By Nika Aleksejeva, for @DFRLAb

Kremlin media emphasized Putin’s leadership role conducting annual Grom nuclear drills

On October 26, the Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry both issued press releases about Russia carrying out its annual “Grom” (“thunder”) nuclear drills. Both statements emphasized the role President Putin played in commanding the drills. The Kremlin statement was titled, “The Supreme Commander-in-Chief conducted a training session of the strategic deterrence forces,” while the Defense Ministry’s Statement was titled, “The Minister of Defense of Russia reported to the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the results of the training of the strategic deterrence forces.”

Screenshots of October 26 press releases from the Kremlin and Russian defense ministry about nuclear drills. (Source: Kremlin.ru/archive, left; Mil.ru/archive, right)

Kremlin-controlled media also emphasized Putin’s leadership role in the drills. The DFRLab analyzed 111 Russian-language articles using Event Registry, an AI-driven online media monitoring and analysis tool. The most common headline theme in Kremlin-controlled media, appearing in twenty-five articles, focused on the strength of Russian nuclear weapons. The second most common headline theme (twenty articles) focused on Putin’s leadership role in overseeing the drills. Two additional articles in Belarusian media expressed similar narratives on Putin’s leadership.

Narratives of Kremlin-controlled and Belarusian media outlets about the nuclear drills. (Source:@nikaalesejeva/DFRLab via Event Registry)

For comparison, the DFRLab also analyzed the headlines used in Western media outlets publishing in Russian and Russian-language websites with Ukrainian domains. In these outlets, the most common headline theme focused on Russia carrying out nuclear drills. Some focused on Putin’s role in overseeing the drill, but very few glorified Russia’s nuclear capabilities in the headline.

Headlines in Western media outlets publishing in Russian and Russian-language websites with Ukrainian domains. (Source: @nikaalesejeva/DFRLab via Event Registry)
Headlines in websites with Russian domains and other domains. (Source: @nikaalesejeva/DFRLab via Event Registry)

International media also reported on Russia’s nuclear drill. Event Registry identified reports in Portuguese, Chinese, English, French, Italian, Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish, Catalan, German and Turkish, however, this is not an exhaustive list of international media coverage.

Screenshot of Event Registry’s reporting timeline for the media event “Russia notifies US of planned nuclear drills.” (Source: @nikaalesejeva/DFRLab via Event Registry)

Russia notified the United States ahead of time that it was carrying out the annual nuclear drills.

One day later, the Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov separately called the United Kingdom and the United States about a “situation connected with Ukraine’s possible use of a dirty bomb.”

Nika Aleksejeva is Lead Researcher at the DFRLab and is based in, Riga, Latvia.


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