TV War and Real War
Russia: The Caucasus Conflict in Minds of the People
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The majority of Russia’s population gets its information about political events from television. Despite widespread distrust of the state-controlled media, such sources of information have a decisive influence on the Russian population’s attitude towards its neighbours in the Caucasus. In the recent conflict with Georgia, the Soviet model of mobilising against an external enemy was easily reactivated. The majority of the people support the Kremlin’s course of action. However, over half of those surveyed called for international mediators to resolve the conflict. By contrast, few see the parallels to the war in Chechnia.
(Osteuropa 11/2008, pp. 71–78)