Dneprov, A. “Euromaidan” operation and contours of information psychological counter-operation (the view of an Ukrainian psychologist).

Abstract: The Ukrainian Euromaidan, which has caused catastrophic consequences for the Ukrainian statehood, is known to be the fruit of the large-scale information and psychological operation, which was initiated by the West and invested with billions of dollars and immense human and media resources. The article involves an attempt to analyze some structural and psychological specificities of information and psychological operation “Euromaidan” (leet us call it that), namely, the image of Maidan as a manifestation of the opinion of the Ukrainian people and the pillar of struggle for the democracy, formation of a number of information myths and simulacra in the minds of Russian and Ukrainian people, in order to confuse the public opinion and to provoke inadequate political actions, such as the Rusophobia myth and the “bandit-Bandera” image of the Ukrainians, the myth of universal support of the Maidan by the Kyiv people, and some other. In addition, in the course of the operation the Western political technologists used the mechanisms for the transformation of the social discontent into the Euro-illusions and anti-Russian moods by anchoring. In fact, the Euro-hopes of most participants of the Ukrainian events regarding joining the European Union and the protest psychosis against the lawfully elected government were manifestations of sublimated discontent with the social policy of the government. At the same time overly high expectations o the Ukrainian people regarding entering the EU, which caused such fatal consequences, were formed as narcissistic projections of their expectations of the Euro-integration onto the image of the European Union, while its real policy towards the Ukraine did not give any grounds for the Euro-optimism. The article also analyzes some features of the possible information psychological counter-operation towards the ultra-nationalist and anti-Russian vector of the modern Ukrainian political life.

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