INFLUENCE OF MODERN MASS MEDIA ON MORAL AND SOCIAL COGNITION: HOW KREMLIN'S PROPAGANDA BECAME ONE OF THE MAIN CAUSES OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR, 2014-2024

Propaganda was historically a neutral descriptive term; it was used by playwrights in ancient Greece to express the act of promoting political and religious beliefs. In the 19th century, with the birth of the press, cinema and radio, propaganda transformed into a tool destined to shape people�s beliefs and behaviours. It is generally biased, misleading, or even false to promote a specific agenda or point of view. Especially in Europe, in the first half of the 20th century, propaganda was used by European dictatorial regimes: Nazism, Fascism and Communism for popular consensus building and political repression; and it�s still widely used nowadays for the same proposition by current autocratic regimes around the world. The main purpose of this article is to demonstrate how Kremlin propaganda is used thanks to modern mass communication methods and technologies to influence the social and moral cognition of Russian society to start and continue the 10 year-long war against Ukraine, all now in progress. In this study we demonstrate how the Russian propaganda also as one of main causes of war itself. Because to start a war it is necessary to have first the consent of one�s own people who accept, support and justify the invasion of another country and here the main role is played by propaganda of Putin�s political regime. Well-thought-out Kremlin�s propaganda has constantly incited different fears in individuals through using persuasive neurolinguistic techniques: in information texts, in social networks, and especially on TV; by doing so over the past 20 years has turned at least 80% of Russian society into people who exist in a parallel reality and seem to have no critical thinking. The phenomenon of propaganda and its social and moral damage is analysed using quantitative, qualitative, analytical and descriptive research methods. Furthermore, thanks to this research, we are trying to understand if and how it will be possible to effectively counter the Kremlin�s propaganda machine. The paper�s results suggest communicative and social tools that could change public opinion in Russia and spread the truth about the war. Unfortunately, this would only be possible after the end of the war and the transition of the Kremlin dictatorial regime to a democratic one. Future research may sometimes attempt to identify the most effective means and strategies to achieve this goal, hopefully to be able to implement these soon.