The USSR policy on information and propaganda coverage of the military presence of a Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan (1979-1989)

The article reveals the specifics of the USSR's policy of information and propaganda coverage of the military presence of a Limited Contingent of Soviet Forces in Afghanistan (1979-1989). The military and political intervention of the USSR is one of the stages of the unfinished military conflict in Afghanistan. The scale of the USSR's military and political involvement requires a deep understanding of the price of war: political consequences, economic costs, human losses, which determines the scientific significance and relevance of the research problem. The objective of the article is to determine the content and results of the work of the state censorship and propaganda agencies of the USSR in covering the military conflict in Afghanistan (1979-1989). The methodological basis of the research is the principle of historicism and a systematic approach, which make it possible to identify the content and results of the work of the state censorship and propaganda bodies of the USSR in covering the military conflict in Afghanistan (1979-1989). Special attention is paid to the impact of the "glasnost" policy of perestroika and renewal of Soviet society on the nature of information and propaganda coverage of the military presence of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. The scientific study of the issue is complemented by an objective picture of public attitudes towards the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989), determined by the study of published sources and new archival materials from the RGANI, RGASPI and GARF. The introduction into scientific circulation of sources of personal origin (interviews with internationalist soldiers, the author's personal archive) allows a unique description of the socio-psychological factors of the Afghan war.