation to free the babushka

It took a while, about a month, for the actually insignificant little incident to find its way onto Russian websites. From there, the video got on the evening news of Russian television. By then, the Russian propaganda machine had already turned the original misunderstanding into pure gold. Nothing to be seen of jokes and misunderstandings, just an old Ukrainian woman who – like the Russian president himself – mourns the loss of the Soviet Union and sees the Russians as liberators. And announce this with all dignity. The scene so perfectly fulfilled the narrative that Vladimir Putin uses to justify his campaign in Ukraine.

The enthusiasm for the babushka from Ukraine is said to have blossomed in Russia. The deputy head of Putin’s presidential administration in the completely destroyed Mariupol is said to have even declared it a “symbol of the fight against fascism” at the inauguration of a small statue. The man called her “Babushka Anja” during the ceremony, unfortunately her last name was not known. But they will be found. One Duma deputy reportedly even suggested “freeing Babuschka Anna from the hands of the Nazis with your own special operation.”

Little Ljoscha is the new hero

But it didn’t come to that. Rather, Anna Ivanovna should continue to live in her little house not far from the front near Kharkiv. Although it was damaged by a projectile, it was by no means completely destroyed, as some reports have already stated. Even with the worship, it is obviously not far away. There is a new hero instead, a much younger one, a little boy named Lyosha from the Belgorod area. As it is said, the propaganda ultimately wanted to get away from the all too nostalgic Soviet mother as a figure of identification.

Ljoscha is just right. Every day the little one apparently takes up his “post” on the side of the road and waves to the Russian units that are moving across the border to the front near Kharkiv or in the Donbass. Some soldiers wave back or give gifts. Ljoscha was also allowed to ride in an armored car with a Z inscription. As seen on social media, he is dressed in a military uniform and salutes the soldiers. He supports the fighters with all his strength, . And that he dreams of becoming a soldier. For this he is on Twitter as – combined with thanks to parents and school for the upbringing. Incidentally, Ljoscha has also been immortalized – not on a mural, but on a chocolate pack.

“Putin made a big mistake”

And Babuschka Anna, what does she think about her short time of fame, of which she allegedly knew so little? “They turned me into a traitor,” she said in one of the many interviews. Sometimes people let her feel that. But: “How can I support the death of my people?” Asks Anna Ivanovna rhetorically. “We live in fear and terror.” However, she only speaks out against the war, not against the unification of Ukraine with Russia, nor against Vladimir Putin.

“But Putin made a big mistake,” Der Spiegel quotes her as saying. “He should have turned to the Ukrainian people on TV and said: ‘Dear people, I don’t want to bomb you, I just want us to live together’.” And further: “‘Russia cannot live quietly. Are you ready to come together with Russia? If not, then I have no choice, then I will bombard.'” That sounds more like “Babushka Z”.

Sources: ; ;; ;